A Way with Words

Series produced by A Way with Words

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A Way with Words is a national, lively, hour-long public radio show about language, on the air since 1998. Author/journalist Martha Barnette and linguist/lexicographer Grant Barrett take listener calls about slang, grammar, old sayings, word origins, regional dialects, family expressions, and speaking and writing well. There are no carriage fees.

Learn more about the show, its hosts, and its history, and read station and listener testimonials on the A Way with Words website.


221 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Easy as Pie (#1643)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
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How hot is it? Well, poet Dylan Thomas found lots of memorable ways to describe a heat wave. In one letter to a friend, he wrote that it was so hot...

Bought by WPCA-LP, WUOT 91.9 FM, Raven Radio, Tri States Public Radio, KTXK and more


  • Added: Sep 09, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 12
Cabin Fever (#1547)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
The adjective canine refers to dogs, and feline refers to cats. But how does English address other groups of animals? Plus, cabin fever has been ar...

Bought by KAWC / Border Radio - KOFA, WHCP-LP Cambridge, WSLR, WPCA-LP, WNIN and more


  • Added: Sep 02, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17
Toad in the Hole (#1642)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
An ambitious effort to install poetry in national parks around the United States features the work of beloved poets in beautiful spots. It's a remi...

Bought by WHCP-LP Cambridge, WNIN, WPCA-LP, WSLR, WUOT 91.9 FM and more


  • Added: Aug 26, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Singing Sand (#1546)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
Cat hair may be something you brush off, but cat hair is also a slang term that means "money." In the same way, cat beer isn't alcoholic -- some pe...

Bought by RADIOLEX, WHCP-LP Cambridge, WNIN, WSLR, WPCA-LP and more


  • Added: Aug 19, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Make a Beeline (#1641)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
If you make a beeline for something, you're taking the shortest route possible. You're also mimicking bee bee-havior! After a bee has visited enoug...

Bought by KTSW 89.9, WNIN, WPCA-LP, WSLR, KVSC and more


  • Added: Aug 12, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Baby's Breath (#1545)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
Have you ever googled your own name and found someone else who goes by the very same moniker? There's a word for that: googleganger. Plus, the lang...

Bought by WHCP-LP Cambridge, Raven Radio, WSLR, WNIN, WPCA-LP and more


  • Added: Aug 05, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Pickled Peppers (#1640)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
Names don't always mean what you think they mean. Main Street in San Francisco is named after businessman Charles Main, and Snowflake, Arizona, hon...

Bought by KTSW 89.9, KTXK, Raven Radio, WPCA-LP, WHCP-LP Cambridge and more


  • Added: Jul 29, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Hog on Ice (#1544)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
One secret to writing well is . . . there is no secret! There's no substitute for simply sitting down day after day to practice the craft and learn...

Bought by KTSW 89.9, WNIN, WSLR, WPCA-LP, WHCP-LP Cambridge and more


  • Added: Jul 22, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Minor Planets (#1639)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
There are eight major planets, but more than a million minor ones, including asteroids. If you discover one, you get the honor of naming it. The Di...

Bought by KTSW 89.9, WHCP-LP Cambridge, WSLR, WNIN, WPCA-LP and more


  • Added: Jul 15, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Goody Two-Shoes (#1543)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it's the young Mary Aning, who went on to become a famous 19...

Bought by KTSW 89.9, WHCP-LP Cambridge, WNIN, WPCA-LP, WSLR and more


  • Added: Jul 08, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17
Pinking Shears (#1638)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
When you're distracted by trying to get the perfect photo at a wedding or fiddling with your camera during a solar eclipse, you're missing out on s...

Bought by KTXK, KVSC, WHCP-LP Cambridge, WSLR, WPCA-LP and more


  • Added: Jul 01, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 13
Baby Blues (#1542)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
A hundred years ago, suffragists lobbied to win women the right to vote. Linguistically speaking, though, suffrage isn't about "suffering." It's fr...

Bought by KTSW 89.9, Raven Radio, WSLR, WHCP-LP Cambridge, WNIN and more


  • Added: Jun 24, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Sleeve Island (#1637)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
Language from inside a monastery. A Benedictine monk in the Episcopal Church shares terms from his world: For example, corporate prayer refers to p...

Bought by KTSW 89.9, WHCP-LP Cambridge, KTXK, WSLR, WPCA-LP and more


  • Added: Jun 17, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17
Walkie Talkie (#1541)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
One of the most powerful words you'll ever hear -- and one of the most poignant -- isn't in dictionaries yet. But it probably will be one day. The ...

Bought by KTXK, KTSW 89.9, WHCP-LP Cambridge, WPCA-LP, WNIN and more


  • Added: Jun 10, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Tiger Tail (#1540)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
You may have a favorite word in English, but what about your favorite in another language? The Spanish term ojala is especially handy for expressin...

Bought by KTSW 89.9, KTXK, RADIOLEX, WHCP-LP Cambridge, WPCA-LP and more


  • Added: Jun 03, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17
Clever Clogs (#1539)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
Ribbon fall. Gallery forest. You won't find terms like these in most dictionaries, but they and hundreds like them are discussed by famous writers ...

Bought by KTSW 89.9, KAWC / Border Radio - KOFA, KTXK, WHCP-LP Cambridge, WNIN and more


  • Added: May 27, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
The Black Dog (#1536)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
Books were rare treasures in the Middle Ages, painstakingly copied out by hand. So how to protect them from theft? Scribes sometimes added a curse ...

Bought by KTSW 89.9, RADIOLEX, WHCP-LP Cambridge, WPCA-LP, KTXK and more


  • Added: May 13, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17
Animal Crackers (#1636)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
Images of birds flutter inside lots of English words and phrases, from "nest egg" and "pecking order," to proverbs from around the world--including...

Bought by KTSW 89.9, KTXK, WPCA-LP, WHCP-LP Cambridge, WNIN and more


  • Added: May 06, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Beside Myself (#1535)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
The new Downton Abbey movie is a luscious treat for fans of the public-television period piece, but how accurate is the script when it comes to the...

Bought by WPCA-LP, WNIN, KTXK, KTSW 89.9, RadioStPete Florida and more


  • Added: Apr 29, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Skookum (#1534)
From: A Way with Words
Series: A Way with Words
Piece image
So you've long dreamed of writing fiction, but don't know where to begin? There are lots of ways to get started -- creative writing classes, local ...

Bought by KTXK, KVSC, WHCP-LP Cambridge, WNIN, WPCA-LP and more


  • Added: Apr 22, 2024
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16

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