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Image by: Kris Bradley http://www.flickr.com/photos/krikit/2691178052/ under a Creative Commons license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en 

Tweet Nothings (#1291)

Series: A Way with Words
From: A Way with Words
Length: 00:54:00

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How much humor and personality can you pack into a 140-character update? A lot, it turns out. Martha and Grant talk about funny Twitter feeds. Also this week, the origins of skosh and can't hold a candle, why dragonflies are sometimes called snake doctors, whether the word pre-plan is redundant, and how technology is affecting the experience of reading. Read the full description.

Dragonly Martha and Grant share some of their latest guilty-pleasure reading from Twitter feeds that show just how much meaning can be compressed into 140 characters. Cases in point: @veryshortstory and @GRAMMARHULK.

http://twitter.com/veryshortstory

http://twitter.com/GRAMMARHULK

He can't hold a candle to someone means that he can't possibly compare to the other person. The hosts explain where this phrase comes from.

A zoo tour guide wants a specific word to describe how elephants procure hydration.

Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle called "This, That, and the Other."

A Facebook newbie asks if it's okay to misspell words on purpose when communicating via social media.

The mother of eight-year-old twins wonders why one of her girls habitually adds Dun-dun-DUN! to sentences in everyday conversation. The hosts suspect it's related to the audio element known as a "sting" in television and movie parlance, like this one in the famous "Dramatic Prairie Dog" video clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjFxJVeCQs&NR=1

The term skosh means "a small amount," and derives from a Japanese word that means the same thing.

Remember when the expression "reading a book" meant, well, actually reading a book? Martha and Grant discuss a Los Angeles Times series about how electronic devices are changing the way we read.

http://lat.ms/auLP0c

The distinctive shape of the dragonfly has inspired lots of different nicknames for this insect, including snake doctor, devil's darning needle, skeeter hawk, spindle, snake eyes, and ear sewer, the last of which rhymes with "mower."

What's the correct term for the male lover of a married woman? The hosts share suggestions from listeners, including paramour and Sancho.

A firefighter is annoyed by his boss's use of the term pre-plan.

Martha shares the term hit and giggle, a bit of sports slang term she picked up while working as an announcer at this year's Mercury Insurance Open tennis tournament.

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Piece Description

Martha and Grant share some of their latest guilty-pleasure reading from Twitter feeds that show just how much meaning can be compressed into 140 characters. Cases in point: @veryshortstory and @GRAMMARHULK.

http://twitter.com/veryshortstory

http://twitter.com/GRAMMARHULK

He can't hold a candle to someone means that he can't possibly compare to the other person. The hosts explain where this phrase comes from.

A zoo tour guide wants a specific word to describe how elephants procure hydration.

Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle called "This, That, and the Other."

A Facebook newbie asks if it's okay to misspell words on purpose when communicating via social media.

The mother of eight-year-old twins wonders why one of her girls habitually adds Dun-dun-DUN! to sentences in everyday conversation. The hosts suspect it's related to the audio element known as a "sting" in television and movie parlance, like this one in the famous "Dramatic Prairie Dog" video clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjFxJVeCQs&NR=1

The term skosh means "a small amount," and derives from a Japanese word that means the same thing.

Remember when the expression "reading a book" meant, well, actually reading a book? Martha and Grant discuss a Los Angeles Times series about how electronic devices are changing the way we read.

http://lat.ms/auLP0c

The distinctive shape of the dragonfly has inspired lots of different nicknames for this insect, including snake doctor, devil's darning needle, skeeter hawk, spindle, snake eyes, and ear sewer, the last of which rhymes with "mower."

What's the correct term for the male lover of a married woman? The hosts share suggestions from listeners, including paramour and Sancho.

A firefighter is annoyed by his boss's use of the term pre-plan.

Martha shares the term hit and giggle, a bit of sports slang term she picked up while working as an announcer at this year's Mercury Insurance Open tennis tournament.

Broadcast History

For broadcast starting Friday, June 10, 2011. This episode first aired September 24, 2010.

Transcript

Martha and Grant share some of their latest guilty-pleasure reading from Twitter feeds that show just how much meaning can be compressed into 140 characters. Cases in point: @veryshortstory and @GRAMMARHULK.

http://twitter.com/veryshortstory

http://twitter.com/GRAMMARHULK

He can't hold a candle to someone means that he can't possibly compare to the other person. The hosts explain where this phrase comes from.

A zoo tour guide wants a specific word to describe how elephants procure hydration.

Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle called "This, That, and the Other."

A Facebook newbie asks if it's okay to misspell words on purpose when communicating via social media.

The mother of eight-year-old twins wonders why one of her girls habitually adds Dun-dun-DUN! to sentences in everyday conversation. The hosts suspect it's related to the audio element known as a "sting" in televisio...
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," how much humor can you pack into 140 characters? Martha and Grant talk about some favorite funny Twitter feeds. Also, what in the world is a "hit and giggle"? And where would you find a snake doctor?

OUTRO:

Musical Works

Title Artist Album Label Year Length
Perfume Bottles Galt McDermott Shapes of Rhythm/Woman is Sweeter. Kilmarnock Records 00:15
Eastbound Budos Band The Budos Band. Daptone Records 00:43
Rock Island Rocket Tom Scott and The LA Express Tom Cat. Ode Records 01:00
Spinning Wheel Jimmy McGriff Electric Funk. Blue Note 00:16
Blue Juice Jimmy McGriff The Worm. Blue Note 00:10
Tom Cat Tom Scott and The LA Express Tom Cat. Ode Records 01:00
Santeria Sublime Sublime. Universal Music Ltd. 00:21
Down Home Funk Richard "Groove" Holmes Comin' On Home. Blue Note 00:19
Let's Call The Whole Thing Off Ella Fitzgerald Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George & Ira Gershwin Song Book. Verve 01:25

Additional Files

Additional Credits

Hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett. Produced by Stefanie Levine. Engineered and edited by Tim Felten. Production assistance by Jennifer Powell 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.

Related Website

http://www.waywordradio.org