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Language Headlines, More on Jody, and Invented Languages in Games

Welcome to the A Way with Words newsletter, where "language" is our middle name. "Dangerous" was taken.

This weekend we told you what a "trailer queen" and a "soup spitter" are, and we took a punny quiz about world capitals. Listen:

https://www.waywordradio.org/insegrevious-paratereseomaniacs/

We've also posted another online-only edition of our "language headlines" minicast, containing tidbits about the latest language news and commentary from around the globe. Give it a whirl:

https://www.waywordradio.org/language-headlines-minicast-25-aug-2008/

In our discussion forum, Fred Bals posted a link to his own "Dreamtime" podcast, which he calls "commentary on Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour." He wanted to let us know that our show in which we talked about "jody cadences," those military marching songs about the mythical man who is home stealing your woman, inspired him to do an episode about them.

He's done excellent legwork to turn up old recordings and photographs of many versions of the original "Joe De Grinder" song sung by Irvin "Gar Mouth" Lowry, a prisoner at the State Farm in Arkansas, and first recorded by ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax in 1939.

http://tinyurl.com/582sr8

At the Game Career Guide, James Portnow interviews Richard Garriott, who has invented languages for use within games. "One of the first things Garriott suggested was that spoken languages need to sound familiar. Players will not only get the rewarding experience of feeling clever if they pick up a Latinate or pseudo-Germanic phrase, but also come to the conclusion that the language is learnable, which is a big step in getting them invested in the language and thus the depth of the game."

http://tinyurl.com/5fk7qd

Finally, if you can believe it, people are already thinking about the words of the year for 2008. In August! One nomination we received suggested "staycation," which is a vacation you spend at home, usually because gasoline and traveling are too expensive.

What would your "word of the year" nomination be if the vote were held today?

Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett

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Further reading

Horsengoggle

Need a way to select someone from a group to be a recipient of something? Horsengoggle it! Kids have been horsengoggling for a long time, and sometimes children start out this counting game in German, with Einz, Zwei, Drei, Horsengoggle! No one...

We Went Down, Down, To The Cryptic Puzzle

Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a version of cryptic crosswords: double-definition clues for four-letter words. For example, what might the answer be if a punny crossword clue is “Sad feathers”? This is part of a complete episode.

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