Gold Dance (Rebroadcast) - 20 June 2022

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

🗓️ 20 June 2022

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

People who hunt treasure with metal detectors have a lingo all their own. Canslaw means the shreds of aluminum cans left after a lawnmower ran over them. And gold dance? That's the happy jig you do if you find something far more valuable than an old can. Plus, a splendid new dictionary offers an in-depth look at the rich language of Southern Appalachia, from parts of West Virginia to Georgia. And why do television announcers greet viewers with the phrase "welcome back" after a commercial break? Weren't they the ones who went away? Plus, coinball, bacon bats, Katzensprung, quote unquote vs. quote end quote, a quiz about synonyms, joke tags, dials and smiles, low sick, took a dump, get out of my bathtub!, and 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/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	You're listening to a way with words to show about language and how we use it.
0:03.4	I'm Grant Barrett.
0:04.4	And I'm Martha Barnett and I am sorely tempted to start a new hobby if only for this slang.
0:11.3	What's it this time? Painting bridges, naming clouds?
0:15.1	No, no, no. I got tired of those. But the vocabulary of the hobby I'm talking about
0:20.0	includes terms like coinball, night hawk, gold dance, and my favorite canslaw.
0:28.3	C-A-N-S-L-A-W.
0:30.8	Canslaw, coinball? This is like something you buy at the fair.
0:36.4	I'll have a coinball, coinball, and a corn dog.
0:42.4	And an elephant ear.
0:43.7	No, these are all terms that come from the field of metal detecting.
0:48.5	Oh, right.
0:50.4	So a coinball is a chunk of dirt you find with a coin inside.
0:55.4	In their lingo, it has friends, that is, there are other little coins in the same hole
1:00.0	that you dig. And canslaw is shreds of aluminum cans left after a lawnmower ran over them,
1:07.2	which I think is just so picturesque. And a night hawk is somebody who detects illegally
1:13.5	at night, and a gold dance is what you do if you actually discover gold.
1:19.1	Oh, yeah, the little happy jig, the little happy jig of a discovery. Yeah, smile on your face.
1:25.2	Yes, and I was all excited about this having watched the wonderful BBC series Detectorists.
1:32.5	Yes. Have you seen that?
1:34.9	I've seen a couple episodes. It's fun, but weird.
1:38.5	Exactly. Well, it's like us. It's a couple of passionate nerds.
	...

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