You're listening to Away With Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I'm Grant Barrett.

And I'm Martha Barnett, and here's a word that has me very excited, Grant, pungle. Do you know this word? Baby platypus? No, no, no, that's a puggle. Oh. But pungle, pungle, it means to shell out, that is to put down money. Or like if you force somebody to pay up, you might say, I made him pungle up.

It's mainly used in the way. that is to put down money. Or like if you force somebody to pay up, you might say, I made him pungle up.

It's mainly used in the western part of the United States, and what's really exciting is that

this weird-sounding word makes perfect sense if you know that it comes from the Spanish

imperative pongale, that is, to put it there, put it down.

Ah, so it's been thoroughly

anglicized yeah to pungle so for example you might pungle down money on the poker table

interesting I love it we'd love for you to pungle your questions and comments about

words and how we use them put them down in an email to words at wayward radio.org or

call us 877929-. Hello, you have a way with words. Hi, this must be Grant. This is Michelle Stein. I'm calling from the Davis Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. Hi, Michelle. Wait, is that a school? You're a teacher? That is correct. Wow. One of the noble ones. Indeed. Middle school, no less. Oh, terrible time.

Oh. What can we do for you, Michelle? I have a particular group of students in one of my classes

who have coined a new phrase word, actually, is more accurate, we believe, and we're looking

for the community to give us some feedback on whether there is any

other word that has the same meaning or whether we can encourage the use of the one we've created.

Okay, very good.

Let's hear it.

The word that we have come up with is F-S-U-M-B-A.

F-I-S-T-U-M-B-A.

It has two uses as a noun and a verb, and it is the occurrence whereby two people fist-pump one another, and an injury occurs by accident.

They fist-bump each other?

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