You're listening to Away With Words.

I'm Grant Barrett.

And I'm Martha Barnett.

And Grant, you know, we've been getting a lot closer after all this time on the air.

I feel like I should have a nickname for you.

Do you have one that you could share?

You can call me sugar.

You can call me honey.

You can call me darling. No, let me tell you a story. When I was a kid, we used to play this game. Did you ever go around with the question among your siblings? What would you have been called if you had had been born the other sex? If you had been a boy, what would your name have been? That was a game that we played growing up? Huh, no. I can't say it is. It's just something to talk about. You know, and our family, the question was, what would the name of each of the five children have been if they'd have been born the other sex? And my sisters and my brother decided that my name would have been Gertrude.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Gertrude. No, and it really kind of bothered me at the time.

Now I'm basically an adult.

I think I'm still five.

Basically.

But my youngest sister, Leslie, who's five years younger than me, she was able to repay back years

of teasing with a vengeance.

She called me Gertie for years for a very, very long time.

And you?

I was afraid you were going to ask that, Gertie.

Well, I tell you what.

Yes, I will share probably my best known nickname, which is big.

...