Copacetic - 29 February 2016

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

🗓️ 29 February 2016

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Brand names, children’s games, and the etiquette of phone conversations. Those clever plastic PEZ dispensers come in all shapes and sizes—but where did the word PEZ come from? The popular candy’s name is the product of wordplay involving the German word for “peppermint.” Also, the story behind that sing-songy playground taunt: “Neener, neener, NEEEEEEEEEEner!” Listen closely, and you’ll hear the same melody as other familiar children’s songs. Finally, the process of ending a phone conversation is much more complex than you might think. Linguists call this verbal choreography “leave-taking.” It’s less about the literal meaning of the words and more about finding a way to agree it’s time to hang up. Also, hold ‘er Newt, copacetic, drupelet, pluggers, pantywaist, this little piggy, and the word with the bark on it. 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

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Everything is fuel for your creativity with the Lenovo Yoga laptop series.
0:04.3	From the people you meet to the creators you follow, it all comes together with
0:08.0	Lenovo Yoga.
0:09.0	Plus, you get a 50 pound travel voucher and a shot at winning an awesome trip to New York and a Motorola
0:14.6	razor 40 Ultra. Check out the Lenovo Yoga series with laptops made for creatives at
0:19.7	Lenovo.com slash Yoga. Limited time only terms and conditions apply.
0:23.8	Engineered to do it all. That's a laptop evolved with Intel Evo Platform.
0:27.8	You're listening to Away with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
0:33.2	I'm Grant Barrett.
0:34.2	And I'm Martha Barnett.
0:36.1	In 1927, an Austrian named Edward Haas the third created a little flat candy that was flavored with peppermint oil.
0:45.0	Now you may know Grant that the German word for peppermint is
0:49.0	Pfefferments.
0:50.0	And starts with a P, right, as in German.
0:53.7	And for the name of this little candy,
0:56.2	he took the first letter in Fefferments, P,
0:59.5	the middle letter E and the last letter, Z in German that's pronounced pets but in English
1:06.9	we pronounce it Pez Pez. Pez. It turns out that Haas was a big anti-smoking advocate and he saw a market for smokers trying to quit and by
1:19.3	by 1948 he was selling these little mintints in plastic dispensers that were designed to resemble
1:26.4	cigarette lighters. Isn't that cool? And then, yeah, selling them to smokers who were trying
1:32.4	to kick the habit.
1:33.6	Eventually he moved to New York City and decided to reach out to the children's market.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from A Way with Words, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of A Way with Words and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.