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Words of the Year (full episode)
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3:12PM
Nov-15-10

Grant Barrett

San Diego, California

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What's your choice for 2010's word of the year? Mama grizzly? Starwhacker? Who could forget vuvuzela? Martha and Grant discuss the five-oh in Hawaii 5-0, and whether the tagline "I approve this message" is grammatical. Also, is the phrase "it is what it is" annoying or merely philosophical?

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Download the MP3 here (25.2 MB).

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What's your choice for the word or phrase that best captures the zeitgeist of 2010? Grant shares some of his "word of the year" candidates, including refudiate, mama grizzly, starwhacker, and of course, vuvuzela.

Is the TV show Hawaii Five-0 named for Ford Mustang 5.0 engines in police cruisers? No, and it's correctly typed with a zero instead of the letter "O."

It is what it is. A new transplant to California has noticed this phrase popping up more and more. Where does it come from? Is it annoying or merely philosophical?

Grant talks about another "Word of the Year" contender, Obamacare.

Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a puzzle called "Word Ladders."

After passing by an establishment featuring adult entertainment, an Asheville, N.C., man began wondering: When did the word adult come to refer to "material not suitable for children"?

Political candidates end their TV ads with the statement "I approve this message." Is that ungrammatical?

The internet abounds with memes. Grant explains that this word was coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. More about them at Know Your Meme.

Another word of the year candidate is immappacy, which is formed by analogy with "innumeracy," and means the inability to understand maps.

A La Mesa, Calif., woman thinks the term from 1970s films, jive turkey, deserves reviving.

"They shot the white girl first." That's how Toni Morrison's novel, "Paradise," begins, and it's a great example of an irresistible first line. Martha shares others sent in by listeners. She also reads from a Michael Cunningham essay about why a first line must be authoritative.

A reader of The Atlantic magazine is surprised to find that they're not capitalizing letters in headlines the way they used to.

Martha argues in favor of the serial comma, citing a recent newspaper caption: "The documentary was filmed over three years. Among those interviewed were his ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall." How's that again?

A San Diego woman says that when her baby starts crying in another room, her in-laws have a habit of saying, "Another country heard from!" This expression's roots go back to elections in the 19th century, and was originally "another county heard from."

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6:34PM
Nov-15-10

Ron Draney

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posts 465

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If you want to see random capitalization, check out the CD of the Beatles' White Album. Some song titles capitalize every word, others only the "important" words, and still others only the first word.

(BTW, I had a "screaming yes while pointing at the radio" moment when Grant confirmed the original version of "another country heard from". I had always heard it as "county" growing up and could never get anyone to believe that this was the original.)

2:24AM
Nov-17-10

Joel Siegfried

San Diego, CA

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Post edited 2:29AM – Nov-17-10 by Joel Siegfried

As a journalist your program has always inspired me. Your discussion of new words was especially fascinating. I recently wrote an article about an outburst by John Tyner at San Diego International Airport who said to a TSA agent, "If you touch my junk, I'm going to have you arrested," and which can now be found on a variety of merchandise. Is it too early to consider this as a candidate for your 2010 top 10 list? Here's a link to my article,
'Don't touch my junk' sells products

Cheers,

Joel

Joel Siegfried
National Desk – Airlines/Airport Examiner
Email: ecto@cox.net
Examiner Home Page: http://www.examiner.com/airlin…..-siegfried

Grant Barrett said:

What's your choice for 2010's word of the year? Mama grizzly? Starwhacker? Who could forget vuvuzela? Martha and Grant discuss the five-oh in Hawaii 5-0, and whether the tagline "I approve this message" is grammatical. Also, is the phrase "it is what it is" annoying or merely philosophical?

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download the MP3 here (25.2 MB).

To be automatically notified when audio is available, subscribe to the podcast using iTunes or another podcatching program.

What's your choice for the word or phrase that best captures the zeitgeist of 2010? Grant shares some of his "word of the year" candidates, including refudiate, mama grizzly, starwhacker, and of course, vuvuzela.

Is the TV show Hawaii Five-0 named for Ford Mustang 5.0 engines in police cruisers? No, and it's correctly typed with a zero instead of the letter "O."

It is what it is. A new transplant to California has noticed this phrase popping up more and more. Where does it come from? Is it annoying or merely philosophical?

Grant talks about another "Word of the Year" contender, Obamacare.

Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a puzzle called "Word Ladders."

After passing by an establishment featuring adult entertainment, an Asheville, N.C., man began wondering: When did the word adult come to refer to "material not suitable for children"?

Political candidates end their TV ads with the statement "I approve this message." Is that ungrammatical?

The internet abounds with memes. Grant explains that this word was coined by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. More about them at Know Your Meme.

Another word of the year candidate is immappacy, which is formed by analogy with "innumeracy," and means the inability to understand maps.

A La Mesa, Calif., woman thinks the term from 1970s films, jive turkey, deserves reviving.

"They shot the white girl first." That's how Toni Morrison's novel, "Paradise," begins, and it's a great example of an irresistible first line. Martha shares others sent in by listeners. She also reads from a Michael Cunningham essay about why a first line must be authoritative.

A reader of The Atlantic magazine is surprised to find that they're not capitalizing letters in headlines the way they used to.

Martha argues in favor of the serial comma, citing a recent newspaper caption: "The documentary was filmed over three years. Among those interviewed were his ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall." How's that again?

A San Diego woman says that when her baby starts crying in another room, her in-laws have a habit of saying, "Another country heard from!" This expression's roots go back to elections in the 19th century, and was originally "another county heard from."

10:32AM
Nov-17-10

telemath

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posts 188

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Grant Barrett said:

It is what it is. A new transplant to California has noticed this phrase popping up more and more. Where does it come from? Is it annoying or merely philosophical?

I'm with Martha on those. They seem to me like a lazy way to end a conversation. When someone says "It it what it is," I'll sometimes reply, "Yep, you can't tell which way a train went by its tracks." More than once, the other person says, "Mmmm. Very true." – at which point I know they're not listening or not thinking.

Political candidates end their TV ads with the statement "I approve this message." Is that ungrammatical?

The present tense of that statement makes we want to apply it to the upcoming message, rather than the message that just played. It doesn't help that the set and sound of the endorsement don't match the rest of the ad. The first time I saw this, I ignored the ad then saw, "My name is …. and I approve this message." So I paid attention to the next message and thought, "This senator approves of Tide liquid detergent?"

Martha argues in favor of the serial comma, citing a recent newspaper caption: "The documentary was filmed over three years. Among those interviewed were his ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall." How's that again?

Har! I love that one. I have seen a breach-of-contract lawsuit, which boiled down to two parties' differing interpretations of a list that lacked the serial comma.

10:32AM
Nov-17-10

dilettante

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posts 267

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Speaking of "junk" – when did it come into common use as a slang expression for genitalia?

2:54PM
Nov-17-10

EmmettRedd

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posts 412

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telemath said:

Har! I love that one. I have seen a breach-of-contract lawsuit, which boiled down to two parties' differing interpretations of a list that lacked the serial comma.

Is an included serial comma ever misinterpreted? If not, clear communication argues for leaving it in, in all cases.

Emmett

11:03PM
Nov-20-10

imajoebob

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posts 12

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Not to be pretentious, but you should be drummed out of the lexicographers' bowling league for evem mentioning "refudiate" as a nominee for word of the year. First, it's not a coined word, it's a tweeted quasi-malapropism. There was no conscious (re)formation of vocabulary to create it; no calculated synergy of two different words, not even a definition in search of a word. It's the product of ignorance, not intelligence. Second, it was a single utterance (if you could actually utter a tweet), not repeated since except as the butt of jokes or as insult or to denigrate. Finally, it lends creedence and credit to someone who is blatantly and proudly anti-intellectual. This is akin to nominating the old apartheid South African government for a Nobel Peace Prize, because they "helped" Nelson Mandela create the African National Congress.

Please, for the sake of intelligent discourse, for academia, and for the genuine pursuit of knowlwdge, DO NOT acknowledge "refudiate" with any discussion of words that should be celebrated or contemplated. To quote another intellectual powerhouse, "Stupid is as stupid does," and to celebrate stupidity and ignorance is not a point of pride.

11:18PM
Nov-20-10

imajoebob

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posts 12

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On a more positive note, thank you, Martha for your example supporting the serial comma. The simplest explanations are often the most effective, and this quote is certainly both.

9:06AM
Nov-21-10

natatorium

Milwaukee, WI

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posts 15

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imajoebob said:

Please, for the sake of intelligent discourse, for academia, and for the genuine pursuit of knowlwdge, DO NOT acknowledge "refudiate" with any discussion of words that should be celebrated or contemplated.

I second that emotion. Simply, "refudiate" is the new "potatoe."

Palindrone – An intentionally constructed word for what has become the media's obsessive water torture drip of all things Palin.

12:11PM
Nov-21-10

Jackie

Spring Green, WI

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