
- Playing
- Sailor’s Delight (#1282)
- From
- A Way with Words
"Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning." Martha talks about this weather proverb, which has been around in one form or another since ancient times. Grant shares a favorite weather word: slatch. Also this week: Is there a better alternative to the word mentee? What's pooflapoo pie?
A Dallas listener and her boss have a dispute. The boss says the staff should get "on the stick." The caller and her co-workers say the correct phrase is on the ball. Grant gives her an answer, then suggests a third option used in Hawaii: on the kinipopo.
What's the best term for someone who's being mentored? A woman in a mentoring program at church thinks the word mentee sounds like "manatee." She's hoping for an alternative.
Grant shares another weather-related word from Britain: parky.
Quiz Guy John Chaneski offers a puzzle in honor of the hosts' initials. Every clue prompts a two-word answer beginning with the letters M and B or G and B. For example: "Paper or plastic?"
A caller named Todd says that when people meet him for the first time, they sometimes call him Scott, even if he's wearing a nametag with his real name on it. It's happened too many times to be a coincidence, he says, and wonders if there's something about the double letters that registers the wrong name in people's minds.
Whip up a big batch of pistachio pudding, then add pineapple, walnuts, Cool Whip, and marshmallow bits, and what do you have? A Los Angeles woman says her grandmother used to make a dish with those ingredients that she called pooflapoo pie. Is that just her family's name for it, or do other people refer to it that way? Other people call it Watergate salad or ambrosia.
Have trouble remembering the difference between stalagtites and stalagmites? Martha shares a mnemonic that will help.
A police officer says that the prosecutor edits out the word that from the reports he submits, as in, "The subject stated that he met the co-defendant at a party." Is the word "that" necessary here? Martha and Grant disagree. Also, the cop also has a brain-teaser for the hosts: Can you use the word "that" five times consecutively in a sentence correctly?
The hosts talk about the tricks they use to remember how to spell certain words.
Why do we say that someone finely attired is dressed to the nines?
A woman says that when playing hide-and-seek with a small child, her mother-in-law says "Peep-eye!" instead of "Peekaboo!" Is that usage limited to certain parts of the country? And where do they say "Pee-bo!"?
Grant talks about two other weather-related terms, frontogenesis and aeromancy.
When comparing one item with the rest of the items in a group, which is better: more or most?
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Piece Description
"Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning." Martha talks about this weather proverb, which has been around in one form or another since ancient times. Grant shares a favorite weather word: slatch. Also this week: Is there a better alternative to the word mentee? What's pooflapoo pie?
A Dallas listener and her boss have a dispute. The boss says the staff should get "on the stick." The caller and her co-workers say the correct phrase is on the ball. Grant gives her an answer, then suggests a third option used in Hawaii: on the kinipopo.
What's the best term for someone who's being mentored? A woman in a mentoring program at church thinks the word mentee sounds like "manatee." She's hoping for an alternative.
Grant shares another weather-related word from Britain: parky.
Quiz Guy John Chaneski offers a puzzle in honor of the hosts' initials. Every clue prompts a two-word answer beginning with the letters M and B or G and B. For example: "Paper or plastic?"
A caller named Todd says that when people meet him for the first time, they sometimes call him Scott, even if he's wearing a nametag with his real name on it. It's happened too many times to be a coincidence, he says, and wonders if there's something about the double letters that registers the wrong name in people's minds.
Whip up a big batch of pistachio pudding, then add pineapple, walnuts, Cool Whip, and marshmallow bits, and what do you have? A Los Angeles woman says her grandmother used to make a dish with those ingredients that she called pooflapoo pie. Is that just her family's name for it, or do other people refer to it that way? Other people call it Watergate salad or ambrosia.
Have trouble remembering the difference between stalagtites and stalagmites? Martha shares a mnemonic that will help.
A police officer says that the prosecutor edits out the word that from the reports he submits, as in, "The subject stated that he met the co-defendant at a party." Is the word "that" necessary here? Martha and Grant disagree. Also, the cop also has a brain-teaser for the hosts: Can you use the word "that" five times consecutively in a sentence correctly?
The hosts talk about the tricks they use to remember how to spell certain words.
Why do we say that someone finely attired is dressed to the nines?
A woman says that when playing hide-and-seek with a small child, her mother-in-law says "Peep-eye!" instead of "Peekaboo!" Is that usage limited to certain parts of the country? And where do they say "Pee-bo!"?
Grant talks about two other weather-related terms, frontogenesis and aeromancy.
When comparing one item with the rest of the items in a group, which is better: more or most?
Broadcast History
This episode is for broadcast starting Friday, March 18, 2011. It first aired March 6, 2010.
Transcript
(This episode is for broadcast starting Friday, March 18, 2011. It first aired March 6, 2010.)
"Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky at morning, sailor take warning." Martha talks about this weather proverb, which has been around in one form or another since ancient times. Grant shares a favorite weather word: slatch. Also this week: Is there a better alternative to the word mentee? What's pooflapoo pie?
A Dallas listener and her boss have a dispute. The boss says the staff should get "on the stick." The caller and her co-workers say the correct phrase is on the ball. Grant gives her an answer, then suggests a third option used in Hawaii: on the kinipopo.
What's the best term for someone who's being mentored? A woman in a mentoring program at church thinks the word mentee sounds like "manatee." She's hoping for an alternative.
Grant shares another weather-related word from Bri...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
The show clock:
Billboard: 1:00
Segment 1: 13:00
Music Bed: 1:00
Segment 2: 19:00
Music Bed: 1:00
Segment 3: 19:00
TRT: 54:00
Stations typically take NPR news at the top of the hour and start our show at :06 with Breaks at :19 and :39 and out at :59.
Here's a typical episode rundown:
--Billboard
--Seg 1
----Intro: 2-3 minutes
----Caller questions: 10-11 minutes
--Break 1:00
--Seg 2
----Word Challenge 4-6 minutes
----Caller questions 13-15 minutes
--Break 1:00
--Seg 3
----Slang Quiz 5-7 minutes
----Caller questions 11-13 minutes
----Credits: 1:00
Intro and Outro
INTRO:This week on "A Way with Words," everybody talks about the weather, but only Martha and Grant will tell you the meaning of the weather terms "parky" and "slatch." Also, is there a better alternative to the word "mentee"? And what's the recipe for "pooflapoo pie"? [POOH-fluh-poo]
OUTRO:Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bubble Gum | The 9th Creation | Bubble Gum. | Pony Canyon Japan | 00:10 | |
| Red Onion | Groove Holmes | New Groove. | Groove Merchant | 00:10 | |
| Mystical Brotherhood | Karl Hector and The Malcouns | Sahara Swing. | Now-Again | 01:00 | |
| Jellybread | Booker T and The MG's | Soul Dressing. | Stax | 00:16 | |
| Chicken Pox | Booker T and The MG's | Melting Pot. | Stax | 00:04 | |
| Mellow (Version) | Karl Hector and The Malcouns | Sahara Swing. | Now-Again | 01:00 | |
| Mango Meat | Mandrill | Just Outside Of Town. | Collectables | 00:14 | |
| Let's Call The Whole Thing Off | Fred Astaire | Fred Astaire's Finest Hour. | Verve | 00:56 |
Additional Files
- Copy for use by stations on their websites or by their on-air hosts (110319-1282-web-and-audio-promo-copy.txt)
Additional Credits
Hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett. Produced by Stefanie Levine. Engineered and edited by Tim Felten. Production assistance by Jennifer Powell, James Ramsey, and Josette Herdell. Recorded at Studio West in Rancho Bernardo, California. Independently produced and distributed by Wayword Inc., a California company, to public radio stations across North America.






Madelyn Kontis
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 05:24 PM | Permalink
Correction (sorry)
Actually, the bride's garter is thrown, not garter belt. They both originated by holding stockings up (garters don't anymore), but the garter goes around her thigh. If she was wearing a garter belt, it would go around her waist and have elasticised straps with alligator clips that grip her stockings.