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

Highway Robbery - 4 December 2023

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

🗓️ 4 December 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Secret signals on the job: Waitresses at some 19th-century restaurants ensured speedy drink service by communicating with a non-verbal code. One server took orders, then placed each customer’s cup to indicate exactly what the customer wanted. A second server could then whisk right in and serve the right beverage without asking. Also, the term highway robbery goes back to the 1600s, when armed robbers stopped carriages traveling out of town and ordered occupants to turn over their valuables. And what in the world is a nurdle? Plus, sun grin, John Doe and Richard Roe, a quiz that’s twice the fun, too much sugar for a dime, don’t strain your milk, stand and deliver, tetrising, your feet don’t fit a limb, and holy cow! Hear hundreds of free episodes and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org. Be a part of the show: call or text 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; elsewhere in the world, call or text +1 619 800 4443. Send voice notes or messages via WhatsApp 16198004443. Email words@waywordradio.org. 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

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0:28.0

You're listening to Away with Words, the show about language, and how we use it. I'm Grant Barrett.

0:36.0

And I'm Martha Barnett. What happens if you de-pluralize the title of a book. You get some pretty intriguing titles that

0:45.5

suggests some stories that could be really interesting to read. For example, you

0:50.6

take Louisa May Alcott's little women and that becomes little woman.

0:56.0

So it's more than just dropping off the S. That makes me think of Ralph Cramden talking about his wife, all the little woman.

1:03.8

The grapes of wrath become the grape of wrath, you know, just one very angry grape.

1:10.5

Right, a giant grape that took over Hoboken.

1:13.0

Exactly.

1:15.0

Well, listeners on our Facebook group were talking about this and they came up with a lot of

1:20.3

great examples.

1:21.7

One of my favorites is a Crow on the Orient Express.

1:25.4

Oh, clever. A crow on the Orient Express, though. What would that be about?

1:30.3

That would be about a crow in a little top hat and a cane seeking passage and being refused a dining car.

1:37.0

Walking down the aisle, I can see it.

1:42.0

And how about where the wild thing is?

1:44.7

That's like something. You go to your dermatologist,

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