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A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over

Bogarting Bangers - 31 Aug. 2009

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over

A Way with Words

Education, Language Learning, Society & Culture

4.62.1K Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2009

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

[This episode first aired June 6, 2009.] Has the age of email led to an outbreak of exclamation marks? Do women use them more than men? Also, is there a word for the odd feeling when you listen to a radio personality for years, then discover that they look nothing like your mental picture of them? And what's the origin of the verb 'to bogart'? Writing in the 'Guardian,' Stuart Jeffries contends that our email boxes are being infested with exclamation marks , known as 'bangs' or 'bangers' (without mash) to some people. Jacob Rubin also wrote on the subject a couple of years ago in Slate. If you tell a buddy, 'Don't bogart that joint,' you're telling him not to hog the marijuana cigarette. Ahem. We know phrase was popularized in the film 'Easy Rider' (performed by The Fraternity of Man ) but does it have anything to do with Humphrey Bogart? You know that odd feeling when you've listened to a radio personality for years, but when you finally meet them, they look nothing like you'd imagined? Is there a word for that weird disconnect? 'Radiofreude,' maybe? Martha shares what F. Scott Fitzgerald and Elmore Leonard had to say about exclamation marks. Short version: Neither is a fan. Quiz Guys John Chaneski and Greg Pliska lead a couple of rounds of 'Chain Reaction,' a word game that's great for parties and long car rides. Two players try to make a third one guess the word that the other two are thinking of. The trick is that they have to give alternating one-word clues to build a sentence. Hilarity ensues. Hillary sues. Why do some people refer to a couch or a sofa as a 'davenport'? How should you pronounce the word 'gala' ? Grant reports some etymological news: A recent article in the journal American Speech suggests a new source for the term that means 'drunk,' 'blotto.' If you're in New Zealand and are told to 'rattle your dags,' you'd better get a move on. Literally, though, the expression has to do with sheep butts. Martha reviews the new book, 'Dreaming in Hindi,' by Katherine Russell Rich , a memoir about setting out to learn a second language in mid-life. Rich spent a year in India to learn Hindi, and became so fascinated with the process that she went on to interview experts about the mechanics of second-language acquisition and how it affects the brain. Publisher's Weekly has an interview with Rich . Grant discusses an article about what happens to the mother tongue voice when first-language speakers of indigenous languages in India learn English and then spend years focused on speaking and writing in their adopted tongue. How did the word 'pigeonhole' come to mean 'classify' or 'categorize'? An employee who gets a great termination package is said to leave the company with a 'golden parachute.' Where'd that term come from? A caller is adamant honorifics should be used to address the President of the United States, as in 'President Obama,' never 'Mr. Obama.' He thinks it's disrespectful and divisive when news organizations use 'Mr.' -- Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: [email protected] Phone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Site: http://waywordradio.org. Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2009, Wayword LLC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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Visit MOZ Y.com. You're listening to Away with Words. I'm Grant Barrett.

0:49.0

And I'm Martha Barnett.

0:51.0

Think about all the written communications you read and write every day, all those

0:55.2

emails, all those text messages.

0:58.0

Am I the only one who thinks it's led to an outbreak of exclamation marks? Actually, I I'm not because there was a long essay recently

1:05.8

in the Guardian newspaper in which columnist Stuart Jeffries argues that the exclamation mark is

1:12.1

enjoying a renaissance and grant I think it's true don't you?

1:15.4

Yes really uh-huh I'm excited how do you I always wonder how do you read that

1:21.7

stuff Martha when you see an exclamation

1:23.1

mark if you read it aloud what does it do to your voice because I have a hard time

1:26.4

forcing that kind of enthusiasm which I know you do what no but it seems to be what

1:31.2

the exclamation marks are calling for.

1:33.0

I'm supposed to sound really excited when I read whatever they have to say.

...

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