Quiz Master John Chaneski has a game about professions that match their respective verbs. What, for example, does a tutor do? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Professions as Verbs Quiz” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m...
Have you heard chick used as a verb? Runners and triathletes use it to refer to a female passing a male in a race, as in You just got chicked! This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Chick Verb” I recently came across the word chick as a...
What’s an oxter? It’s another term for the underarm, primarily used in Northern England, Scotland, and Ireland. A bit nicer than armpit, isn’t it? Oxter can also serve as a verb, as in, “We oxtered him out of the club.” Need another synonym for that...
If you’re looking for a great book about writing, Martha recommends Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch: Let Verbs Power Your Writing. In it, Constance Hale offers an accessible, bang-up course in writing with excerpted passages that really show how the greats...
When you put the kibosh, or kybosh, on something, you’re putting a speedy end to it. This term, usually pronounced KYE-bosh, first showed up in print when Charles Dickens used it in 1836, writing under the pseudonym Boz. In that piece, it was spoken...
Is it okay to make a verb out of a noun? Yes! It’s estimated that twenty percent of English verbs started as nouns. Just think of the head-to-toe mnemonic: you can head off a problem, face a situation, nose around, shoulder responsibility, elbow...