PRX - Pieces for Tagging: linguistics
Can't find it?
Try Advanced Search
Survey time! Do you call that kind of cap a beanie, a toboggan, or a stocking hat, or something else? What about rubber-soled athletic shoes? Do yo...
- Added: Feb 09, 2012
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 2
Why do spelling bees include such bizarre, obsolete words like cymotrichous? And why is New York called the Big Apple? Also, the stinky folk medici...
- Added: Feb 02, 2012
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 2
What do pigs have to do with piggyback rides? Martha and Grant have the answer. They also get a lesson from a listener in the fine art of speaking ...
- Added: Jan 25, 2012
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 2
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's . . . "witches' knickers"? Well, what do YOU call those stray plastic bags littering the landscape? Also, what it m...
- Added: Jan 12, 2012
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 2
How about some wind pudding with a dollop of air sauce? What's in a tavern sandwich? Do pregnant women really crave pickles and ice cream? Grant an...
- Added: Jan 04, 2012
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 2
Yo! Who you callin' a jabronie? And what exactly is a jabronie, anyway? Also, what do vintage school buses and hack writers have in common? Grant a...
Bought by KUOW
- Added: Dec 29, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 1
Why do some puns strike us as clever, while others are plain old groaners? Martha and Grant puzzle over this question. Also, the difference between...
Bought by KREV-LP, WCAI / WNAN, and KUOW
- Added: Dec 22, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 3
What's YOUR choice for the Word of the Year for 2011? What word or phrase best sums up the ideas, events, and themes that speakers of English have ...
- Added: Dec 15, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 3
If you've ever eaten Flavor-Crisp Chicken, it was probably served with JoJo potatoes. And speaking of fried chicken, ever wonder why colonel isn't ...
Bought by KUOW
- Added: Dec 08, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 1
Is it cool for parents to use their children's slang? What's wrong with the term "illegal alien"? Grant and Martha discuss possible alternatives. T...
- Added: Nov 30, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 3
Ever eaten golden catheads for breakfast? Yum! A listener shares this Southern term for big, fluffy biscuits. Also, how did people greet each other...
- Added: Nov 23, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 2
"Well, butter my buns and call me a biscuit!" Martha and Grant talk about great catch phrases from old-time radio comedies. Also, why do we speak o...
- Added: Nov 17, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 2
Nothing brightens up an email like an emoticon. But is it appropriate to include a smiley face in an email to your boss? Also, what do time managem...
Bought by WRNC-LP, WRVG - Georgetown College Student Radio, New Hampshire Public Radio, and KUOW
- Added: Nov 09, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 4
Why do auctioneers talk so fast? Martha and Grant discuss the rapid-fire speech of auctioneers, and how it gets you to bid higher. Also, why so ma...
Bought by KUOW and WRVG - Georgetown College Student Radio
- Added: Nov 02, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 2
Ever drop a reference that just makes you sound, well, of a certain age? Grant and Martha discuss slang that's often lost on a younger or older gen...
Bought by KUOW
- Added: Oct 26, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 1
We all know that the color pink is for boys and the color blue is for girls--at least, that's how it was 100 years ago. Grant and Martha share the ...
- Added: Oct 20, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 2
Remember those children's classics, the Velveteen Rabbi and The Little Price? The Twitterverse is abound with these books with a letter missing. An...
- Added: Oct 12, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
Have you been dining on a budget lately? Martha recommends the necessity mess, potato bargain, and other tasty regional foods that won't break the ...
Bought by KXOT Public Radio
- Added: Oct 05, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 1
Ever been to an ABC party? How about a darty? The hosts discuss these and other slang terms heard around campus. They also talk about mulligrubs an...
Bought by WRNC-LP
- Added: Sep 29, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 1
If someone offered you a croaker with an old man's face, would you accept? You should! Croaker is a slang term for "hundred dollar bill." And did y...
Bought by KXOT Public Radio and KUOW
- Added: Sep 22, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 2
More and more college students are getting pregnant--with burrito babies. Grant talks about new terms for "a full stomach" and other examples of ca...
- Added: Sep 15, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
If you say to someone the Spanish equivalent of you're giving me green hairs (me sacas canas verdes), it means that person is making you angry. In ...
Bought by KXOT Public Radio
- Added: Sep 15, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
- Purchases: 1
This week, it's Linguistic True confessions! Martha and Grant take listeners' true confessions about embarrassing linguistic moments. And they make...
- Added: Sep 01, 2011
- Length: 00:28:57
Is typing two spaces after a period "totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong?" Martha and Grant disagree. Also, is the language of the m...
- Added: Sep 01, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
This week on "A Way with Words": If you've "seen the elephant," it means you've been in combat. But why an elephant? Also, Martha and Grant discuss...
- Added: Aug 24, 2011
- Length: 00:54:00
