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One Hundred Hours of Nerditude

Rabbit, rabbit!

In this week’s episode, it’s old terms like “eleemosynary” and “logodaedaly,” and new ones like “catio.” We discuss how to pronounce “coyote,” what Brits may mean when offer you a “joint,” when “cowpie” entered English, the “larrupin'” in “larrupin’ good,” and whether “Guess what” needs a question mark. Listen:

https://www.waywordradio.org/guess-what/

Many of you have asked during this election season why it’s “gubernatorial,” not “governatorial.” The Boston Globe’s Jan Freeman recently traced the history of “gubernatorial,” starting with its Latin root, “gubernare.” Lots of people find the word annoying. Too close to “goober,” perhaps?

http://bit.ly/cl9Jiu

How much do you love your favorite novel? Enough to commit whole lines to memory? Good. Enough to commit those lines to your epidermis permanently? The New Yorker reports on “literary tattoos.”

http://nyr.kr/9JOlf3

No tattoos for us, please. We’re aichmophobes.

Over on our Facebook page recently, we recommended this collection of videos about language from the University of Nottingham:

http://bit.ly/a60pFe

What? You haven’t explored the “A Way with Words” Facebook page? Join us there all week for informal chats about such topics as “liberty” vs. “freedom,” the ring of moisture that a cold glass leaves on a table (“culacino”), and whether newfangled toilet paper will be the death knell for “oh-ah oh-ahs” and “der ders”.

http://www.facebook.com/waywordradio

By the way, if you’re wondering about the “Rabbit, rabbit” at the top of today’s newsletter, here’s the scoop:

http://bit.ly/ddbi5g

BEHIND THE SCENES: We were gobsmacked to realize that this week’s recording of “A Way with Words” marks the 100th episode that the two of us have done together. This calls for a celebration, but how to celebrate “One Hundred Hours of Nerditude”? Send us your suggestions!

Anyone know where to get shiny confetti in the shape of serial commas?

Have a great week,

Martha and Grant

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Further reading

Mrs. Astor’s Horse (episode #1530)

“What has a head like a cat, feet like a cat, a tail like a cat, but isn’t a cat?” Answer: a kitten! A 1948 children’s joke book has lots of these to share with kids. Plus: an easy explanation for the difference between...

Kenspeckle

In Scotland and Northern England, something that’s kenspeckle is “conspicuous.” This word likely comes from Scandinavian languages and is related to English ken, meaning “range of knowledge.” And it’s not just ken...