Hot Gossip - 13 February 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

🗓️ 12 February 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Gossip goes by many names: the poop, the scoop, the lowdown, the dope, the scuttlebutt, the 411, the grapes, the gore, and hot tea. Plus, John Donne’s love poems are among the greatest in the English language, even as they’re famously difficult to unravel. A new biography hails the genius of the man who penned the phrases no man is an island and for whom the bell tolls. And Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. But what about Muphry’s Law? Also: how to organize your bookshelves, rizz, potch in tuchis, conkerbell, pronouncing help like hope, spermologer, sweet tea vs. unsweet tea, work brickle, collywobbles, and a puzzle that will test your wits — and patience. 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.
0:03.3	I'm Grant Barrett. And I'm Martha Barnett. And Grant, I've been thinking lately about reorganizing
0:09.5	my office, which has me thinking about how I organize my books on my shelves. Oh, no.
0:16.0	And so I very much appreciated an interview that I read with Jane Smiley, the author, who was
0:21.8	asked, how do you organize your books? And she said, only by kicking them out of the way so that I
0:27.3	won't trip over them. On one hand, I totally get that on the other hand,
0:34.5	don't kick your books. But it's still the middle school on me who thinks of them as precious.
0:41.2	But there's also the adult on me who knows that like, boy, my house is loaded with books.
0:45.5	There's got something it's got to be done. Clear a path. Clear a path. I have a teetering
0:50.8	stat next to my bed that I, I'm reflexively pushed back against the wall every time I go buy,
0:55.5	and all it's going to take is one of the cats just brushing it the wrong way and the whole
0:59.4	thing's going to go down. We don't, in thinking about how I'm going to organize the books on my
1:05.0	shelves, I was heartened to come across a quotation from Luke Van Dunker's Goad, who is a software
1:11.8	expert. He said, think not of the books you've bought as a to be read pile. Instead, think of your
1:18.7	bookcase as a wine cellar. You collect books to be read at the right time, the right place,
1:24.6	and the right mood. And I really appreciated that because I've been thinking, oh, should I put
1:29.0	them in alphabetical order? Should I sub-organize the sections? But I really like the idea of just
1:34.3	comparing your bookshelves to a wine cellar where you just sort of stroll in and you think, well,
1:39.0	what do I feel like today? And maybe you make a serendipitous choice. We'd love to hear about how you
1:44.4	organize your books or the chaos that books bring to your life or great quotes about how to organize
1:49.8	your books or books in general. You know, we're book freaks over here. Bibliophiles to the worst
1:54.2	degree. 877-929-9673, email words at waywardradio.org or find out more about the show on our website
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