We got a call from a nurse named Nancy who, what do you know, grew up reading a book called Nurse Nancy. Is there a book you read as a child that influenced your career choices? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Books and...
Cobwebs are spiderwebs, especially the dusty, abandoned kind that need sweeping away. Middle English coppe or cop meant “spider” or “round thing,” and cob survives mostly in this compound. A related old word, attercop, combines a word for “poison”...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a puzzle about subtracting letters from words. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Terminal Deletions” You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it...
Did the movie Avatar make you imagine creating an entirely new language, like Na’vi? Conlang.org and the Language Creation Society have plenty of information on how to go about it and what others, including J.R.R. Tolkein have tried. Mark...
“Who is ‘she’? The cat’s mother?” A Davis, California, man remembers his mother’s indignant use of this expression, and he’s curious about the origin. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Some teachers are using a controversial tactic to get young students reading: They let their pupils choose which books to read for class. Does it work? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Students Choosing Books”...