Catbird Seat (Rebroadcast) - 27 April 2015

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A Way with Words

Language Learning, Society & Culture, Education

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2015

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Online recaps of Mad Men or Breaking Bad can be as much fun as the shows themselves. So why not recap classic literature — like, say, Dante’s Inferno? A literary website is doing just that. And, you’ve heard about the First World and the Third World — so where in the world is the Second World? Plus, animal stories, including how the aardvark got three “A’s” in its name, and why the catbird seat is the place to be. Also, the origins of crackerjack, mall, mad money, and the admonition “you might want horns, but you’re gonna die butt-headed!” 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/contact. Be a part of the show: call 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS +1 (619) 800-4443. Email words@waywordradio.org. Twitter @wayword. 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	Every episode of A Way With Words is a labor of love made possible by your support.
0:05.5	From research to radio, we're here because of you.
0:08.6	Show your love and donate at wayward radio. Org slash donate.
0:14.6	Thank you.
0:15.8	You're listening to a way with words,
0:17.0	the show about language and how we use it.
0:18.8	I'm Grant Barrett.
0:19.6	And I'm Martha Burnett.
0:21.1	A listener named Danielle tweeted us a question the other day. She wanted to know if
0:25.1	it's true that they call it the mall because you don't go to one store, you go to the mall.
0:31.1	Ah! Funny joke? Yeah. Funny joke.
0:33.0	Funny joke.
0:34.0	Yeah, funny joke and not an entirely unreasonable question because there are some words in English
0:39.2	that come to us by mis-
0:41.6	In this changes of ways. Yeah, by misd division like Apron used to be Naperin and Naperin became Apron.
0:48.0	But the mall did not come from them all.
0:51.4	No, there's a park in London right? Yeah yeah an alley an alley right so this is
0:57.1	St James Park where they used to play a game called Paul Mall that involves a mallet
1:01.8	so mall here is related to the word mallet and the
1:05.0	Paul part referred to the ball it's the ball yeah it's from Italian
1:09.6	parlamalio so there was this place in this park that was a long lane or a row of trees I guess or an open space where you would play this game Paul Mall.
1:18.0	Yeah, it was a long alley actually.
	...

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