Looking ahead to the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, Martha and Grant discuss some terms you might hear there. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “South African English” You’re listening to A Way with Words...
Has the age of email led to an outbreak of exclamation marks? Do women use them more than men? Also, is there a word for the odd feeling when you listen to a radio personality for years, then discover that they look nothing like your mental picture...
Writing in the Guardian, Stuart Jeffries contends that our email boxes are being infested with exclamation marks, known as bangs or bangers (without mash) to some people. Jacob Rubin also wrote on the subject a couple of years ago in Slate. This is...
wirehouse n.— «Recruiters said although there has been a spike this year in disenfranchised advisers going independent, the vast majority of those on the move simply go to another “wirehouse”—a term used to describe large...
gigaliner n.— «A “gigaliner,” as they call it, on trial in Germany.…The general public has a right to know that the UK government and the European Commission are considering whether to allow mega-trucks, on our roads...
thrownaway n.—Gloss: a child who has been forced to leave home by a guardian or parent. «A federal study found that 45 percent of missing kids were either runaways or “thrownaways,” a term for kids kicked out of their homes by...