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

Keep Your Pants On (Rebroadcast) - 10 August 2015

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

🗓️ 10 August 2015

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If everyone on the planet spoke a single language, wouldn't that make life a whole lot easier? For that matter, is a common world language even possible? Maybe for a minute or so—until new words and phrases start springing up. Also, did you ever wonder why the guy at your local coffee shop is a barista and not a baristo? There's a good grammatical reason. Finally, pass the gorp—we have the scoop on the name of this crunchy snack. Plus, double bubble, concertina wire, the story behind the movie title Winter's Bone, safe and sound, and a couple vs. a pair.  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

Everything is fuel for your creativity with the Lenovo Yoga laptop series.

0:04.3

From the people you meet to the creators you follow, it all comes together with

0:08.0

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0:09.0

Plus, you get a 50 pound travel voucher and a shot at winning an awesome trip to New York and a Motorola

0:14.6

razor 40 Ultra. Check out the Lenovo Yoga series with laptops made for creatives at

0:19.7

Lenovo.com slash Yoga. Limited time only terms and conditions apply. Engineered to do it all. That's a laptop evolved with Intel Evo Platform.

0:28.0

You're listening to a way with words, the show about language and how we use it.

0:33.2

I'm Grant Barrett.

0:34.2

And I'm Martha Barnett.

0:35.8

The finals of the annual American Crossword Puzzle Tournament are always exciting.

0:40.4

You have hundreds of people in a ballroom of a New York City hotel and they're all watching these finalists who are standing there at the front in front of easels trying to work these giant versions of an incredibly hard crossword puzzle and they're wearing these noise

0:55.8

cancelling headphones and Grant you remember that right because you did color

1:00.0

commentary for them back in the day and there's other noise in the room too. People are

1:04.5

moaning if they see an error because you can see the solution, right? The

1:09.4

contestants can't see it. But what I didn't know until I read it in the blog of Deb Amlin who

1:16.7

blogs about crossword puzzles for the New York Times, I didn't know that the

1:21.6

white noise that they're listening to in their noise

1:24.4

canceling headphones is a recording of hundreds of voices speaking in different

1:28.4

languages at a United Nations cocktail party.

1:30.9

Whoa! Isn't that crazy?

1:34.0

Isn't that crazy?

1:35.0

So in case there was a real voice accidentally slipping through, it's going to be completely disguised

...

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