[This episode first aired September 13, 2008.]When you get to the end of a wonderful book, your first impulse is to
tell someone else about it. In this week's episode, Martha and Grant
discuss what they've been reading and the delights of great prose.An
Illinois man recalls that as a kid, he used to mix fountain drinks of
every flavor into a concoction he and his friends called a 'suicide.'
He wonders if anyone else calls them that. Why a 'suicide'? Because it
looks and tastes like poison?It started as a typo for 'own,'
now it's entrenched in online slang. A Kentucky caller is curious about
'pwn.' It rhymes with 'own' and means 'to defeat' or 'to triumph over.'
Our hosts talk about a special meaning of 'own' in the computer-gaming
world.Quiz Guy John Chaneski is Havana good time with Martha
and Grant on an round-the-world 'International Puzzle Hunt' that will
leave you Beijing for more.You seem to hear it on all the
television hospital dramas: 'stat!' A physician says she knows it means
'immediately,' but she doesn't know its origins. Quick! Is there a
Latin expert in the house?A San Diego fisherman notes that he
hears mariners talk about 'snotty weather.' 'Snotty?' Is it the kind
that gives you the sniffles? Or is does it cop an attitude?Do
you ever stare at a word so long that you think it's mispellllled? Even
though it isn't? Your dialectal duo hunt up a word for that phenomenon.Grant
and Martha reveal what books are on their own nightstands, waiting to
be read. Just the top of the stacks, natch, because there are just too
many.This week's 'Slang This!' contestant tries to guess the meaning of the terms 'liver rounds' and 'put the bite on someone.'An
Indianapolis woman who grew up in the South says that when her slip was
showing, her father used to say, 'Who do you think you are, Miss
Astor'?' Martha shares other euphemisms for slips showing. If someone
sidles up to you and says, 'Pssssst! Mrs. White is out of jail,' it's
time to check your hemline.You can tell someone's an 'A Way
with Words' listener when they confess to lying awake at night
wondering about questions like, 'Are the words 'fillet' and 'flay'
etymologically related?'A Minnesotan has been observing his
infant babbling, and wonders if words like 'mama' and 'papa' arise from
sounds that babies naturally make anyway. Are there some words or
sounds that are instinctive? Or do they only learn them from their
parents?--Get your language question answered on the
air! Usage, grammar, spelling, punctuation, slang, old sayings, other
languages, speech, writing, you name it. Call or write 24 hours a day:
(877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web