Mystery Date - 13 September 2021

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A Way with Words

Language Learning, Society & Culture, Education

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 September 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A librarian opens a book and finds a mysterious invitation scribbled on the back of a business card. Another discovers a child’s letter to the Tooth Fairy, tucked into a book decades ago. What stories are left untold by these forgotten, makeshift bookmarks? Also: a “cumshaw artist” is the wily member of a military unit who knows the shortcuts of procuring something for all their buddies, whether it’s food or a borrowed vehicle for the evening. Plus, a handy Russian saying translates as “the circus left, the clowns remain.” Also, scroll the window down, case quarter, Johnny pump, getting on the binders, telltale sign, maximums vs. maxima, shm-reduplication, and a funny 19th-century saying about the local know-it-all. Wishing you many happy returns of the day! 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 Away With Words, the show about language and how we use it, I'm Grant
0:04.3	Barrett.
0:05.3	And I'm Martha Barnett.
0:07.0	In an earlier episode, we talked about items found in old library books, like somebody
0:12.7	stuck a four-leaf clover in there and forgot about it or an old receipt.
0:17.5	And after that, we heard from Mack McClelland.
0:20.5	He's a volunteer at the Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock, Vermont, evaluating
0:26.1	donated books for fundraising sales.
0:29.0	And Mack emailed us a photo of his all-time favorite find.
0:33.2	And it's a brief note on a sheet of binder paper, and it reads,
0:37.1	Dear Tooth Fairy, I lost two teeth by accident.
0:41.1	And I was wondering if I still get a prize from Carter.
0:45.3	And Grant, you've seen this, it's the most adorable little note.
0:49.5	It is.
0:50.5	With all that little kid handwriting and all those little kid misspellings, oh, that's
0:54.9	just breaks the heart.
0:57.4	That's a kid of prize.
1:00.5	And of course, it took a while to decipher it because he spelled a Tooth Fairy, T-U-S-E-F-A-R-R-Y.
1:10.3	And prize was PR-I-S.
1:12.9	And it's painstakingly written in pencil.
1:15.6	But, you know, what's really sweet is that at the top and ink, somebody wrote in the
1:20.5	date.
	...

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