Welcome to another edition of the A Way with Words newsletter. What was college slang like 100 years ago? That's what we talked about on the air this past weekend. We also talked about "go fly a kite," nicknames for Vancouver, and why...
A listener has a question about emoticons, those little sideways symbols you type to suggest emotions in informal electronic writing. You know, like using a colon, dash, and a capital P to stick out your tongue like this 😛 or using a colon, dash...
screamer n.— Note: In print journalism, “screamer” can also refer to a large, bold headline. «The exclamation mark—or “screamer,” as it is sometimes called by journalists—is often derided as the most brash and...
Welcome to another newsletter from A Way with Words! This past weekend we celebrated National Grammar Day (again): We also discussed "booby trap," played a quiz based on "snowclones," and talked about the word "piker."...
Where do you put those exclamation points and question marks– do they go inside or outside the quotation marks? Can you say, “We have the answer!”? This is part of a complete episode.
Frankenstein veto n.— «A “Frankenstein veto” is a partial veto of an appropriation bill that deletes selected words, digits, punctuation marks or larger “parts” of the bill, for the express purpose of...