Bug in Your Ear - 9 December 2019

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

A Way with Words

Language Learning, Society & Culture, Education

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 December 2019

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Is there something inherent in English that makes it the linguistic equivalent of the Borg, dominating and consuming other languages in its path? No, not at all. The answer lies with politics and conquest rather than language itself. Plus: a new baby may be lovingly placed in a giraffe and spend time in the Panda room, but where is that? And: it's not easy to learn how to roll your Rs. In fact, even some native Spanish speakers have trouble with it. Yes, there's a word for that, too! All that, plus a crossword-puzzle puzzle, a bug in your ear, the origin of slob, long johns vs. maple bars, mentor, stentorian, You can put your boots in the oven, but that don't make ’em biscuits, and lots more. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/. Email words@waywordradio.org. Twitter @wayword. Our listener phone line 1 (877) 929-9673 is toll-free in the United States and Canada. Elsewhere in the world, call +1 (619) 800-4443; charges may apply. From anywhere, text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Away With Words, the show about language and how we use it.
0:03.2	I'm Grant Barrett.
0:04.2	And I'm Martha Barnett.
0:05.7	A while back we had a conversation about names that also double as verbs, like your name,
0:11.2	for example, Grant.
0:12.2	You can Grant somebody.
0:13.8	Three wishes.
0:14.4	Three wishes.
0:15.2	Yeah, or other names like Bob and Sue,
0:17.7	which are also verbs.
0:19.6	That prompted a letter from Nathan Steele. He is a freshman at the University of Wyoming in Laramie,
0:26.0	and he writes that his dad's first name is Robert and his last name, like Nathan's, is Steele,
0:32.0	STELE.
0:34.2	He says, when my dad was still a baby, my grandmother took him to the supermarket and as she was
0:39.2	there, a woman asked my grandmother what her son's name was. My grandmother told the woman
0:44.3	his name was Rob Steele, to which the woman sarcastically replied, well what's his
0:49.1	middle name? Plunder? I love that.
0:55.0	that.
0:57.0	Nathan says, I don't think that before then my grandma had ever considered that both my dad's
1:01.9	names were verbs or even that they were synonyms.
1:04.6	My grandma has a good sense of humor but by the way she told me the story I think she might have been
1:09.6	pretty offended.
	...

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