There are nearly 7,000 languages in the world today, and by some estimates, they’re dying off at the rate of one every week. What’s lost when a language dies? Martha and Grant discuss that question and efforts to record some endangered languages before they die out completely.

Listen to this episode.

A caller named Holly confesses that there’s a word that practically makes her break out in hives every time she hears it. Grant assures her she’s not alone in her aversion to the word—Holly, cover your eyes—”moist.” Grant and Martha discuss the psychological aversion some people have to certain common terms.

Is there a word that makes you shudder in disgust? Unload in our discussion forum.

Discuss this episode here.

An Indianapolis woman calls to say she a great first date with a doctor, but was horrified to hear him suggest they meet at an “expresso” shop. She asks for dating advice: Should she correct the guy, keep quiet about this mispronunciation, or just hope he never orders espresso again? Would you go out on a second date with someone who orders a cup of “EX-presso”?

A California man says that he thinks he is increasingly hearing locutions like “50 is the new 30″ and “pink is the new black” and “blogs are the new resumé.” He’s curious about the origin of this “X is the new Y” formula.

You may recall earnestly singing “Kumbaya” around a campfire. But a caller observes that the title of this folk song has taken on a new, more negative meaning. Grant and Martha discuss the new connotations of “Kumbaya,” especially as used in politically conservative circles.

Puzzle Guy Greg Pliska presents a puzzle about William Snakespeare—you know, the great playwright whose works are just one letter different from those of his better-known fellow writer, William Shakespeare. It was Snakespeare, for example, who wrote that gripping prison drama, “Romeo and Joliet.”

Grant talks about a Jack Hitt article on dying languages in the New York Times, which points out that sometimes “the last living speaker” of a language…isn’t.

A caller named Brian wonders whether a co-worker was right to correct him for saying that something minor was “of tertiary concern.” Does “tertiary” literally mean “third,” or can it be used to mean more generally “peripheral” or “not so important”?

A Milwaukee man is mystified about the use of the word “née” in his grandmother’s obituary.

A “Slang This!” contestant guesses at the meaning of the slang terms “faux po” and “pole tax.”

A caller is curious about the colloquial expression “it has a catch in its getalong.” She used it to describe the family’s faulty car. Her husband complained the phrase was too imprecise. Grant and Martha discuss this and similar expressions, like “hitch in its getalong” and “hitch in its giddyup.”

A California caller is puzzling over the expression “have your cake and eat it, too.” Shouldn’t it be “eat your cake and have it, too”?

Grant tells the story of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, who revived the use of Hebrew outside of religious contexts. In 1850, no one spoke Hebrew as an everyday household language; now it’s spoken by more than 5 million people.

That’s all until next week! May your getalong keep getting along.

Read the original blog post and listen to this episode.

That was my reaction, Allan. Wow!

Re “moister” vs. “more moist,” the sound thing is true for a lot of one-syllable words. Not to mention that “moister” just lends itself to too many bad puns. (Like, for example, “Smile when you say that, Moister!”)

The wonderful and unfortunately defunct series “Dead Like Me” had a character with an aversion to the word “moist” also. I’d never heard of that phobia(?) before I saw the show. Now I find it’s a world-wide phenomenon. Who knew?

I’m fine with the word “moist,” but, for reasons I can’t really explain, I can’t stand the word “skills.” It could be that I just don’t like the sound of it, or, since I started realizing I hated this word in high school, it might’ve been because of all those people constantly telling us how this or that would give you some sort of “skills” for college or the workplace, and they seemed to have some sort of fetish for that word, so perhaps it stems from that overuse, too. I remember wanting to scream, “What’s wrong with something like ‘talents’ or ‘abilities’?!” To this day, I can literally tolerate fingernails on a chalkboard much more easily than hearing the word “skills.” [Shudder]

Grant Barrett said:

Our colleagues at the blog Language Log have done a good bit of information-gathering about the phenomenon of “word aversion,” including aversion to “moist.” See their work here.

Here’s where you can join the Facebook group I HATE the word MOIST.

I heard someone say that the most obscene word in the English language is “ointment.” Say it over and over to quickly elevate the squick factor.

Dan

“Expresso” makes me sad on the inside too! Although I would try to talk myself out of holding it against an otherwise reasonable person. It’s not like he chronically confuses their and they’re, which is definitely reason to end a relationship!

Also- I was interested in the “have your cake and eat it too” question. I have heard that the word “have” is meant in the sense of “eat”, as in “I am going to have pizza for lunch” (which is a sense of that word that we use all the time but would probably never think of abstractly). Therefore, the saying means that you can’t eat your cake, and eat it too…

Not sure if that interpretation has any general currency.

Anne said:

Also- I was interested in the “have your cake and eat it too” question. I have heard that the word “have” is meant in the sense of “eat”…

Not sure if that interpretation has any general currency.

I can’t speak to currency, but I remember as a child understanding “have” as “eat” and being puzzled by “have your cake and eat it too.”

Yep, we’ve mentioned snowclones quite a few times.

As soon as I heard Grant’s spelling of faux-po, I guessed what it was, even before Grant gave the choices. Being a German speaker, what I heard before Grant spelled the word was “Vopo” (short for Volkspolizei and pronounced “fo-po”). The Vopo was the state police force in the old German Democratic Republic and an expression still recognized by most Germans. A logical German pun to denote a fake policeman would be fauxpo. Could it be that this expression originated in Germany?

To the doctor who went on the date with that woman from Indianapolis:

Lucky you! Can you imagine? If you hadn’t mispronounced “espresso”, you might have even married someone that petty and controlling. Whew! You dodged that bullet!

Some people don’t understand that most relationships require compromise. In this online era, people think they can just keep clicking through personal ads and find Mr. or Ms. 100%. Life ain’t like that (yeah, I said ain’t, oh yeah I did). This doctor feller could have been wonderful in so many other ways. His inability to pronounce one particular word in no way impacts his capacity to love and care for another human being. And which is more important in the long run?

I was a little disappointed in Martha for not pointing this out. Grant seemed to get it (kinda sorta).

So Doc, if this woman calls back to invite you on a second date so she can put you through your paces and make you run some grammar gauntlet, please take my advice:

RUN… AWAY!!

Steal away!

Ya know, Martha, I didn’t hear any humor in that caller’s voice. I think her attitude really put a bee in my giddyup, that’s for sure.

And I think the anti-moisters have an real physiological reaction to that word. Whether it’s some form of synesthesia or something akin to that lady who went into seizures whenever she heard Mary Hart’s voice on TV, I don’t think there’s anything they could ever do to change their situation.

The lady from Indianapolis just needed to chillax and it all could have worked out fine. It might have even been something they could laugh about as a couple in years to come.

Thanks for your wonderful show!

When I was growing up, my mother referred to my butt as a “po-po.” That being the place where the “lumpies” come from.

“Expresso” bugs me too, but I suspect I might have a couple words that I chronically mispronounce, but no one has called me on them. One of my son’s PCA’s says “liberry” too. As well as mixing up some pronouns, I just can’t remember which right now. I just hope my son doesn’t catch on to them. He has autism, and has a very curious, intense, relationship with words. He is playful with them too. Once when he was 4 or 5, he read the word “notice” as “note-ice.” When we corrected him (note-iss), he pondered it for a while, then started rattling off “iss-rink, iss-hockey, iss-cube” and a few other similar constructions. Then giggled.

strehlow — “po-po” and “lumpies”? Nice.

Must be fascinating to watch your son play with words that way!