The 2 Best A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over Podcast Episodes
1) Loaded For Bear - 16 September 2019
One way to make your new business look trendy is to use two nouns separated by an ampersand, like Peach & Creature or Rainstorm & Egg or ... just about any other two-word combination. A tongue-in-chee...Show More
2) There's Something About A Way with Words... - 14 September 2016
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3) Familiar Strangers (Rebroadcast) - 19 January 2026
This week on "A Way with Words": If you take up texting and social media late in life, there's a lot to learn! A 20-something wants advice getting her dad up to speed on memes, Instagram, and animated...Show More
4) Word Hoard (Rebroadcast) - 12 January 2026
Ever wonder what medieval England looked and sounded like? In Old English, the word hord meant "treasure" and your wordhord was the treasure of words locked up inside you. A delightful new book uses t...Show More
5) You Talk Like a Sausage (Rebroadcast) - 5 January 2026
Do you refer to your dog or cat as "somebody"? As in: When you love somebody that much, you don't mind if they slobber. In other words, is your pet a somebody or a something? Also, for centuries, ther...Show More
6) Pushing the Envelope (Rebroadcast) - 29 December 2025
Sure, there’s winter, spring, summer, and fall. But the seasons in between have even more poetic names. In Alaska, greenup describes a sudden, dramatic burst of green after a long, dark winter. And th...Show More
7) Safe as Houses - 22 December 2025
Temperature blankets are a visual and tactile mirror of the day’s weather. Knitters use specific shades of yarn to match daily temperatures, creating a colorful, cozy record of weather across time. Pl...Show More
8) Minicast Bonus: Cocktail
In this bonus A Way with Words minicast, Martha and Grant look into the myriad stories behind the word cocktail. Does the drink name come from feathers? Horses? Something up a horse’s rump? It’s a wei...Show More
9) Potatoes and Point - 15 December 2025
If there’s a logophile on your gift list, you have lots of choices—including a new trivia game for language lovers and a murder mystery for the word-obsessed. Plus, if someone calls you a schmoozer, s...Show More
10) Minicast Bonus: Down Bucket
In this bonus A Way with Words minicast, Martha and Grant step into the historic streets of Marblehead, Massachusetts, where the simple cry of “Down bucket!” could serve as a kind of local password. A...Show More