Imaginary Friends - 21 July 2025

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

A Way with Words

Education, Language Learning, Society & Culture

4.6 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Alright, alright, alright! How do some catchphrases become part of the larger vernacular—to the point where people don’t always know the original reference? And the island of Ocracoke off the coast of North Carolina has a distinctive dialect all its own. A new book shows how tourism is changing how the locals talk. Plus: Are you binge-watching or stinge-watching? If you’re stinge-watching your favorite TV series, you’re savoring it over a long period of time. Also, smearcase, names for imaginary friends, a disem-voweled puzzle, steen o’clock, the rocky origin of cloud, dreepy, nicknames for days of the week, bag raising, and how to pronounce the word mobile when it refers to that toy that hangs above a crib. 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 [email protected]. 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	We've grown up surrounded by beauty ideals that promised confidence, but often delivered shame.
0:05.5	In a special episode of a millennial mind, I sat down with Nicola Adams to explore how
0:10.4	appearance-based compliments and body talk shape our self-worth without us realizing it.
0:15.9	In partnership with the Dove Self-Esteen project, we unpack the tools to change the conversation
0:20.6	for ourselves and for future generations. Listen now and download the... with the Dove Self-Eesteem Project, we unpack the tools to change the conversation for
0:21.1	ourselves and for future generations. Listen now and download the free body confidence journal
0:26.4	at Dove.com forward slash Y2K. You're listening to Away With Words, this show about language
0:32.5	and how we use it. I'm Grant Barrett. And I'm Martha Barnett.
0:38.5	And you know, Grant, I always look forward to each new edition of the newsletter from
0:43.5	name developer Nancy Friedman.
0:45.7	It's called Frittanancy.
0:47.5	And Nancy writes about names and brands and the language of commerce.
0:51.7	And I learned a new term from her the other day, which is sting watching.
0:58.1	Oh, sting watching.
0:59.6	Can I make some guesses?
1:00.7	Are you just going to tell me?
1:01.7	Oh, go ahead.
1:02.5	Make some guesses.
1:03.3	I love to do that.
1:03.5	Just watching how cheap the next people at the table in the restaurant are.
1:07.5	Like they're on a date, and you just know he can't really afford what she's ordering.
1:18.0	Oh, that's a good guess but that's not right oh what is it what's sting watching you're going to appreciate this i have adopted this word because sting watching is when you find
	...

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