Post edited 3:38PM – Mar-08-10 by Grant Barrett

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"Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning." Martha talks about this weather proverb, which has been around in one form or another since ancient times. Grant shares a favorite weather word: . Also this week: Is there a better alternative to the word mentee? What's pooflapoo pie?

This episode first aired March 6, 2010. Listen here:

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A Dallas listener and her boss have a dispute. The boss says the staff should get "on the stick." The caller and her co-workers say the correct phrase is "on the ball." Grant gives her an answer, then suggests a third option used in Hawaii: on the .

What's the best term for someone who's being mentored? A woman in a mentoring program at church thinks the word mentee sounds like "manatee." She's hoping for an alternative.

Grant shares another weather-related word from Britain: .

Quiz Guy John Chaneski offers a puzzle in honor of the hosts' initials. Every clue prompts a two-word answer beginning with the letters M and B or G and B. For example: "Paper or plastic?"

A caller named Todd says that when people meet him for the first time, they sometimes call him Scott, even if he's wearing a nametag with his real name on it. It's happened too many times to be a coincidence, he says, and wonders if there's something about the double letters that registers the wrong name in people's minds. Why do we get other people's names wrong?

Whip up a big batch of pistachio pudding, then add pineapple, walnuts, Cool Whip, and marshmallow bits, and what do you have? A Los Angeles woman says her grandmother used to make a dish with those ingredients that she called pooflapoo pie. Is that just her family's name for it, or do other people refer to it that way? Other people call it Watergate salad or ambrosia.

Have trouble remembering the difference between stalagtites and stalagmites? Martha shares a mnemonic that will help.

A police officer says that the prosecutor edits out the word "that" from the reports he submits, as in, "The subject stated that he met the co-defendant at a party." Is the word "that" necessary here? Martha and Grant disagree. Also, the cop also has a brain-teaser for the hosts: Can you use the word "that" five times consecutively in a sentence correctly?

The hosts talk about the tricks they use to remember how to spell certain words.

Why do we say that someone finely attired is dressed to the nines?

A woman says that when playing hide-and-seek with a small child, her mother-in-law says "peep-eye!" instead of "peekaboo!" Is that usage limited to certain parts of the country? And where do they say "pee-bo!"?

Grant talks about two other weather-related terms, frontogenesis and aeromancy.

When comparing one item with the rest of the items in a group, which is better: more or most?

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… Read the original blog post.

I enjoyed that the second time as much as the first, Glenn!

Post edited 12:11PM – Mar-08-10 by Glenn

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Grant Barrett said:

What's the best term for someone who's being mentored? A woman in a mentoring program at church thinks the word mentee sounds like "manatee." She's hoping for an alternative.

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I like Grant's suggestion of protege. It seems that the caller, like my parents, associates some of the meaning of prodigy with the word protege, perhaps because of the similar pronunciations. However, the denoted meaning of protege works quite well in this context.

Of course, in a church context, the word disciple could work very well — not to be confused with apostle, which would not do at all.

To pair with mentor a word of Greek origin might be nice, but I haven't found a good Greek option yet.

Post edited 1:34PM – Mar-08-10 by Glenn

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To pair with mentor a word of Greek origin might be nice, but I haven't found a good Greek option yet.

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Also with some ecclesiatic associations is the Greek-based word acolyte. This might work well in a church where the word has not already been pressed into service for another function.

Kaa,

I also had problems spelling "nuclear" (not a good thing for a physicist) until I realized it was the same as "unclear" with the first two letters switched.

Emmett

Post edited 5:08PM – Mar-10-10 by Glenn

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Ron Draney said:

We've all known people who routinely "correct" his just deserts to make it seem like it's about ice cream.

This is certainly my most notable example. Each time I put it in writing, "just deserts" creates a firestorm. Now I avoid it.

Last time I saw it "in print" was the Wall Street Journal online, wsj.com, in an acticle about Eliot Spitzer. You can fill in the blanks. Online it was spelled "just desserts" so I ran (as fast as I could) to a buddy I knew would have the paper copy, in which it was spelled correctly as "just deserts." I prefer to assume the print editor was more skilled than the online editor, and made a last-minute change. The alternative possibility that the online editor "corrected" the spelling to "desserts" would be too distressing to dwell upon.

I e-mailed wsj.com, but got no reply, and the online article was never corrected to my knowledge.

Post edited 1:45PM – Mar-11-10 by Glenn

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Ron Draney said:

We've all known people who routinely "correct" his just deserts to make it seem like it's about ice cream.

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Glenn said:

Last time I saw it "in print" was the Wall Street Journal online, wsj.com, in an acticle about Eliot Spitzer. You can fill in the blanks.

No longer any need to take my word for it.