Why do some place names include the word the, as in The Hague or the Bronx? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Place Names Starting with “The”” Hello, you have A Way with Words. Hi, how are you? My name is Brooke Barnum. I’m calling...
The Pope has several Twitter feeds — and one of them’s entirely in Latin! But how do you adapt an ancient language to the modern world of selfies and hashtags? Plus, pit bull lovers are giving their dogs a linguistic makeover; they’re calling their...
The Pope tweets in Latin! As it turns out, Latin is such an efficient language that it can compress a lot into 140 characters. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Pope Tweets in Latin” You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show...
Grant tells the story of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, who revived the use of Hebrew outside of religious contexts. In 1850, no one spoke Hebrew as an everyday household language; now it’s spoken by more than 5 million people. This is part of a complete...
cardinal n. a chairman of any subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee. Etymological Note: Probably from the similarity to the College of Cardinals at the Vatican, a body of men who collectively wield great power...
