In a nod to The Family Guy’s character Stewie Griffin, the A Way with Words family’s Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle about voiceless labial-velar approximants. Inspired by Stewie’s habit of pronouncing Cool Whip as “Cool Hwip,” John has...
Dennis in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, recalls that his Spanish-speaking mother used to speak frankly with him or rebuke him using the phrase “No tengo pelo en mi lengua,” meaning “I have no hair on my tongue.” The same idea appears in Italian, Welsh...
Hi, all! In this week's archive edition, we discuss classic children's books, Faulknerian language, the double meaning of "sanction" and other Janus words, and a newcomer to Texas wants to talk like his neighbors: Summer reruns are...
Did you learn the vowels as “a,” “e,” “i,” “o,” “u,” and sometimes “y” and “w”? A caller who was taught that in second grade was left wondering: When and where does “w” function as a vowel? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “The...
boskin n.— «Born in the Carmarthenshire village of Bancyfelin, he spoke only Welsh when the family moved to Carmarthen in 1947, where the monoglot English speakers of the town referred disparagingly to country dwellers as “boskins”—a slang relic of...
sauce shelf n.— «Half-man-half-Vera-Duckworth Lisa went topless in the pool for a drunken dip. Red-blooded male viewers reportedly averted their gaze as the hatchet-faced Welsh whinger unloaded her sauce shelf.» —“Action stations in BB house” by...