Do you know this diabolical riddle? “There are three words in the English language that end in -gry. Angry and hungry are two of them. What’s the third?” The hosts explain that the answer’s not as simple as you might think...
In this week’s round of Slang This!, a member of the National Puzzlers League tries to separate the real slang terms from the fake ones. For example, which of following expressions is British rhyming slang for “wife”: boiler house...
Do English-speaking foreigners understand you better if you speak English with a foreign accent? A Californian says that on a recent visit to Armenia, he discovered the locals had an easier time if he spoke English with an Armenian accent. Is this...
It's time again for a newsletter from A Way with Words, public radio's program about words, language, and how we use them. This past weekend we plundered the Australian National Dictionary, which is now available in full online, by sharing...
We hear the word maverick a lot lately, but where did this term for a stubborn nonconformist come from? Martha tells the story of the Texas politician who inspired the word, and whose grandson apparently coined another familiar English word...
Welcome to another newsletter from A Way with Words! This past weekend we listened to the episode which featured "layers for meddlers and crutches for lame ducks" and "you buy 'em books, you give 'em books, and all they do is...