Light-hearted conversation with callers from all over about new words, old sayings, slang, family ex
Youngsters want to know: What's the difference between barely and nearly, and what's so clean about
Cat hair may be something you brush off, but cat hair is also a slang term that means "money." In th
You know that Yogi Berra quote about how Nobody ever comes here; it’s too crowded? Actually, the fir
Have you ever googled your own name and found someone else who goes by the very same moniker? There’
Throwing cheese and shaky cheese are two very different things. In baseball, hard cheese refers to a
One secret to writing well is … there is no secret! There’s no substitute for simply sitting down da
Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in lif
She sells seashells by the seashore. Who is the she in this tongue twister? Some claim it's the youn
People who hunt treasure with metal detectors have a lingo all their own. Canslaw means the shreds o
Join Martha and Grant of A Way with Words, the public radio show and podcast about language, for a l
A hundred years ago, suffragists lobbied to win women the right to vote. Linguistically speaking, th
Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any o
One of the most powerful words you'll ever hear -- and one of the most poignant -- isn't in dictiona
Don’t move my cheese! It’s a phrase middle managers use to talk about adapting to change in the work
You may have a favorite word in English, but what about your favorite in another language? The Spani
If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new ton
Ribbon fall. Gallery forest. You won't find terms like these in most dictionaries, but they and hund
The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the
The word hipster might seem recent, but it actually originated in the 1930s when it referred to jazz
Understanding the varieties of conversational styles can mean the difference between feeling you’re
