podcast

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over

by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett. Produced by Stefanie Levine.

Forty Eleven Zillion (Rebroadcast) - 14 July 2025

14.07.2025 • 00:53:45

This week on "A Way with Words": When there's no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some...

Mystery Date (Rebroadcast) - 7 July 2025

07.07.2025 • 00:53:45

A librarian opens a book and finds a mysterious invitation scribbled on the back of a business card. Another discovers a child's letter to the Tooth F...

Eat My Hat - 30 June 2025

30.06.2025 • 00:53:45

Have you lived in your home so long that you don’t notice its flaws? In Sweden, they have a name for this condition: It’s hemmablind—literally, “home ...

Sour Pickle (Rebroadcast) - 23 June 2025

23.06.2025 • 00:53:45

You know that Yogi Berra quote about how Nobody ever comes here; it's too crowded? Actually, the first person to use this was actress Suzanne Ridgeway...

Straight and Narrow - 16 June 2025

16.06.2025 • 00:53:45

English spelling is a hot mess, even for native speakers. But as a new book shows, would-be spelling reformers, including Benjamin Franklin and Theodo...

Not My Circus (Rebroadcast) - 9 June 2025

09.06.2025 • 00:53:45

Throwing cheese and shaky cheese are two very different things. In baseball, hard cheese refers to a powerful fastball, and probably comes from a simi...

The Other Shoe - 2 June 2025

02.06.2025 • 00:53:45

So you think you can spell? Youngsters in modern spelling bees are expected to memorize a wide range of words, from chemical processes to names of rar...

Scooter Pooting (Rebroadcast) - 26 May 2025

26.05.2025 • 00:53:45

Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in life? An 82-year-old seeks a more positive term to de...

Bean Counting - 19 May 2025

19.05.2025 • 00:53:45

In the 1920’s, Americans were warned of a new danger sweeping across the country. This menace that harmed people’s health, ruined minds, and threatene...

Gold Dance (Rebroadcast) - 12 May 20256

12.05.2025 • 00:53:45

People who hunt treasure with metal detectors have a lingo all their own. Canslaw means the shreds of aluminum cans left after a lawnmower ran over th...

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Forty Eleven Zillion (Rebroadcast) - 14 July 2025
00:53:45