How do you pronounce biopic? The proper way to mention the genre of biographical motion picture has always been “BUY-oh-pick,” as opposed to the mirror of myopic. It’s not unusual to mispronounce a word if the spelling does not...
Martha has an example of a linguistic false friend: In Latvian, the word vista means “chicken.” This is part of a complete episode.
Hiya, folks. It's another newsletter from A Way with Words! Aside from flagellating ourselves for the homophonic error in last week's newsletter (error is always in a hurry), we also aired a radio show and posted a minicast. The topics on...
A listener from Texas heard an NPR report from Asia in which an interpreter translated a speaker’s words into English as “a whole new ball game.” He wants to know if that’s a literal translation from an Asian language, and if...
robeitis n.— «Phillips noted that Wilkins is “always civil in his relationships with colleagues, courteous and respectful to members of the Bar, tough-minded in defending positions taken, but personally secure enough to change his...
mulligan n.— «Conventional wisdom has held that drivers can afford one “mulligan,” which is NASCAR parlance for a damaging result. In the Chase era, no champion has finished outside the top 25 more than once. But that margin...