What in the Sam Hill?! It's another newsletter from A Way with Words. Oh, man, when we have fun on the air, we have it in spades, buckets, and buttloads. This past weekend we took a quick look at whether old-fashioned fairy tales are too...
Your brother-in-law the motormouth beats around the bush for so long about something that in exasperation you tell him to “cut to the chase.” The hosts explain the Hollywood roots of this phrase. This is part of a complete episode.
If someone calls you a notorious singer, should you be flattered or insulted? An Indiana caller says he’s hearing the word notorious used in a positive way, and wonders whether this adjective be reserved for describing things in a negative...
window-dress v.— «Tuesday’s markets should also be influenced by the end of the third quarter. Fund managers usually try to “window dress”—Wall Street lingo for closing out positions—before they have to report their quarterly...
meteorwrong n.— Note: Also sometimes spelled “meteowrong.” «Nicklin said many people often mistake common terrestrial rocks for the kind that fall from outer space. He refers to them as “meteorwrongs...
Welcome to another newsletter from A Way with Words. Over the weekend we aired our show about new words and words that are new to us. We also talked about "sketchy," "spelunker," and lectern vs. podium. This morning we also...