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

Light-hearted conversation with callers from all over about new words, old sayings, slang, family ex

Episodes

Total: 765

A baby’s first word is often a cherished milestone, but some cultures pay more attention to other fi

Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any o

Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital is a sensuous, exhilarating meditation about the strangeness of life

Don’t move my cheese! It’s a phrase middle managers use to talk about adapting to change in the work

If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new ton

So many books and so little time—it’s a challenge to choose what to read next! It helps to remember

The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the

To grok something means “to understand it completely.” The word grok comes from a language spoken on

Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you’re

An anadrome is a word that forms a whole new word when you spell it backwards. For example, the word

A flashlight emits a steady beam of light. So what's the flash part of that word about? The earliest

For rock climbers, skiers, and other outdoor enthusiasts, the word "send" has a whole new meaning. Y

In 1944, an Italian scientist discovered a drug that he later named for his wife. His wife’s name wa

In Cockney rhyming slang, apples and pears is a synonym for "stairs," and dustbin lids means kids. P

National Book Award winner Barry Lopez had wise advice for young writers. First, read widely and fol

Thunderstorms might sound scary, but playful explanations for all those booms can help reassure litt

What kind of book do people ask for most often in prison? Romance Novels? No. The Bible? No. The mos

Twice a day the River Thames recedes, revealing a muddy shoreline. Hobbyists known as mudlarks strol

Many of us struggled with the Old English poem "Beowulf" in high school. But what if you could actua

The phrase old as Methuselah describes someone quite advanced in years. In ancient scripture, Methus