Word Jocks Lettered in Language

You’re listening to A Way with Words.

I’m Martha Barnette.

And I’m Grant Barrett.

And Martha, I see that you’ve been wasting a lot of time with the free rice game again.

I have indeed.

We received several emails about this site.

It’s called freerice.com and that’s freeze and gratis and rice as in grain.

It was started by a guy named John Green.

He lives in Bloomington, Indiana, and he’s a computer programmer who works with an anti-poverty organization.

And John noticed that his 15-year-old son was bored studying for his SATs.

So he combined both of those things into an online vocabulary quiz that’s underwritten by major advertisers.

And so for every answer you get right, those companies pay for one grain of rice to be donated to a United Nations food program.

And I have to say that the quiz is pretty darned addictive.

So Grant, I thought that while we’re on the air, you and I could have a little rice off between the two of us.

Aha.

How about that?

Let’s do it.

OK.

I’ll pick a word I saw on the site and ask you for the definition.

How about rampike?

R-A-M-P-I-K-E.

Does that mean A, standing dead tree, B, quicksilver, C, eyeglass, or D, custodian?

Rampike.

The tree.

How did you know?

I have no idea.

Pike is the clue, I guess.

Very good.

Because a pike is a pole, right?

Made out of wood.

Indeed.

Yes, a rampike.

Well, try this one.

I’m not quite sure of the pronunciation because they don’t give the pronunciations here, but the word is anserine, I believe.

A-N-S-E-R-I-N-E.

Perhaps that’s anserine?

I don’t know.

But the three possible meanings are goose-like, contract annulment, hoofed, or a turntable.

It’s definitely goose-like.

Why is that?

It comes from the Latin for goose.

I knew that the lady who wrote the book about animal words would get that one.

That’s right.

I chose that one just for you, Martha.

Thank you, thank you.

And I think it’s anserine because I used to run around making jokes about an answering machine, but I believe it’s anserine.

And when you said hello at the sound of the squawk, leave your message.

Well, you and I could do this all hour long.

In fact, we might do some more later on.

But that site again is freerice.com.

And if you’d like to get a bowl full of information from us about any aspect of language, call us at 1-877-929-9673 or email us.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Joanne from San Diego.

Hiya, Joanne from San Diego.

Hello, Joanne from San Diego.

Hey, guys.

How are you?

I’m great.

How are you two?

Great.

Good.

Super.

My question is about the word snarky.

Have you been called that lately?

The question is, has Grant been called snarky lately?

I mean, that’s sort of a statement.

That’s his M-O.

Oh, yeah, when they say that handsome snarky man.

I hear that all the time.

I was reading Anthony Bourdain’s book, Kitchen Confidential.

Oh, yeah.

And it kind of…

Yeah, it’s a really good read, right?

Yeah, it’s a really fun read.

And as I was reading it, I’m thinking, “Gosh, this guy’s really snarky.”

And then I thought, “You know, I don’t really know what that word means.”

I think it’s one of those words I kind of think I know, but not really.

Yeah, what do you think it means?

Well, like, sarcastic, but I know it means more than that.

That’s how I usually use it.

Yeah.

Well, it’s also about having a superior attitude, right?

Is it?

Yeah.

Now, where did it come from?

Because it’s just like a slang.

Yeah, I think of it as sort of that sort of snarky New York, brittle humor.

Oh, I always think of it as the snarky San Diegan dry humor, but okay.

Touché.

He’s coast, baby.

He’s coast.

No, but snarky goes with that category of words that begin with S-N.

Snort, snotty, snooty, snide, snippy, sneer, snob, snivel, snitch.

What else am I getting?

Snout.

Snout.

And they all literally or figuratively have something to do with the nose.

Either you actually have something going on with your nose, or you, so to speak, have your nose in the air.

You’re snooty or snobby or something like that.

I should say, every time this question comes up, because we have had this before, and people love this term, and it’s on the rise, I believe.

It’s hard to judge these things.

We have to mention it.

Lewis Carroll had a poem called The Hunting of the Snark in 1876.

That’s a different snark.

We’re not talking about the same snark.

But in any case, the adjective that we’re talking about dates to around the early 1900s.

It originally meant irritable or short-tempered.

Snarky tends to mean sarcastic or judgmental or excessively negative.

It’s really kind of in flux this term.

Well, I’m looking at the Oxford English Dictionary, and there’s a picture of Grant Barrett under that…

Har har.

That’s so funny, I forgot to laugh.

No.

But there’s also a verb that means to snore or to snort, and notice the S ends there.

And to find fault with, to nag, and that dates to the 1880s.

And these are all of the same family of snark.

And the word “narky,” which is a slightly older word and means the same thing.

Snarky without the S.

Interesting.

Well, guys, I’m looking at Webster’s third new international, and under the word snarky, there’s a line drawing of Grant Barrett.

Har har har.

That’s funny, though.

Joanne, don’t let her get away with that.

Anyway, Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential, tipped you off to a really interesting word, at least made you think of it.

He’s actually a pretty funny writer, and he’s not a bad judge of language.

That book in particular, I’ve gone through and combed for new words, because he just has an ear for these things.

Yes.

Wow.

And so do you, Joanne.

Thanks for calling.

Thank you so much.

Yeah.

Thank you so much.

Bye bye.

Bye.

Well, if you’d like to call me and the snarkster…

Line drawings of Grant.

Hello.

Under snarky.

And if you’d like…

And on my dartboard is a picture of Martha.

Har.

And if you’d like to talk with me and the snarkster, just give us a call.

The number is 1-877-929-9673, or send us a snarky email.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.

Hello.

You have A Way with Words.

Hello.

This is Scott from San Diego.

Hiya, Scott.

Hello, Scott.

Hi.

My wife and I have this argument all the time.

We argue over last-stitch effort versus last-ditch effort.

Mm—

And who’s on…

Wait.

Say that first one again.

That’s last-stitch.

S-T-I-T-C-H.

Correct.

Mm—

And then last-ditch.

D-I-T-C-H.

Mm—

My argument is it’s last-stitch effort coming from the Depression era to stitch something together to keep your clothes together versus my wife’s version of last-ditch effort.

Well, is she around?

Yes, she is.

Oh, can we talk to her?

Absolutely.

All right.

I am.

Hi, Martha.

How are you?

Hi, there.

Who’s this?

This is Jennifer.

Jennifer.

Hello, Jennifer.

So you guys argue a lot?

Well, we’re married.

Of course we argue.

But, you know, it’s just an intellectual argument.

So it’s our one.

Okay.

So, Jennifer, you’re arguing for last-ditch.

What’s your reasoning about last-ditch?

You know, I guess we’ve been arguing about it so long we forget who’s up for which side.

I actually say last-stitch effort like a woman sewing.

And I thought that it might have come from back when the women used to get to make all the clothing by hand, that it was your last-stitch effort to sort of bind up or tie or hold things together.

Mm—

And then we’ll argue for a while.

It sounds like we’ve been arguing about it long enough that we forget which side we’re on.

Yeah, it sounds like you’re on the same side.

Well, that’s what happens when you love and respect somebody.

You let them convince you of things, and so you both convinced each other.

It’s all about compromise.

That’s right.

You probably look alike, too, right?

Wear the same clothes.

Oh, I hope not.

You hope not.

Absolutely not.

Wow.

Well, let’s see if we can give you a verdict.

I haven’t answered.

My question for you, though, is whether or not this is going to ruin things, because sometimes it’s really nice just to argue about something innocuous so the big fights don’t come up.

Oh, I’m sure — I mean, if I spoil this for you, you’re not going to be able to argue about it anymore.

Well, that’s true, but I’m sure we’ll find something new to argue about.

Yeah, all right, all right, if you’re sure.

The correct answer is last-ditch with a D.

And it dates to the late 1880s, and it comes from the expression “to fight to the last ditch.”

Think about warfare, trench warfare.

And it’s contemporaneous with the last-ditch battle.

And last-ditch — I haven’t — I’ve never done a thorough search for this.

Last-ditch, S-T-I-T-C-H, doesn’t come up until the late ’80s or early ’90s.

Really?

I kind of like the Depression era, you know, just trying to hold your clothes together, you know, hold that little burlap sack to keep it from falling off your — It’s a nice post-Hawk explanation, that’s for sure.

Well, Scott, what do you think?

Well, I’m sad I was incorrect, but I’m happy to know the correct foundation of this one.

So we’ll find another one for you someday soon.

Oh, that sounds good.

I do like your image, Scott, I have to say.

But Grant’s right, it’s a military term.

Well, thank you guys very much for clearing that one up.

All right.

Happy marriage.

Thanks.

Thanks.

Bye-bye.

All right.

Bye-bye.

If you’ve got a dispute that needs resolving, we are the grammar judges.

At least we try to be, except when we’re fighting amongst ourselves.

The number to call is 1-877-929-9673.

Or you can send Martha and me emails at words@waywordradio.org.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Jean calling from Indianapolis, Indiana.

Hi, Jean, how are you?

Hello, Jean.

Great.

Well, do you have a question for us today?

My question is concerning the words “affect” and “effect.”

And when is the right time to use those, and have the rules changed since I was in high school?

The second question is easy.

No, the rules haven’t changed.

Okay.

So what are the rules?

I guess the best thing to say here first, that the noun “effect” and the noun “affect” are mixed up all the time.

But the thing is, “affect” as a noun is really rare, very rare.

It’s almost only used in psychological or pseudo-psychological contexts.

I mean, it’s just kind of like a jargon word.

So really, for most of us, “affect” with an “e” is the only noun that we need to care about in this whole big muddled mess.

So just remember that first of all.

So you can say, “He had an effect on me.

He made me change my mind.

Efect.”

It’s about “effect,” right?

You would never say, “He had an affect on me.

He made me change my mind.”

It’s not the “a,” all right?

Okay.

And then, on the other side, when we start talking about the verbs, we generally find the opposite is true, that “affect” is almost always the verb, and “effect” is very rarely the verb, except in very specific jargon cases.

Okay, good.

So the rules are the same as what I learned in high school.

Yeah, they’re not different, are they?

Thank goodness.

Some things don’t change.

Well, thank you for helping me with that.

All right, take care.

You’re welcome.

Take care of yourself.

Bye-bye.

Grant, the way I remember this is I always think of Virginia and Nebraska.

I don’t get it.

You don’t get it.

Let me explain.

Think of the postal addresses for Virginia and Nebraska, “VA” and “NE.”

So “VA” for “affect,” “affect” is always a verb, “NE” for “effect.”

“Effect” is always a noun, almost always a noun.

If you have a question about language, give us a call.

The number is 1-877-929-9673.

Or have an effect on us by email.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.

Okay, Martha, ready for another quiz?

Yes.

This one I have also picked for you.

I know you’re going to get it, but I’m going to do it anyway.

Ungulate.

U-N-G-U-L-A-T-E.

It’s a kind of hoofed animal, right?

The ungulate is a relative of onyx, actually, which comes from the word for fingernail.

Brilliant.

You’re so charming and brilliant.

It’s amazing.

Wonderful.

All rolled into one.

And that also is another one thanks to the freerice.com website.

Indeed.

And if you’d like to test our knowledge about language, don’t be shy.

The number is 1-877-929-9673.

Or email us.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.

Straight ahead, stay tuned for a word puzzle and more of your calls.

You’re listening to A Way with Words.

I’m Martha Barnette.

And I’m Grant Barrett.

And joining us once again is our quiz guy, Greg Pliska.

Greg, what’s up, dude?

How you doing?

It’s good to be back with you two.

I’m sorry the quizzes have been too easy for you.

-oh.

Famous last words.

They’re going to be in Russian today.

Oh, no.

Russian limericks.

So what do you have for us?

Well, knowing how much you two love sports, I’ve put together a little sports terminology quiz.

I call this double plays, where you have to guess terms that are used often quite differently in two sports or games.

Okay.

I’ll give you a definition of the word in the two different sports, and you give me the word.

For example, if I said, “In baseball, it’s bad for the batter.

But in bowling, it’s the best you can do with one ball.”

You would say?

Strike.

Right.

Oh, look at that there.

See, it’s not hard.

Yeah, right.

Yeah.

You know, this is like the three-card Monty games down on Canal Street.

You lure them in, and then you take their money.

Exactly.

So do you want to play, Grant?

Yeah, yeah.

I got 100 bucks right here.

Okay, perfect.

Now, note that I’m not limiting myself to the four major U.S. Team sports, football, baseball.

Oh, they’re all going to be about cricket.

And basketball, but I’m drawing — Tiddly Rinks and NASCAR.

Yes.

A wide variety.

Curling.

Well, no curling or sumo wrestling questions.

We’re going to just American pastimes.

Curling actually has a really great vocabulary.

Just you wait, then.

I’ll see what I can do.

So if you’re ready, we’ll turn some double plays.

Vamanos.

All right.

This is the usually aggressive opening shot in a game of billiards and a fast offensive move to the basket in basketball.

I know, I know, I know.

Martha, do you know?

I do.

Do you know, Grant?

No.

Yeah.

I have the slightest.

What sport is this?

It’s billiards and basketball.

A drive?

No.

I don’t know what it is.

No, it’s a break.

A fast break.

Oh, a break.

Yes.

Oh, of course.

Did you know that, Martha, because of all your time watching basketball or your squandered youth in pool halls?

Watching basketball?

Are you kidding?

I played basketball.

Oh, forgive me.

I warmed the bench one year at Stetson University in Florida and I once was put into a game on my church basketball team and I didn’t realize that it was after the first half and we had changed sides and so I made a break for the basket and I thought all these people were saying, “Go, go, go,” and they were saying, “No, no, no.”

And I made the basket.

It was really hard, but I didn’t have anybody guarding me.

It’s nice to know that Nerdy Spice has an athletic side.

Thank you.

How about another one?

Here’s another one for you.

When preceded by “the,” this is a minor league baseball player’s term for the top tier of his sport, the major leagues, while in horse racing, it’s just third place.

Oh.

Well, “the bigs.”

No.

Not that term.

Oh, another one that begins with a definite article.

Yeah, didn’t you watch Bull Durham?

I mean, that’s the source of all great minor league.

They talk about the bigs in Bull Durham.

There’s another word for what it is.

No, no, no.

The show.

The show.

Yeah, but a definite article doesn’t apply in horse racing.

No, that’s why I put it as part of the definition.

How about another one, Greg?

Here’s another one.

It’s something you aim for in both golf and bowling.

-oh.

And if anyone knows bowling, it’s Grant.

He’s got a— Happy hour?

Bowling shirt.

You get partial credit for that.

This is a Dickies work shirt.

It’s got a logo over the top.

That’s a coffee manufacturer.

Or bowling.

It’s your bowling nickname.

Oh, man.

Something you aim for?

What you aim for in golf and in bowling.

Well, maybe I’m making it harder than it is.

I mean, I’ve never heard of aiming for the hole in bowling, but do you?

Oh, the lane?

No.

Fairway?

What do you aim for in bowling?

The pin.

The pin.

The pin.

And in golf, that is also a term for the hole.

The pin, named for the flag that stands in the cup.

There we go.

For real, though.

Not bad.

For real.

You know, if those jocks in high school could see me now.

I have my own radio show.

Now I are one.

Okay.

Here, I’ve got some more for you.

The best possible shot in horseshoes or a superior player clandestinely brought onto a team?

Oh, wow.

Oh, that one’s good.

Grant knows all about horseshoes.

What?

Oh, oh, oh, I know.

It’s like the Avon lady.

Exactly.

Or what we turned off on our phones before we sat down.

I turned off my joy to the world ringtone.

What did you turn off?

I think we went far afield.

What was the question?

The best possible shot in horseshoes or a superior player clandestinely brought onto a team?

It is a ringer.

It is a ringer.

There you go.

Indeed.

Since you’ve mentioned it, I will have to include it, curling, in this question.

In the sport of curling, players do this in order to straighten or extend the path of the stone.

In football, this play sends the runner towards the sideline before he turns upfield.

And in the 2007 baseball playoffs, this was the lopsided result of the Colorado Rockies’ first two playoff series.

Where’s my broom?

Yeah.

It was a sweep.

It’s sweep is the correct answer.

Oh.

Did you get that because of the curling?

Actually, I did get it because it comes up every…

Because of the curling.

No, when I do my word hunting for new words, it comes up every two to four years when there’s a big curling or there are big curling events in the world.

Because it’s a new word every two to four years?

Well, when the newspapers present it to their audience, they say, “Oh, and here’s this interesting lingo. Check this out.”

And it comes up and I check it out just to make sure there’s…

There is an actually new lingo, right?

Yeah.

Sweet, which you’ve seen before.

But it’s interesting.

It’s an interesting thing.

And it’s easy to make fun of curling.

But really, what an intense sport that must be.

Oh, fascinating.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I did a little research in order to find a curling term to use on you.

Wow.

I’m so impressed.

Well, Greg, that was a fabulous sports quiz.

We have to hit the showers now.

Dibs.

I go first.

Martha uses all the hot water.

I didn’t know what he was dibbing on.

I’m going to take a bath.

Thank you.

Yeah, the stock market’s really down, isn’t it?

Mm—

Well, it’s been great to be with you guys once again.

Thanks, Greg.

Lots of fun, as always.

I’ll see you in the showers.

If you’re puzzling over a language question, puzzle no more.

Call us at 1-877-9299673 or e-mail us.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.

Hello.

You have A Way with Words.

Hi.

This is Helen from San Diego.

Hello, Helen.

This is Grant.

Hiya, Helen.

Pleasure to speak with you.

Great to have you on the show.

What’s going on with you?

Well, I have a question.

And I also have an 18-year-old that knows everything.

He’s a student at Cal Poly.

And I supply green building materials.

And they are all environmentally correct and eco-friendly.

And he always corrects me and tells me that I’m pronouncing it wrong in that I say ecological.

And he says I should say ecological.

So I’m calling to you, the brilliant ones, to inform you and enlighten me.

I want to know how to correctly pronounce a word that I use so frequently in the business that I’m in.

Oh, my gosh.

That loud, twisting sound you hear is our caller opening a giant can of grammatical worms.

Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun.

Dogs and cats within the sound of our voices are racing to their bowls, thinking they’re going to get something to eat because of that can-opening sound.

Oh, Helen, do we really want to go down that road?

Absolutely.

I have a teenager I’ve got to correct.

Or I’m either going to have to bow down to him.

Did you ever think about just saying environmentally friendly?

Well, I do that too, but I also have eco-products.

So he says I should be saying eco-products.

And I say no, it’s eco.

And that’s just the E-C-O.

Did you know that in English, ecology was first spelled with an O on the front of it?

No.

Like oenophile, ecology.

I’ve never even seen it that way.

How is that, if you can spell that for me?

O-E-C-O-L-O-G-Y.

Like an oenophile is a wine lover.

So I’m kind of inclined to say eco.

And I know that that’s sort of a Britishism, but…

I think you’ll find that’s permitted, and all of those are permitted in all of the American dictionaries.

I think you’re fine with eco or echo for any of those words.

Helen, in your industry, what do you hear most people saying?

I hear both.

And I’m talking from educators and professors all the way down to the laymen that install solar panels.

So it’s across the board, and I just…

So what are you going to tell your son?

I’m going to tell him that we’re both right.

But you’re mostly right.

Of course.

Wisdom, age, beauty, all those things that you have over him, right?

That’s right.

But I’m sure that he’ll start listening a lot more.

To our show?

Well, he does, actually.

Oh, okay.

All three of my teenagers do.

If we get an angry anonymous email with dirt tracks on it, we know who it’s from.

Well, it’d probably be from the entire Cal Poly staff, then.

Oh, boy.

We’re waiting.

I’ll take them on.

Bring it on, bucko.

That’s right.

I’m not afraid of them.

We appreciate your calling.

All right, thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thanks, Helen.

Thank you, Helen.

Bye-bye.

And keep up with the program.

We love it.

Right on.

Yay.

Bye-bye.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

You know, Grant, I don’t know how helpful we were there.

It’s such a hair-splitting discussion at this point in the…

The world ain’t black and white.

No, it isn’t.

It’s not black and white.

Sometimes stuff has two answers.

Yeah, yeah, and this word is undergoing.

The words in this family, I think, are undergoing an evolution.

Or would it be an evolution?

-oh.

Would it be a re-volution or a revolution?

You can tell us what you think 24/7, 365.

And that’s the correct order, by the way.

Thank you.

You can call us at 1-877-929-9673.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Gene from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

Hiya, Gene.

Hi.

What’s happening in Chippewa Falls?

Well, right now, it’s gloomy and rainy and cold.

Ooh.

Oh, lovely Wisconsin.

What’s on your mind, Gene?

I was wondering why the key for a bit lock is known as a skeleton key.

What’s a bit lock?

A bit lock is actually a privacy lock.

In older homes, every door has a bit lock on it.

The closet doors, the linen closets, the bedrooms, the bathroom, everything.

And one key will fit every lock.

Okay.

Are you a locksmith?

No.

But I went to a locksmith and asked her this question.

You did?

And she said, “I don’t know.”

She said, “Why don’t you call A Way with Words?”

She did?

She did not know the answer to why it’s called a skeleton key.

Awesome.

Wow.

So this is just that pared-down key that looks pretty universal, kind of the classic key-looking key?

Yes.

Yes.

In fact, my dictionary — let me read the definition to you then.

Which dictionary?

It’s Random House, and it’s an old one.

It’s 40 years old.

Well, not as old as I am.

But anyway, it said that it is pared down so that one key will fit many locks.

Right.

Right.

Sometimes it’s called a pass key too.

Well, let’s talk about the word skeleton.

It comes from the Greek “skeletos,” which means dried up.

Isn’t that great?

Great.

Grant, I don’t know if you did this in elementary school, but we used to always go around saying, “A skeleton is a person with the inside out and the outside off.”

Well, anyway, Gene, I think the idea with the skeleton key is pretty simple.

It’s just the key that’s pared down to its bare bones.

Like a skeleton crew, you know, at work when a bunch of people can’t go to work.

Now, I have a question for you, Gene.

Okay.

Do you think that your locksmith friend can teach us how to pick locks?

I’m sure she can.

Really?

I’m sure she can, yes.

You know, when I was in eighth grade, Billy Kelly offered to teach me how to do that for $10, and I, you know, I really wish I had taken him up on that.

Just 10 bucks.

I could have learned how to pick locks.

Yeah.

Well, Gene, I hope Martha has given you all the juice you need.

Did you get what you were after?

Yes, I did.

Thank you very much.

Super.

Thank you so much for calling, Gene, and tell your locksmith friend that we said thank you for the referral.

I will tell Patty that.

Thank you.

All right.

Thanks.

Bye-bye.

The key to all knowledge is at 1-877-929-9673, or you can e-mail us.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Ethely from Los Angeles.

Ethely, that’s a lovely name.

Thank you.

I’m calling you today from Galveston, Texas, just for a change of pace.

My question today is actually more of a tease.

I have been noticing more and more, and now I’m even starting to notice it among newscasters and all those screenwriters of all people should know better in dialogue on television shows that people are using between you and I instead of between you and me, which, you know, it would be, you know, it’s an object.

It could be in the objective case, but somehow the I sounds more proper.

I don’t know.

I’m just terrified that this is going to slide into acceptable usage, and I wanted your support on my ire.

Ethely, you have it.

We feel your pain.

Yeah, you know, they should ban books that use that, I think.

Really, you know, because Martha knows what I’m about to say, actually, then that would mean that they’re banning Shakespeare because he does that in Merchant of Venice.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But come on, Grant.

Antonio writes to Bassanio and he says, “All deaths are cleared between you and I if I might but see you at my death.”

I’m just telling you, I mean, it’s old.

But the question is, what takes their attempting then to portray this character as being subliterate?

Well, no, because it’s a letter about, it’s a very serious moment in Merchant.

It’s, no, not at all.

He didn’t have to characterize them through their writing at that point because it’s all said already and there’s no room there to, no, not at all.

I don’t think so.

Yeah, but, Ethely, Grant has a way of going around and finding all these exceptions to the rule and the rule is as you stated, it should be between you and me.

Me is an object.

I won’t deny that the Barnetteand Barrett safe bet, if we can like patent that term, the Barnetteand Barrett safe bet is to stick to between you and me.

Right, right.

Pay attention to that preposition though because this specifically only applies, we’re only talking about that whole phrase between you and me because there are other occasions where you might use you and I that is perfectly acceptable.

And I think that’s where people get confused is because they remember that there’s something about me that’s to be avoided so they go with I thinking it’s the safe choice and it isn’t and I think that’s what happens here.

And so the second part of my worry is this going to become so common it’s going to start being an acceptable alternative.

It is already.

It is already.

No, no, no, no.

Even Brian Garner says it’s to be avoided.

He doesn’t even come out and he is very conservative.

He does not come out against it.

Not fully.

Right, the linguistic authority of Brian Garner.

Yeah, see, well, but Grant, I mean, we know what the rule is.

A preposition takes an object, right?

Yes, it does.

And so all you have to do- And the problem here that people are using the nominative form instead of the objective, right?

That’s exactly right.

It’s the grammatical equivalent of spinach between your teeth.

It’s the grammatical equivalent.

Isn’t it, Efli, of like- Your fly’s undone, right?

I think we’re lining up on gender lines here, Martha.

I think it’s you and me against Grant.

We outnumber him.

Do you think- I have three sisters.

I know how to fight the ladies.

I think Grant has toilet paper trailing from his grammatical shoe.

You know, this isn’t rocket surgery.

It’s not brain science.

Just mentally, if your mind can work that quickly, Grant, all you have to do is put the preposition mentally in front of each of those and you’ll never go wrong.

Do you know how to get sugar out of your gas tank, Martha?

Because you’re about to learn.

Well, Efli, do you feel better at least now that you’ve called the peeves?

I’m glad that you’re on my side, Martha.

Do the ramparts, Efli.

There we go.

So it’s what you call the nuclear- it’s the final- it’s the nuclear option, as it were.

Oh, Lord have mercy.

You get to explode when people are saying, “Nuclear!”

That’s brilliant.

You even have difficulty saying it the wrong way.

That shows you how correct your speech is.

You got me.

Good for you.

Efli, this has been great fun.

Thanks for calling.

Hey, thanks so much for bearing the standard for all of us.

Enjoy.

Hang in there, Efli.

Bye-bye.

If you’d like to get in an argument with either one of us, the number to call is 1-877-929-9673.

I thought you were going to say, “If you’d like to get into an argument with I.”

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You’re listening to A Way with Words.

I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

And it’s time for another round of Slang This.

Today’s contestant is Mike Robb from Indianapolis, Indiana.

Mike, are you there?

I’m here.

Awesome.

Let me ask you this.

Do you have a favorite slang expression you’d like to share with us?

Well, I was trying to think of some, and I knew some from my former life in the Navy, but a whole bunch of them probably can’t be used on radio.

Good point.

Well, maybe you’ll be our first contestant to take a pass on that question.

You can tell us in secret later off the year.

Right.

Well, how about if we see how good you are at guessing the meaning of some other slang terms that we can say on the radio?

I hope I’m pretty good at guessing.

I’ll bet you are.

Well, let me tell you how we play.

Grant’s going to give you a slang term, and then he’ll present three possible examples of how that slang term might be used.

Now, only one of those is real, and the other two are bogus.

So, Mike, your job will be to tell us which example is the real thing.

So it’ll be three choices and one answer.

You got it?

All right.

Okay, so, Grant, take it away.

Mike, we’re going to have two terms for you to guess today, and the first one is “tape bomb.”

That’s two words, T-A-P-E-B-O-M-B.

I’m going to give you three clues for this, each one of them using the term in context, and you’re supposed to figure out which one of these clues is the correct one.

All right.

The first clue.

Hollywood dumps its worst movies in theaters, including the dreaded tape bomb, those films that are glued together out of endless reels in hopes of getting even a small portion of their investment back.

I bet there’s a lot of those.

Yeah.

Tons of them.

I’d say that’s like three-quarters of the movies in the theater.

No kidding.

Nine-tenths.

Gasoline bombs are powerful, but now insurgents have come up with a new invention called a tape bomb that’s more powerful still.

It’s a homemade device using magnetic powder collected from old music cassettes.

And then the third one.

On Tuesday, they had a tape bomb on Wall Street.

A big bank failed.

Orders flew to and fro, and they set a new all-time high record for trading volumes.

So, Mike, which of these three is the correct tape bomb?

Is it A, a really bad movie; B, an improvised explosive device made out of cassette tapes; or C, a big event on Wall Street that causes a lot of trading?

Well, I’ve never heard it used in relation to the movies.

I would have expected to, but I don’t think the second one is right.

I’ll have to go with C.

I would say the Wall Street usage.

That indeed is correct.

All right.

If you remember those old ticker tape machines, and I don’t think they still have them except as kind of curiosities to sit on the chairman’s desk, but those old tape machines would just spew paper right out.

This is where the ticker tape came from.

These days they use shredded normal paper when they have the parades down Broadway.

And a tape bomb is when the tape comes out of there so fast that it’s more than they can handle, and a big trading day would do that.

So, yes, a tape bomb is a big event on Wall Street that causes a lot of trading.

Ready for the next one?

Nice work, Mike.

Thanks.

I’m ready for the next one.

All right.

All right, here we go.

The next one is also two words.

It’s pixie money, p-i-x-i-e-m-o-n-e-y, pixie money.

And the first clue.

In the coastal communities of Alabama, there are no tooth fairies.

Instead, children stick their fallen teeth in socks and hang them out the window overnight.

In the morning, little weaned creatures have taken the teeth and left pixie money behind.

The second one, when it came time to leave her husband, Margie went to hunting for pixie money she’d buried about the property, under the oak, behind the tool shed, in chinks of the stone field wall.

And then the third one.

We paid almost $380,000 for the house four years ago, and the last tax assessment valued it at more than $500,000.

But the difference is just pixie money we’ll never see.

In this housing market, we’d be lucky to get $250,000.

So, there are your three clues.

Which is the correct use of pixie money?

Is it A, coins left by mythical creatures who take children’s lost teeth?

Is it B, caches of money hidden in case of emergency?

Or is it C, the amount something is supposedly worth beyond the amount for which you can sell it?

Well, I think I’ll have to go with the easy answer.

I don’t want to look too deeply into it.

I’d say the first one.

Actually, it’s the third one.

It’s the most boring one.

Pixie money is the amount that something is worth beyond what you can actually get for it if you try to sell it.

And it definitely applies these days in the housing market.

Certainly.

So, thanks for playing, Mike, today.

It was great fun.

Yeah, I had a good time.

Thank you.

One other thing, Mike, to say thanks, we’re going to send you a copy of Grant’s book.

It’s called “The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang.”

Oh, that would be great.

It’s not boring at all.

It’s very exciting.

We promise.

And the next year I’ll probably be using it very often.

Absolutely.

Put that next to the TV guide when you watch the debates.

And if you’d like to join our quiz on the air, the number is 1-877-929-W-O-R-D or email us at words@waywordradio.org.

Be sure to include all your phone numbers and your favorite slang word.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Vicki from Brookfield, Wisconsin.

Hi, Vicki.

Hi, Vicki.

What’s going on?

Well, I have a question in regards to a word that we use frequently, but there’s someone in my family that pronounces it very differently from the rest of us, and we want to know the correct way to pronounce it.

Oh, my.

What’s the word?

Are you going to gang up on this person?

Just maybe, but the word is plethora.

Okay, spell it for us.

P-L-E-T-H-O-R-A.

Now, most of the people in my family say plethora, but there’s one person who insists on saying plethora, and every time she says it we all look at each other and wonder.

Do you correct her, Vicki?

Oh, no, no.

No.

Oh, so is she an older person?

Yes.

Is she at least 276 years old?

She’s our mother, though, so we don’t question.

Oh, she’s your mother.

Oh, boy, here we go.

This isn’t really a pronunciation question, is it?

This is a grammar manners question.

Yes, it is.

Yeah.

Okay, so you had the correct pronunciation, right, Martha?

She said it basically spot on.

Oh, she said it absolutely correctly for English.

The reason I asked whether your mother was at least 276 years old is because I’m doing the math here while looking at the Oxford English Dictionary, which is a pretty tough trick, I have to say, doing math and looking at the Oxford English Dictionary, but it looks like back in 1731, there was a dictionary that did pronounce it plethora.

Really?

Yes, and the reason is that it comes from the ancient Greek, plethora, which means fullness, but at some point during the evolution of English, the accent moved to exactly the way you said it, plethora.

Okay.

So as long as your mother isn’t from — We have longevity in our family, but not that long.

Here’s another question for you.

You know, the original sense of plethora was a bodily condition characterized by an excess of blood.

There are all sorts of icky definitions for plethora in its most early use.

Okay.

But then it evolved.

I mean, this is a word that has really evolved over time from a specific medical use, talking about an excess of blood, to what we think of today, a whole bunch of stuff.

Yeah.

Right, now we just say it means a lot or many, and we just kind of exchange it with myriad correctly or incorrectly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Great.

Well, have we helped you?

The two answers are yes, you’re pronouncing it correctly, no, she’s not pronouncing it correctly, and the third piece of advice that you didn’t ask for that we’re offering you is don’t correct her.

And we shouldn’t?

I wouldn’t.

She’s your mother.

Just let it go.

But now I know we’re pronouncing it correctly.

I’m good with that.

Yeah, I don’t correct my father for that stuff.

It’s usually not worth it.

Well, Vicki, thanks for an interesting question.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye now.

Martha, I’m making a note here.

You gave her a pass.

I did?

What do you mean I gave her a pass?

You were very permissive on that call.

What are you saying?

You said that she could save plethora.

If she’s 276 years old.

What about in her 60s?

There’s still time to learn, right?

Correcting your parents for this sort of thing, that’s a tough business.

I mean, even as adults, one adult correcting another, it’s that relationship that kind of comes to the fore no matter how right something is.

I would just bite my tongue and go for a walk.

If you have a plethora of questions you’d like to ask us, the number is 1-877-929-9673 or email us.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.

Okay, Mr. Google-Fu, are you ready for another vocabulary quiz?

Yes, ma’am.

Go ahead.

All right.

Okay.

Stridulate, S-T-R-I-D-U-L-A-T-E.

What does that mean?

To rake concentric lines in sand.

I like that.

I like that.

I don’t know.

You can’t have concentric lines.

You can have concentric circles, parallel lines.

I like it.

I like it.

It means to chirp.

I was completely wrong when you were just being polite.

Yeah.

Well, if you’d like a few grains of wisdom about language, call us, 1-877-929-9673.

Or send us an email.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is John Collin from Unionville, Indiana.

Hiya, John.

Unionville.

Hello, John.

That’s near Bloomington, right?

It’s just outside of Bloomington, yeah.

What do you do there in Unionville?

I’m a home builder.

I build houses, and I’m a full-time parent.

Yeah?

Yeah, and I’ve got two boys that are music fans just like myself.

We all collect stringed instruments and play.

I play in a band, and I have a pretty sizable record collection, which kind of is at the heart of my question for you guys today.

Okay.

All right, let’s hear it.

People increasingly use the abbreviation CD now to refer to what I’ve always called an album or a record, by which I mean, loosely, a collection of songs.

I’ll give you a real quick example of how I encounter this.

Okay.

My band and I, two years ago, we went into the studio and recorded 12 songs in one long, hectic day, all of which we used to put on a record, which is called Childhood Music, which we released last year.

Now, when we perform in a nightclub or something, I’ll usually say, “If you’d like to get a copy of our record, talk to me after the show.”

And more than a few times, I’ve had people come up to me afterwards and say, “I don’t have a record player, but do you have any CDs?”

And bless their hearts, maybe I’m overreacting, but it just kind of drives me up a wall.

I guess my question is, is this an example where the medium or the method of delivery has become more important than the item itself?

Any thoughts?

Whoa, what a messy one though, John.

What a whole big mess of stuff there, because on the one hand, you say that it’s fine to call your CD a record, but on the other hand, you say it’s not fine to call your album a CD.

Is that what you’re saying?

Kind of, yeah.

I just think maybe this is something that’s unique to music.

I’ve tried to figure out other examples, maybe from newspaper, which is always called a paper, or film, which is a movie.

I don’t think anyone would ever walk up to Robert De Niro and say, “Hey, I saw your new DVD last night.

I really loved it.

It was great.”

You know what I mean?

It’s somehow, in music at least, compact discs have become the item itself, rather than the little metal disc on which it’s imprinted.

Let’s just stick to the music for a second and not look for a parallel here somewhere else.

There’s one major factor here that’s at play, and I think it’s important to keep this in mind as we talk about the rest of it.

This is what’s called a meronim, M-E-R-O-N-Y-M.

A meronim is a term that actually denotes part of something, but is used to refer to the whole thing.

For example, if we’re going to say Wall Street, and by Wall Street we mean the entire finance industry, we’re not actually talking about the street anymore, we’re talking about all of the businesses involved with money in the United States.

In this particular case, let’s talk about the album for a second.

If we’re talking about an album, the album actually originally referred to the entire collection of the disc, plus the paper binding of the cardboard and the inserts and the art and the whole set of things.

It’s kind of a book-shaped thing that you insert discs in and the liner notes.

I see.

Very complex here.

Yeah.

So if CD’s out and record’s out, because people get confused when you say record, they think you’re actually trying to push vinyl on them.

Right.

I think you’re safe with album every time.

Album is probably, yeah.

I do.

Whether you’re talking about a CD or old-school vinyl, or you’re actually talking about a collection of digital files, like Radiohead, where you’re selling them online.

One thing that I think would be interesting is to start putting out, put a CD inside an album-sized package, just with a little tiny plate in there to put your CD in, but you open it up, you get to retain the big, all the room for the artwork and the print pictures and the printing.

And then also you have space for your address so that Greenpeace knows where to send the complaint.

Actually, oh, boy.

You really stirred it up now.

Well, John, thanks for stirring up an interesting chat.

Thank you.

I really enjoy your show, and thanks for letting me be part of it.

All right.

Best of luck with the next album.

What’s the name of your band?

I’m John Diener, and my band is called The Enthusiasts.

What a surprise.

Yeah.

Thanks for calling.

Thank you guys very much.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

♪ All the good that it does ♪ ♪ Pushing through ♪ ♪ You may find ♪ ♪ There is no need to ♪ ♪ Make up your mind ♪

Wow.

Grant, I really like the word album.

I love the different combinations of tunes and playlists and CDs and albums and recordings of this and that.

I think album is a good catch-all term.

I do, too.

If you’ve got an opinion on it, give us a call at 1-877-929-WORD, or send us an e-mail to words@waywordradio.org.

Hey, Grant, how about one more round of free rice?

Shoot.

What does the word ensiform mean?

It’s shaped like a cylinder with a hole in it.

It’s pretty close.

Sword-shaped.

Sword-shaped.

Were you just guessing?

I mean, you could beat a man with a pipe just as easy.

You could cut him with a sword.

All right, well, here’s my turn.

How about this?

What’s a colobus?

C-O-L-O-B-U-S?

I was going to say, that’s probably a cylindrical something or other, no?

No.

Oh, darn.

What is it?

It’s a monkey.

Really?

Yes, it goes ooh, ooh, ooh.

Okay.

My boy likes those noises.

Yeah?

Well, I guess we stumped each other there.

Anyway, you can keep playing the game at freerice.com.

After you finish, why not wander over to our discussion forum and tell us how you did?

The address is waywordradio.org.

You’ll also find podcasts of previous episodes of our show.

And if you’d like to chat with us in real time, call us.

The number is 1-877-929-9673.

Or write to us at words@waywordradio.org.

Our senior producer is Stefanie Levine.

A Way with Words is directed and edited by Tim Felten.

You say either and I say either.

You say neither and I say neither.

We’ve had production assistance from Robert Fung and Dana Polakovsky.

A Way with Words is produced at Studio West in San Diego.

I like potato and I like potato.

You like tomato and I like tomato.

Potato, potato, tomato, tomato.

Let’s call the whole thing off.

I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

Inviting you to join us next time right here on A Way with Words.

And oh, if we ever part, then that might break my heart.

So if you like pajamas and I like pajamas, I’ll wear pajamas and give up pajamas.

For we know we need each other, so we better call the calling off off.

Let’s call the whole thing off.

You say laughter and I say lofter.

You say after and I say after.

Laughter, laughter, laughter, after, after.

Let’s call the whole thing off.

You like vanilla and I like vanilla.

You sarsaparilla and I sarsaparilla.

Vanilla, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry.

Let’s call the whole thing off.

But oh, if we call the whole thing off, then we must part.

And oh, if we ever part, then that might break my heart.

So if you go for oysters and I go for ersters, I’ll order oysters and cancel the ersters.

For we know we need each other, so we better call the calling off off.

Let’s call the whole thing off.