snake n.— «Every time a team member feels as though a task they are responsible for is delayed, they write it down on a post-it note. The note includes the time lost (compared to if they didn’t have the delay), the thing affected, the...
interruption science n.— «The average knowledge worker switches tasks every three minutes, and, once distracted, a worker takes nearly a half-hour to resume the original task, according to Gloria Mark, a leader in the new field of...
race ring n.— «“We’re literally going out there with the kind of tools you’d have in your garage,” said Colonel Fossum, the lead spacewalker for the mission. The astronauts will use a putty knife to smooth the surface of the “race ring,”...
meez n.— «Literally “put in place,” mise en place is the kitchen term for your set up, the gathering and preparation of all the tools and food you need to complete the task at hand; mise en place can refer to a cook’s organization on the...
Fellow wordivas and wordudes, This week on A Way with Words we start a brand-new season! To celebrate, we noodled with anagrams, including the one in the title of this episode. Listen here. Also on the show: A New York City schoolteacher asks...
A Way with Words is starting a brand-new season! Find out what a motorcyclist wears to keep from getting sunburned– is it a do-rag or a dew-rag? A listener wonders “Why is an undesirable task called a g-job?” Martha shares a trick...