Words of the Year 2007

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette. And Grant, it’s that time of year when various organizations start declaring their choices for Word of the Year.

Now, you’re a member of the American Dialect Society, that group of linguists who chose truthiness and Pluto for the past couple of years.

But really, Grant, how seriously are we supposed to take this whole Word of the Year thing anyway?

It’s incredibly important. You’ll be tested on it later.

Oh, no.

No, really.

No, no.

It’s whimsical.

Whimsical?

Well, I actually can speak for a couple of dictionary publishers.

All of these word of the year things aren’t to be taken too seriously.

None of the people, including the American Dialect Society, none of these groups are official, august bodies of pointy-headed intellectuals, you know, inducting words into the English language.

There’s just no such thing.

All they are is a bunch of people goofing off and kind of just bringing to light some words that they found throughout the last 12 months that are worth paying attention to.

Well, what are some of the big contenders for Word of the Year this year?

I don’t know about big contenders, but I have my own list.

I have 60 some odd words, as a matter of fact, that I’m going to nominate in various ways in various places.

Yes, there’s lots of stuff, and that’s a fraction of the stuff.

But one of the words is actually kind of boring, but I think you’ll see right away that the word subprime actually had a really important role to play in this last year.

You’re kidding.

Think about the mortgage crisis, for example, and all these exploding mortgages, as they’re called, when people can’t afford to pay them.

And it’s bad for not only the person who’s taken their mortgage out, but it’s bad for the bank.

And it’s turned out this year to be bad for the hedge funds to take those bad or risky mortgages and bundle them together and turn them into investment properties.

And they’ve lost billions, billions on these things.

So the word subprime, boring and jargony, but highly indicative of something that took place this year.

So it doesn’t have to be overly clever or anything.

It just has to be significant within the life of the year.

Yeah, that’s right.

Clever is fun, and I have a bunch of those.

But, yeah, it’s kind of like Time Magazine’s Man of the Year or Person of the Year, so to speak.

Only a word.

Well, sometimes they’re Hitler, you know, and sometimes they’re Lee Iacocca.

So sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re bad.

Well, you know what my nomination is for Word of the Year?

No.

I would say Facebook used as a verb.

Oh, that’s so three years ago.

Oh, is it?

I don’t know.

I finally just heard it at a party.

I was leaving a party, and I heard this young woman say, hey, Facebook me.

And it just, I don’t know, maybe I’m an old funny daddy.

Oh, did they say that really?

Oh, yeah.

Is that the new call me, and they don’t really mean it?

Yeah, I think it is.

I think it’s Facebook me.

Let’s have lunch, and now it’s room to face with, oh, Facebook me.

Because then they can refuse to be friended by you, right?

Yeah, friended.

That’s another great one.

Yeah, I think this whole social networking phenomenon is really significant.

And I don’t know.

Maybe it just now trickled down to me.

But I’m kind of fascinated by Facebook.

Oh, I’m just mocking you old people, you know.

Sometimes it takes you a while to catch up.

Right.

You use it all the time.

You know, to your credit, though, at least you didn’t say, I heard about this thing, the Facebook.

On the internets.

On the internets.

And the tubes connecting it all together.

Okay.

Well, the young whippersnapper here and I would love to hear your nominations for Word of the Year.

What word or expression really stood out for you in 2007?

You can talk about it right now in our discussion forum.

That’s at waywordradio.org.

And if you have a question or comment about language, give us a call anytime, day or night, 1-877-929-9673.

Or email us at words@waywordradio.org.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, Grant. Martha, this is Amber, and I’m calling from San Diego.

Hiya.

Hello, Amber. What’s going on?

Well, I was recently invited to a potluck, which I’ve been invited to potlucks my entire life.

I grew up going to church every Sunday, and every Sunday after church, we’d always have a big potluck dinner, which I loved as a kid, and I still love potlucks.

I’m very curious about where the word potluck came from.

It was the first time that I sat back and thought, what does that word mean, and why did it ever, I mean, I’m hoping that it’s not just a simple, you eat from this pot and you’re lucky if it tastes good.

I don’t know.

But I’m curious about where that works.

Martha, quick, think of a lie.

Again?

Well, Amber, first of all, let me ask you about your potlucks because you are bringing back some fabulous memories for me.

Now, when I went to church growing up, we called it dinner on the grounds.

Oh, how funny.

Yeah.

We called it dinner on the grounds.

And if our dinners on the grounds were like your potlucks, then it meant, you know, all the little church ladies would bring all this food and Tupperware and bowls with saran wrap.

And they put all the meats one place and all the vegetables one place and all the salads one place.

Yes.

And there’s the creepy like ambrosia salad with like the fruit and marshmallows.

Yes.

And there wasn’t just one.

There were like five or six of them.

And Jell-O, the weird Jell-O thing with the whipped cream and weird fruit in it.

Yeah.

Exactly.

No, it was not picnic.

What did you say?

Picnic on the ground?

Well, we called it dinner on the ground.

Dinner on the ground.

No, this was a potluck.

Okay.

But it’s the same idea, right?

Same exact idea.

Right.

Right.

I’ve also seen it called a covered dish supper.

Oh, no.

I haven’t heard that one.

And you have a book on food, words and food, right?

I do, yes.

So did you cover this word?

I believe I did, and I’m afraid that potluck is pretty simple.

It’s pretty much.

That’s why she was distracting you with all the talk of food.

Well, that’s right.

But honestly, Amber took me back to the, you know, and you sit on folding chairs on the church grounds and fried chicken and pecan pie like you have never.

Oh, and some of the best casseroles ever.

Ever.

Yes.

Yes.

I mean, the rest of the time you hate casseroles, but at a potluck.

But that’s when you first discover that other people’s cooking can be as good as your mom.

Right, right.

Or sometimes better.

Sometimes better, but you don’t tell her.

Exactly.

Exactly.

But, Amber, your instincts are right on there, I’m afraid.

It’s whatever you’re lucky enough to find in the pot.

Oh, that’s so funny.

Well, you know, I like that English sometimes is transparent, because so often when we answer these calls about the origin of words, it’s like, I don’t know, I’ve got no idea.

Right.

And we could spend weeks or months or even years on this and still have no idea.

But finally, we give somebody an answer, and they’re like, oh, that’s kind of unspectacular.

It’s so simple that it’s, right, I’m kind of feeling stupid that I called in.

No.

You what?

You know what?

You brought back memories for Martha.

Her childhood was such a long time ago.

She needs refreshing.

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

Zimmer down now, Grant.

There you go.

Tell him, Amber.

Yeah, the fact is my childhood was so wonderful.

I’m glad to hear that there’s other words for it because I think I prefer dinner on the ground.

I like that.

Do you?

Or a pitch-in.

That’s cute, too.

A pitch-in.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, Amber, thank you so much for calling it.

And I hope you have good luck at your potlucks.

Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Enjoy your show.

Bye-bye.

All right, bye-bye.

Thank you.

You know, the danger, Grant, isn’t going to small potlucks because if you don’t coordinate those, you get seven Tupperware containers of three bean salad and four bags of Doritos.

Yeah.

And also there’s always that one participant or that one family that just brings the KFC instead of making something.

And KFC is good, but, you know, I’d rather somebody’s casserole or mac and cheese or homemade fried chicken or their apple pie or the cobbler, the peach cobbler with the flaky crust on top and the gooey crust on the bottom.

And the cinnamon and sugar in between.

Stop, Grant, stop.

Fresh peaches right out of the field.

Oh, man.

No, yeah, you know, there’s a famous book that I like to quote or talk about anyway.

That’s William Leastheat Moon’s book, Blue Highways, and just a really great book.

He talks about being on the road traveling and always knowing that the fish fry or whatever dinner was happening at the church was the place to go.

And that’s kind of what you’re talking about.

You’re talking about that feeling of community and feeling of food and feeling like you can eat as much as you want and there’s still going to be more.

That’s right.

Yeah, welcoming a stranger.

Welcome a stranger.

Great stuff.

Good eating.

Yeah, well, send us your food stories and your food questions to words@waywordradio.org.

And you can call us at 1-877-929-WORD.

That’s 1-877-WAYWORD.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Ray Grimble from Anderson, Indiana.

Hello, Ray.

What’s going on?

Well, we’re very excited about being on your show.

I love it, and I listen to it as much as I possibly can.

Oh, that’s fabulous.

Now, you’re in Anderson.

I’ve always wanted to get up there and see the mounds.

Right.

It’s wonderful.

You’ll have to come.

They’re still there, and they’re still doing surveys and what have you.

And these are Indian mounds, right?

They are.

What do they look like?

They are round and mounded up.

They look like mounds?

That was the quickest word that I could get to there.

Oh, wow.

Wow.

Well, great.

Well, what are you calling about from mound country there?

Well, what I’m calling about is that there are some words that really bother me, and one of them is pundint.

I can’t find that word in the dictionary.

I’d like to know the etymology of that.

Wait, pundint?

P-N-D-I-N-T, and a lot of very influential persons have used it.

In print or out loud?

Out loud, yes.

Yeah, give us an example.

Well, you know, for instance, I’ve heard one of the persons who’s running for president say that and pundits don’t understand or what have you.

Oh, my goodness.

-huh.

I’ve been fortunate to miss that, but Ray, I feel your pain there.

Do you like popsicles?

I do.

You know when you get down to the bottom of the popsicle and you rub that wooden stick against your teeth accidentally?

Yes.

You know how awful that feels?

Yes.

That’s what pundit feels like to me.

Well, we feel the same way.

Thank you.

We need to form a support group, Ray.

Exactly.

I can’t stand that pronunciation.

And you’re right.

A lot of people do it.

And you know what freaks me out about it, too, is that I don’t think they even realize that they’re doing it.

I think they might be spelling it correctly, P-U-N-D-I-T.

But somehow that N gets stuck in there.

Exactly.

And one of the people is a person from Harvard University, of all places.

We’re narrowing it down.

Aren’t we?

It happens.

Well, there’s just, I don’t understand this one because it comes from pandit, meaning a learned man in India.

I mean, there’s just no N in there anywhere.

Right, exactly.

In the second syllable anywhere.

Right.

Well, you know, it’s used so much that I wonder if it’ll be accepted as a word later on.

I sure hope not.

No, I don’t think it’s common enough for that.

Okay.

I don’t think it’s common enough for that.

That’s good.

Now what’s going to happen is you’re going to hear it an awful lot.

Well, I appreciate your peeving on that one because we always have a few things, each of us.

I try to keep my peeves to a minimum, but there are a couple of things that just…

This one just sets my teeth on edge. It really does.

It does. Absolutely, yes.

Ray, thank you so much for your call.

Thank you for calling the pundits.

Thank you so much. It’s been fun and I enjoy the show.

Call the pundits here anytime.

I shall.

Back to the mounds.

Have a good evening.

Bye-bye.

Martha, you’re a little worked up there, red in the face, sweaty on the brow.

I can’t stand that.

And when I stop people and say, what did you just say?

They say, I said pundit, but they don’t hear it.

They don’t hear it.

Pundit in your dialect.

Yes, that is correct.

Etymologically, there’s just no reason for that.

Anyway.

Oh, we don’t base pronunciations of words on etymologies.

Calm now.

You’re going to slip that in and then go straight to the out cue?

No way.

You’re not getting away with that one.

It’s not how it works.

If you want to take it up with Grant, the number is 1-877-929-9673 or email us.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.

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 very own Mr. Quizard, Greg Pliska.

Hello, Greg.

Hello, Grant.

Hello, Martha.

Hiya, Greg.

You worked any crossword puzzles lately?

I haven’t worked any particular crossword puzzles, but I did have a chance to spend a weekend up at Mohunk Mountain House with Will Shorts’ Wonderful World of Words weekend.

How was it?

It was a Wonderful World of Words.

What is that? What do you do?

It’s a great weekend with a bunch of speakers and games.

I was there to host a treasure hunt puzzle that sent people all over the mountain house looking for various bits and pieces of things and solving some puzzles.

And in fact, today’s puzzle is an expansion of one of the puzzles I used in the treasure hunt at Mohunk Mountain House.

Oh, great.

Recycling your work.

Well, you may have noticed that both words in the name Mohunk Mountain start with the same two letters, M-O.

So every answer in today’s challenge shares that property.

They are all two words, both starting with the same pair of letters.

Whoa.

And in this case, the letters will be the first two letters of your first names, either G-R or M-A.

-huh.

Oh, wow.

So here’s an example.

If I gave you the clue, the opposite of trade in the book business, you would say…

Fiction? No.

What? The opposite of trade?

You’ve got your trade paperbacks.

Right, and then you have your…

And then you’ve got your two-word phrase.

Both words start with M-A.

Mass market.

Mass market.

Mass market, exactly.

Exactly.

Exactly.

See, I worked in reference publishing, and we just don’t really have a lot of mass market stuff.

All right.

Well, here’s your first clue.

What you’d have to study to understand the syntax of the Iliad.

I know, I know, I know.

Oh, Greek grammar.

Oh.

Is that what you were going to say, Martha?

That was teamwork.

Did you have a better answer?

BSP is working.

That’s correct.

The answer is Greek grammar.

Greek grammar.

And now from the classics to classic pop culture, I guess.

A publication that parodies Playboy’s fold-out centerfolds with its own fold-in back cover.

Oh, of course.

I was actually just thinking about that today.

Why?

Mad Magazine.

Why were you thinking about Mad Magazine?

Because somebody sent us at the radio show.

They sent us to a link of Cracked, actually, which is the Mad Magazine competitor on the Cracked website.

Oh, right.

A link for some difficult words.

I’ll post it online.

And people can see it.

It also has some pictures of some completely unrelated lovely ladies reading books, but that’s something else.

Oh, yeah, I remember those little fold-in.

That’s right.

I loved those, and I would spend a great many hours making my own.

Yes, who didn’t?

They were almost always like a tree, though, when you got them together, because they were easy to do.

And when they were unfolded, they didn’t look like anything.

No, no.

That’s why they hired the professionals at Mad Magazine.

Okay, going on.

An annual college basketball tournament.

Oh, of course I know that.

That’s the state religion in Kentucky.

The Fano Four?

No, never mind.

I was just trying to do that with a weird accent and make it work.

It didn’t work.

How can we…

I don’t know what.

It either starts with M-A or with G-R.

March Madness.

March Madness, absolutely.

The big dance.

And here’s one.

Martha got March Madness quickly.

We’ll see how she does with this one.

Your clue is an orgy.

An orgy.

An orgy.

You know what an orgy is, right?

Great big grope.

Close.

Groping Grant.

This is a dictionary phrase, actually.

This one.

What?

It’s a two-word phrase.

Great big orgy.

I mean, orgy, what?

Synonym for orgy, yes.

Orgy.

You’ve got the right second word.

Grope?

Grant?

Oh, group, grope.

Group grope.

Oh, group grope.

Absolutely.

Here’s another one.

She met with Pat Nixon in 1972.

She did?

She did.

And it’s either GR or MAMA?

Or MAMA, yes.

Met with Pat Nixon.

Would that be somebody from China?

Yes.

It would?

Yes, their husbands were meeting.

What is her first name?

I don’t know what her first name is.

Mrs.

Last name.

Her actual name was Jane King or Ching.

I’m not sure how you pronounce the Q-I-N-G.

But her title, as she was named.

This isn’t a panda, right?

This is a person.

Oh, this is a person, exactly.

Was it Madame Mao?

It was, in fact, Madame Mao, yes.

Oh, good.

Good one.

All right, you’re just flying through these.

Yeah, but you gave us enough.

Plenty of clues there.

Here’s another.

The Sex Pistols manager, who’s also known for his 1984 single based upon Madame Butterfly.

Malcolm McLaren.

Malcolm McLaren.

Is that what you said?

Yeah, what did I say?

Oh, I thought you said Malcolm McLare.

No, McLaren.

Okay.

I said McLaren.

That is correct.

I was a Sex Pistols fan from early, as early as I could possibly be and still actually be conscious.

Really?

Yeah, there was a skater at one of the schools I went to who turned me and my brother on to the Pistols.

It was kind of cool.

Oh, man, I wasn’t allowed to listen to them.

Well, you are of a different age.

That’s right.

I’m a lot younger than Grant.

That’s right.

I wasn’t old enough.

Malcolm McLaren is arguably the father of punk rock, in fact.

Some people credit him with that.

I’ve got two bonus questions for you that both involve more than two words that start with the same pair of letters.

All right, let’s hear it.

One is the name of the army officer played by Bob Newhart in the film Catch-22.

Gracious sakes, I have no idea.

It’s actually the same word four times.

Really?

Major, Major, Major, Major?

Major, Major, Major, Major is absolutely correct.

Mostly referred to as Major, Major.

Right.

But his last name was Major, and he was given the first and middle name, Major and Major,

And then he attained the rank of Major.

So he was Major, Major, Major, Major.

Wow.

And it was decreed that he could be neither promoted nor demoted,

Because he had to remain as Major, Major, Major, Major.

And here’s one with the other pair of letters today.

Joseph Kennedy to Patrick Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Great, great.

Grandfather.

Absolutely correct.

How about that?

Wait a minute.

Don’t they have to be the same word?

Great, great.

No, G-R-G-R-G-R.

Yeah.

I mean, it’s a hyphenated word.

I’ll give you that.

All right.

It’s not three separate words.

Well, it is.

Yes.

It’s one long hyphenated word.

Hey, Greg.

Yes?

Great.

Gracias.

Magnificent, Martha.

Well, hey, if you’re puzzling over a language question, call us.

The number’s 1-877-929-9673.

Or send us an email.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.

And while you’re online, why not drop by and commune with your fellow word lovers in the A Way with Words discussion forum?

You’ll find it at waywordradio.org.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Rachel Nations from Orlando, Florida.

Hi, Rachel. Welcome.

Hello, Rachel.

What do you do there in Orlando?

I’m an eighth grade student.

Oh, awesome. Awesome. Well, what would you like to talk with us about today, Rachel?

Well, I have a question about a word that I saw when I was studying for the spelling bee, the Scripps Howard’s spelling bee, two years ago.

I made it to regionals, and I was looking at the Paideia book.

And I saw a word I believe is pronounced agathicological.

It’s spelled A-G-A-T-H-A-K-A-K-O-L-O-G-I-C-A-L.

Are you sure it’s spelled that way?

Yes, I memorized it.

I saw it and I didn’t know what it means and thought it looked fascinating.

It sounds like it.

And say that more slowly for us.

Agathica ecological.

Agathica ecological.

Wow.

All right.

Well, and you want to know if Agatha Cockological is real?

Yes.

And what it means.

-huh.

So they didn’t even tell you what it means?

I thought they included that stuff.

No, it didn’t tell you what it means.

It just gives you the words.

Oh, my goodness.

Now, what do you think about that, Rachel?

Because, you know, some people criticize spelling bees because people simply memorize stuff and don’t really understand the words.

What do you think about that?

I wanted to know what it means because it’s not really having a point knowing it if you don’t know what it means.

Right on, Rachel.

You’re a fellow word nerd just like us, aren’t you?

Yes.

That’s how you got to regionals.

Way to go.

Well, good for you and good for your curiosity about this word.

So let’s break this down as a team because I think Martha has got the Greek knowledge here.

You are a spelling champion and I’m the gadfly who can crack jokes, all right?

He’s the comic relief.

Now, here’s the thing is, I think actually there are two spellings for this.

And the one that is most common is A-G-A-T-H-O-K-A-K-O-L-O-G-I-C-A-L.

And you spelled it A-G-A-T-H-A.

So that if you were hunting for it in books and the internet, that might have affected your ability to find the word.

All right?

So if we break it down after the O, A-G-A-T-H-O, that first part is probably from the Greek word agathos, meaning good.

Right, Martha?

You got it. Agathos.

And then we have the K-A-K-O or the K-A-K, but K-A-K-O comes from kakos, meaning bad, which is also Greek, right?

Kakos, meaning bad, right.

Like, Rachel, you know the word kakophony?

Yes.

And it means what?

And it’s like a symphony.

It’s almost a symphony, but it sounds bad.

Exactly.

Exactly.

And the cacos in there.

Yeah, yeah.

The caco in cacophony is the same cacos here.

It means bad.

Okay.

And then, of course, the logical, which is a common ending that turns the previous part

Into an adjective, more or less, right?

And so what we have is something that’s described as being good and bad.

And that’s exactly what this word means.

It means being made of both good and evil.

For all those times that you needed.

Well, you know, you might say, you know, somebody says, yeah, exactly.

You love him and hate him, right?

He’s made both good and bad.

Very good.

All right.

Well, Rachel, I want to thank you for two things.

I want to thank you for loving language, and I want to thank you for calling us.

Well, thank you.

All right.

Keep listening.

Okay.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Wow.

I was in a spelling bee in the fourth grade, and I went out on the word kindergarten.

You did?

And it’s burned into my brain, yeah.

Oh.

It was the classic.

I spelled it with a D instead of a T.

Oh, really?

Kindergarten.

You’re nine.

What are you going to do?

Right, right.

When I was in second grade, I went out on the word city.

Can you believe that?

I could see it.

I could see the word in front of me, but for some reason I said S.

I said S-I-T-Y.

And I was so traumatized.

I can still remember walking back to my little seat.

I think these are formative experiences for people like you and me and Rachel.

Clearly.

No, seriously, I think that it makes us pay more attention to what we’re writing, what we’re reading, what’s coming out of our mouths.

It does affect our behavior.

Yeah, I think spelling bees are agathacological.

I mean, you know, there’s some good in there, you know.

It exercises your brain, but it’s kind of silly, too.

If you’ve got a question about a really long Greek word that’s hard to spell, give us a call, 1-877-929-WORD.

Or you can send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.

Well, Grant, a little while ago we were talking about nominations for Word of the Year for 2007.

Do you have another one?

I do. As a matter of fact, another nomination is earmarxist, E-A-R-M-A-R-X-I-S-T.

This is a congressperson or senator who adds earmarks, which is another name for a kind of pork barrel provision, to legislation.

So you get the joke.

So it’s earmarked plus Marxist as is a left-wing politician.

Funny, kind of.

No.

I mean that –

It’s mildly interesting.

Actually, it’s got a little bit of history already.

People are actually using it in unselfconscious ways.

They are?

Yeah.

It might demonstrate that it’s more than just a passing fad.

It might actually last.

Oh, come on.

I would have thought that would be a flash in the linguistic pan.

Well, there are millions of those.

Most don’t last, but this one might.

You like it?

You’re a Marxist?

No.

I don’t, actually.

No.

I don’t particularly care.

I’ll add it to the next edition of my political slang book, though.

How about that?

All right.

That sounds good.

And if you have a nomination, give us a call.

The number is 1-877-929-9673.

Or email us.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello.

How are you?

This is Roy Doyon.

I’m calling from New York City today.

Hello, Roy.

What’s going on?

Well, not too much.

I’m working in the UN, so I’m very busy.

Oh, what do you do there?

What do you do for the UN?

I’m a cartographer.

I make maps.

Interesting.

That’s awesome.

What are you making a map of today?

I was plotting potential deployment sites in Darfur today.

Oh, unhappy.

Maps. I’m sorry. I was thinking… Well, yes, most of our things are unhappy. I work for the Department of Field Support, so we support the missions.

Still, your work actually is always struggling that cartography is a lot like the work that I do, which is lexicography. It requires a certain amount of tedium and meticulousness, but you’ve got to work that will be widely used by everybody. Sounds like you could work here.

So you have a language question for us today, Roy?

Yes, I do. It’s an expression my mother used to use. The term is lolly golly.

I think she used it wrong because if we were just sort of messing around, she would say, stop lolly gollying and get to work.

And where was she from?

She was a German immigrant.

So you used the term lolly golly yourself?

Yes, I did. I used it and I was having a conversation with my wife and I was rushing to get to work. I’m one of those people that’s perpetually late.

And I was running down the hallway of the apartment building trying to make the commuter train. There was a couple of people in the hallway, and I couldn’t get around them.

And I actually missed the train.

But when I was relating why I missed the train to my wife, I said, well, there was these people, and they were lolly-gollying around in the hallway, and I couldn’t get around them.

And I just missed the train.

So she said, well, what does that mean?

Now, she’s English.

So she maintains she speaks proper English in that we Americans really don’t speak English.

Oh, ho, ho, that argument.

Yes, yes, I hear it all the time.

So she would have understood if you said somebody was dilly-dallying but not lolly-gallying?

Yes, probably what I should have said was lollygag.

But your mother didn’t say lollygag. Your mother said lolly-gally.

She would say stop lolly-gallying around.

I mean, I remember it quite well.

Now, I can’t imagine, Grant, anybody not knowing what, or not inferring what lollygalling would be.

Yeah, it’s not the standard.

Actually, I don’t even know that it’s any more than a family word, but I think it’s fairly transparent.

Is it used often in that regard?

No, actually, I don’t think you’re going to find that particular form of the word in any dictionary.

You know, I haven’t seen lolly-golly around very much, Roy, but I think that it falls into that great tradition of okie-dokie and razzle-dazzle, and, you know, maybe your wife’s just being a fuddy-duddy about this.

Yes, I’m sure she is.

But look, here, Roy, I want to tell you what you should tell your wife.

The first thing is the British, their language didn’t stop changing. When Americans came over here and settled, you know, we became Americans, let’s say the last 200 years, their language hasn’t been fixed in time.

It’s been changing as rapidly as ours has.

And as a matter of fact, their English has probably changed more than ours has in certain ways, unless, of course, in other ways.

So she doesn’t speak some kind of pure, rare version of English that is the standard to which all other Englishes should be held to.

Hers is a bastard version off of the father tree as well.

You know what I think you should tell her, Roy?

Okay, go ahead.

I think you should say to her, give me some latitude.

Don’t you cartographers have humor like that?

Latitude means tolerance, absolutely.

That’s horrible, Martha.

That’s a bad pun, though.

That’s why he didn’t laugh.

He had the grace not to laugh and to encourage you in your bad puns.

I guess that went over like the proverbial lead balloon, huh, Roy?

No, no.

It took a moment.

Well, Roy, thanks for an interesting question.

Oh, you’re welcome.

And thank you for your insights.

Thank you very much, and best of luck in your work.

It sounds fabulously interesting.

And I say use lolly golly in good health, even though I never see the word.

Okay, I’ll continue to use it.

All right.

Okay.

Take care.

Bye now.

Bye-bye.

So, Grant, I guess the answer to the question is that it’s not really a word, but I have to defend Roy on that just because it makes sense to me.

Yeah, he’s fine using it.

But like I said, it is a word, but it’s a family word.

And family words are words used within families and to outsiders.

Eh, they don’t make a lot of sense.

But he’s fine.

His wife is now a part of his family.

She should just adopt it and move forward.

That’s right.

If you’ve got a family word that you’d like to share or a question about language or you want to talk about making maps, give us a call, 1-877-929-9673.

Don’t lollygally.

Yeah, don’t lollygally and send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.

Get ready to sling some slang, and we’ll take more of your calls right here on A Way with Words.

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

And it’s time for Slang This, our weekly puzzle about slang.

Today’s contestant is Daniel Simon from Vista, California.

Welcome, Daniel.

Hello.

Hello, Daniel.

Hi, Grant.

Well, Daniel, as you know, to get past door number one in this challenge, you have to share your favorite slang expression with us.

So what would that be?

I like the term sticky wicket.

Sticky wicket, the cricket term.

Yeah.

British term, right?

Yeah, as far as I understand it is, yeah.

Yeah, now why do you like that term?

I think it’s a good term for when you have one of those tragically not tragic situations, like you’ve locked your keys in the car, and I know my fiancée is across town with my spare set, so I have to call her and tell her that I’m in a bit of a sticky wicket and I need her to come home and let me into my car.

So it gets you out of little situations like that.

Yeah, usually I hope so.

So that’s the way you sweet talk her with the term sticky wicket?

Oh, yeah, she loves it every time.

She’s doing a fake British accent.

Darling.

I have a problem.

Well, Daniel, darling, your next challenge is going to come when Grant gives you a slang term.

He’s going to give you three possible examples of how that slang term might be used in a sentence.

Only one of those is real, and the other two are something that came out of Grant’s fevered brain.

So, Daniel, your task is going to be to choose which one of those really is a slang term.

You got it?

I got it.

Okay, Grant, hold forth.

Daniel, here we go with the first slang word, and it is the word puddle, P-U-D-D-L-E, but it’s probably not the puddle that you’re thinking of, all right?

Okay.

The first clue is…

That’s the sound of your car’s puddle.

Sure, it’s noisy, but without that little thingamajigger inside your muffler, there’s no catalytic conversion.

All right, here’s clue number two.

Diana Ross’s costume changes moved quickly.

The careful puddles of her stunning outfits were lined up so she could step into them, and stylist could fasten them in just seconds.

And then here’s the third clue.

I’m Larry, your new HR person.

I’m also in charge of the puddle.

So if you want coffee in the break room, you better put a couple bucks in the puddle can every week, or there’ll be none.

So which one is it, Daniel?

Is it A, the device in an auto muffler that sometimes makes popping noises?

Is it B, a carefully arranged heap of clothing an actor steps into during a split-second costume change?

Or is it C, a kitty of collected funds that pays for the little shared extras in the workplace?

Oh, I like the third one, but I’ve never heard that when I’ve ever been at work anywhere.

No, you don’t have a Larry, the HR person.

No, no.

I’ve heard of the kitty and things like that, but never a puddle.

I kind of like option number two because I kind of get this image of clothes on the floor like in a puddle of fabric.

Yeah, is that what you’re going to go with?

That’s what I’m going to go with, number two.

Yes, that’s it.

As a matter of fact, it’s exactly right.

It’s a theater term for the pile of clothes.

And actually, it’s not just the pile.

It’s carefully arranged.

So she just steps in the place where her feet go.

They yank it up her body, zip it up the back, make sure there are no, you know, nothing, everything’s tucked.

And then they send her right back out.

I’ve seen this where it looks like the star is only stepping off the stage for seconds.

And they come back out with a completely different outfit.

But they go out like Elvis and come in like Carmen Miranda, you know?

I’m going to try that in my bedroom.

Just have these carefully arranged piles.

That’s how I’m going to start describing them.

Yeah, we’ll post the pictures on the website.

Let us know more.

Nicely done, Daniel.

Here’s number two, and we only have two words to guess today, all right?

This one’s a phrase.

It’s hang paper to hang paper, H-A-N-G-P-A-P-E-R, hang paper.

And the first clue,

The SEC came down on us hard for hanging paper on our Sarbanes-Oxley records.

They could tell that we faked weeks of security checks.

Okay.

Number two.

Kite flying in Pakistan is a serious pastime.

Any street can have dozens of kids all trying to hang paper without getting their lovely constructions caught on power lines.

Okay.

And then the third clue.

Trumpet players in a brass band have a tradition of hanging paper on other brass players by switching out their sheet music for something absurd like, how much is that doggy in the window?

So of the three clues, is it A, to falsify records of work supposedly done,

Is it B, to fly a kite,

Or is it C, to switch a musician’s sheet music as a prank?

And I should explain that Sarbanes-Oxley in the first clue,

That’s a horrific federal requirement that firms that are publicly traded keep these very detailed records of everything that happens in their electronic arena.

It’s horrible.

Oh, good. I thought it was a punk rock band.

They call it Socks or Sarbox for short.

Well, I play trumpet, and I never use the term hang paper.

Have you ever done it?

No. Trumpets are a little too self-conceited to even deal with anyone else.

That’s true. That’s true.

If they had their way, there would only be trumpets in the brass section, right?

Exactly. The band in general, I think.

So the first one was the falsified records one?

Right.

The first one, A, is to falsify records of work supposedly done.

B, is to fly a kite.

And C, is a musician’s prank.

Well, hang paper sounds like it could make sense with the kite,

Because like hanging 10 when you surf.

But the first one, hang paper, like, I don’t know.

I kind of like A.

Yeah?

Yeah, so many documents out there, and everyone has to do everything on it.

I could see where that could come from.

Well, you know, Daniel, you’re the guy.

That’s correct.

It is hanging paper.

And you find this term come up again and again in fraud cases,

And it’s often used by the people who are hanging the paper.

It’s not something the police are using.

People who are committing the crime kind of do it as a way of euphemizing their illegal acts.

Oh.

So nice work, Daniel.

You’ve got two for two, Paul and a hanged paper.

You’re a slang pro.

I’ll send you your merit badge in the mail.

All right.

All right.

He got out of that sticky wicket just fine.

And, hey, Daniel, for playing Slang This today,

We’re going to send you a copy of Grant’s book.

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

Oh, I’m very excited.

I can tell.

Yeah, I really like that.

Thanks for playing.

Thank you.

I love the show.

Thanks, Daniel.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

And if you’d like to play our slang game on the air,

Give us a call.

The number is 1-877-929-9673.

Or send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, I’m Kathy. I’m calling from Bethlehem.

Hello, Kathy, how are you doing?

I’d like to ask you about the use of who versus that.

To me, it feels like fingernails scratching a blackboard when I hear statements such as the local politician that serves on the committee or we believe it was the grocer that called in the report.

And I’ve always thought that in statements like this, the politician and the grocer should be referred to as who and not that.

But recently I’ve been hearing it all the time, like in real life on news reports or interviews, and now I’m beginning to think that I was wrong.

Kathy, I don’t think you’re wrong at all, and I feel the same way.

I get emails from people saying thanks for everybody that came out over the weekend to this or that event.

It grates on me.

My husband is a professor, and he has term papers that he grades,

And we’ve seen it occur a lot on that also, which made me think,

Well, doesn’t GrammarCheck pick up on that?

Not that Word would be the be-all and end-all, but so I tried it,

And I typed in a couple of things like that, even using proper names, and it accepts both.

Well, I would say that traditionally there has been a slight preference for who over that in that case.

I think that’s changing, though, Grant, in terms of standard grammar.

I think that a lot of your standard grammars will tell you that that is okay.

But for me personally, Kathy, I just think it’s this subtle thing.

I think words matter and that there’s a little bit of recognition of somebody’s humanity if you’re using the word who.

I agree with both of you completely, which is although you’re right, Martha, all the style guides that I have, I know they say that that is generally accepted as okay.

Even among sticklers and some of the most conservative sources.

In my own writing, I like who.

And I like who because, as Martha said,

It points out the humanity of the people that I’m talking about.

I don’t want to turn them into commodities.

I don’t want to make them seem like units or numbers or widgets.

They’re human beings with thoughts and feelings,

And the word who is a small part of giving them that recognition.

What do you think about that, Kathy?

I don’t know.

I just always thought that that was the way it had to be,

And I’m truly surprised that that is acceptable.

But I’ll get used to it.

Well, I always say, you know, as long as your own writing is in order

And you can overlook or just accept what other people have to say,

Then you’re going to find yourself more comfortable.

Oh, sure.

It’s hard to control the writing of others.

Well, Kathy, I have to say that I do appreciate people like you who use who for people.

And, you know, it’s interesting, too, that the traditional rule incorporates animals as well.

Really? Isn’t that interesting? Didn’t none know that.

Yeah.

I appreciate your show so much.

I really enjoy it.

It’s a new discovery for me these last few episodes,

And I will be a regular listener.

It’s great.

Hey, that’s fantastic.

Stay tuned.

There’s lots more to come.

Thank you very much.

All right.

Bye-bye, Kathy.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Put in a call to the people who care.

The number is 1-877-929-9673,

Or email us.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.

So, Grant, earlier we were talking about nominations for this year’s Word of the Year,

And we’ve heard from several people about a new verb supposedly making the rounds among the Israeli government.

The word is Lee Kondol, and it means to come and go for meetings that produce few results.

And according to an article in the New York Times, the word Lee Kondol is based on the name of U.S. Secretary of State Kondoliza Rice.

I don’t know. Grant, do you think Lee Kondol has legs?

I don’t know. I don’t speak enough Hebrew to say.

The only thing I could say to that is, ma?

Well, if you have a nomination, give us a call. The number is 1-877-929-9673. Or send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Holly from Escondido.

Hello, Holly. How are you?

Good. How are you?

All right. What’s your language question today?

My question is, my mom uses this word a lot, and it drives me crazy because I don’t think it’s a word, and she thinks it is.

With the holidays coming up and lots of good foods, I know it’s going to get used a lot.

So the word is nummy.

It’s one of those words that makes my skin crawl.

But what if the pies taste good?

Well, there’s so many other words that you could say, so many other good descriptive words besides nummy.

Nummy is just one of those words that, I don’t know, like delicious.

Savory.

Yummy.

What about yumptious?

Mouthwatering.

It’s almost as bad, but not as bad.

Well, wait, so your mother is talking to you about this delicious pie, and she says it’s nummy, and you just lose your appetite?

So as she’s spooning you the mashed peas, she says, nummy, nummy, nummy, here comes the choo-choo train.

I think maybe that’s why it bugs me, because it’s kind of like baby language, and I can’t, and the whole baby language thing doesn’t work for me.

I wish we could talk to your mom.

Well.

Hi, mom there.

Hi, this is mom.

Hi, mom.

Hi, mom.

All these years I had no idea it bothered her that much.

Really?

I’ve told you.

Okay, here’s the thing.

It probably did start off as baby language.

It probably did start off as baby talk, you know, like you said, with the mashed peas, trying to get a baby to eat something.

But I think also that it could be something that has to do with the geographical area of the country.

It seems to be something to do with the Midwest and the upper Midwest.

People here use it very commonly.

So is that where you grew up, Mom, in the Midwest?

Yes.

Where exactly?

In Minnesota.

Okay.

Well, my question for you, Holly, is how much evidence do we need to give you that it’s real?

I want some sort of proof, or maybe this is kind of like an intervention to my mom to stop using the word because it’s embarrassing.

Oh, wow.

Wow.

So either we’ve got an intervention from mom here, or Holly, maybe we can save you thousands of dollars worth of therapy.

Do you think?

Maybe.

Convince me.

Well, would it make you feel better if I could substantiate the meaning of the word and give you a place to actually look it up and see that there are other people that use this word other than myself?

Yes, because that’s the other thing. I’ve never heard anyone use it besides you.

Well, Mom, do you have a place that you can find this?

Yeah, Urban Dictionary.

Urban Dictionary.

The Urban Dictionary?

Let me just say right away that Urban Dictionary is not a reliable source.

Oh, but 54 people gave it the thumbs up.

Yeah, well, fine.

Okay, but I can give you a better source than that. Far more reliable.

Excellent.

And one that actually appeared in print.

Okay.

So it’s in the second edition of the New Oxford American Dictionary.

They have a definition of it, and they define it as adjective, informal, of food, delicious.

Origin, early 20th century, variant of yummy.

Mm—

Yes, and I’m looking at the octro-net.

Is it a slang term, or is it an actual legitimate word?

It is a legitimate word, and slang is legitimate.

Otherwise, if slang isn’t legitimate, then my entire career is a mistake.

Well, guys, you know what? It’s weird, because I don’t see it in most American dictionaries, but in the Oxford English Dictionary, there is an entry for it.

It says, chiefly North American, and it has all these entries going back to 1923, including, and here’s one from 1988.

Well, I haven’t been using it that long.

Well, there are all these citations like 1998, the Orange County Register.

Here’s a reference that goes, mm, mm, mm, gosh, what a pleasure.

What am I making nummy noises about?

Why, cottage cheese, of course.

Well, and that’s another thing that bothers her is nummy noises.

Oh, like mm, mm, mm?

We’re just…

Exactly.

Are you guys trying to do some sort of therapy on me?

Is this…

You talked to them before, Mom.

Is this like…

It’s exposure therapy.

It’s like taking people who are afraid of flying up in planes over and over.

What I’m really wondering is she’s planning to come and visit me for Christmas.

And, you know, how is she going to describe the meal that I make her if it’s not nummy?

You know…

And all the little Christmas…

She’s going to call it scrumptiousness.

I have some major anxiety about Christmas time because I know this word is going to rear its ugly head.

No, Mom, just burn the turkey.

The aunts and the peasants and grandmas will just be, it’ll be, you know, yeah, maybe I’ll just skip dinner.

You guys, it’s not often that I’m left speechless.

Well, Mom and Holly, I want to thank you for your time today.

I hope we’ve been a little bit of help, at least some laugh therapy, if nothing else.

You know, at least I know it’s a legitimate word now.

Yes.

And we found a solution.

I’m skipping Christmas dinner.

Either that or mom’s burning the turkey.

Yeah, yeah.

So it’s not nummy.

Oh, man.

All right.

But those leftovers are going to be so nummy.

Oh, my gosh.

Thank you so much for calling today.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

Bye.

I don’t have any words like that, Martha.

There are no words.

Well, you know what? I take that back, and maybe I’ve mentioned this before.

There’s one word that I don’t like to hear.

Moist?

The word S-T-R-E-N-G-T-H, pronounced as strength.

Oh, it’s nasty.

That’s just nasty.

People do that all the time.

Athlete or length.

Strength.

There’s a G in that word.

Where’d the G go?

Well, listen to you peeving.

I know.

I have very few peeves.

When they come out, they’re delicious.

They’re nummy.

They’re scrumptious.

Yumptious.

Scrumptious.

Nummy, nummy.

Wow.

Send us your best recipe for nummy food to words@waywordradio.org or give us a call, 1-877-929-WORD, and you can tell Martha where to go for Thanksgiving dinner.

Things have come to a pretty pass.

Our romance is growing flat.

Well, that’s our show for this week.

But you can always call us with your questions about language.

The number is 1-877-929-9673.

Or send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.

Our senior producer is Stefanie Levine.

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

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

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

Our website is waywordradio.org, where you can join the discussion and subscribe to our newsletter.

I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette, inviting you to join us next time.

That’s right here on A Way with Words.

Either, either, neither, neither.

Let’s call the whole thing off.

Yes, you like potato, and I like potato.

You like tomato, and I like tomato.

Potato, potato, tomato, tomato, let’s call the whole thing off.

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

And oh, give it a part.