A Way with Words    

Episode: Linguistic Curiosities  (#1433, 2015 Fall Pledge Show)

Show number: 150908

Air date:  Evergreen.

ON-AIR STATION HOST INTRO: 

On this fundraising edition of  "A Way with Words": What's the word for it?  Martha and Grant look back at some of their favorite calls about disputes over words, workplace jargon, and those times when a word or phrase just don't sound right. Plus, a couple of linguistic questions that might arise in the bathroom.

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SUMMARY

What's the word for it?  Martha and Grant look back at some of their favorite calls about disputes over words, workplace jargon, and those times when a word or phrase just don't sound right. Plus, a couple of linguistic questions that might arise in the bathroom.

FULL DETAILS

In this special edition of our show, we look back at some favorite calls. Some have to do with disagreements in the workplace, while some have to do with the names of things, including things in the bathroom. Yes, bathroom. More on that later. 

Still other calls have to do with when English just doesn't sound right. Take, for example, the phrase Do what? in place of pardon or excuse me. Variations of this expression, most commonly heard among Texans and Southerners, include What now?, Do how?, and Do which?
    
A word may also sound weird when you try to apply English grammatical rules to a term lifted from another language. For example, if you're taking orders in a restaurant how would you form a plural for the word hummus.
 
Then there are those little disagreements over proper terminology at work. Take Jared, from Richmond, Virginia. He and his co-workers couldn't agree on what to call the most critical piece of equipment that you'd find in any office. We're talking, of course, about the device in which they make coffee. Is it a coffee pot or a coffee maker?

Of course, sometimes workplace jargon can be handy–even profound. Joey, a high school administrator in Fort Worth, Texas, called to say that when he was interviewing candidates for the job of head football coach, nearly every single of them kept repeating a particular phrase: It's not about the X's and the O's, it's about the Jimmies and the Joes.
  
Now for some thoughts from listeners about bathrooms, starting with the question: How did ralphing become a synonym for vomiting?

Another caller wanted to share a hunch of his: Is it just his imagination, or is there a lot less graffiti in public bathrooms than there used to be?

One type of question we hear again and again starts out "What's the word for …?" A listener from Schenectady, New York, for example, wondered about that hand-dusting gesture one makes after completing a task, as if to say, "My work here is finished." She calls it all done clappy hands, and wonders if there's another term for it.
  
After that call originally aired, we did hear other suggestions from listeners. Amy Boucher from Independence, Virginia, says the expression that works for her is done and dusted. That call also triggered a memory for Tony Colonello, of Eugene, Oregon. He spent several years working as a slot technician in a Las Vegas casino, and wrote us to say: "We did a similar action and called it "clapping out". It was done to show the security and surveillance cameras that we had no coins, bills, dice or cards or anything else in our hands." Tony quit that type of work almost a decade ago. But, he says, "I still catch myself not just saying the term but doing the motion to show I am totally finished with whatever I was doing."

This episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett. 
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CONTACT INFORMATION

Grant Barrett
Co-host/co-producer of "A Way with Words"
http://waywordradio.org
cell/office (646) 286-2260
grantbarrett@gmail.com
words@waywordradio.org

Backup contact information:
Stefanie Levine
Senior Producer of "A Way with Words"
cell/office (619) 890-4275
slevine@waywordradio.org