Some gems in this week’s mailbag: Following up on our conversation with a caller hoping to promote less-violent alternatives to the phrase kill two birds with one stone, a listener who grew up in India wrote in with one from her native language. In...
A traffic-light sundae is a dish of vanilla ice cream decorated with red, white, and green cherries, topped with nuts, crushed fruit, or whipped cream. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Traffic-Light Sundae” Grant, have you ever had...
Eleven-year-old Josiah from San Antonio, Texas, is looking for a single English word to describe a road that’s largely free of traffic. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Word for Road Free of Traffic?” Welcome to A Way with Words...
What shall we call those drivers who take so much time when the left-turn light changes to green that you miss your chance to go and sit through another red light? Our conversation about that prompted a whole slew of emails from listeners who’ve...
Have you ever offered to foster a dog or cat, but wound up adopting instead? There’s an alliterative term for that. And when you’re on the job, do niceties like “Yes, ma’am” and “No, sir” make you sound too formal? Not if it comes naturally. And...
What English-speakers call speed bumps or sleeping policemen go by different names in various parts of the Spanish-speaking world. In Argentina, traffic is slowed by lomos de burro, or “burro’s backs.” In Puerto Rico that bump in the road is a...
