Sour Pickle - 23 August 2021

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

🗓️ 23 August 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You know that Yogi Berra quote about how Nobody ever comes here; it’s too crowded? Actually, the first person to use this was actress Suzanne Ridgeway, who appeared in several movies with The Three Stooges. A new book shows that many well-known quotes were first spoken by women, but misattributed to more famous men. Also: a handy scientific word that should become mainstream: aliquot. And no, it’s not a kind of hybrid fruit. Plus, an astronomical question: What’s the collective noun for a group of black holes? A sink of black holes? A baffle? A vacancy? All that, plus Old Arthur, biffy, bowery, mikka bozu, Sauregurkenzeit, out of heart, vergüenza, and how to talk with children about a painful topic. 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.
0:03.4	I'm Grant Barrett.
0:04.6	And I'm Martha Barnett.
0:06.1	On our Facebook group BC Cornish asks,
0:09.2	is there a phrase or word in English that conveys the idea of buying an object
0:14.5	and then using the object for a lesser purpose or an unintended purpose,
0:19.4	e.g. buying a treadmill and then using it to hang clothes?
0:23.8	And Grant, I don't know that there's one singular word for that kind of experience,
0:28.6	but it does remind me of a really cool Japanese expression
0:32.8	that I came across just the other day, which is Mika Bosu.
0:37.3	And Mika Bosu literally means three-day monk.
0:41.2	And it refers to the kind of person who starts an idea,
0:45.6	you know, they get all excited about something.
0:47.5	Maybe they buy a language app and they're going to become fluent in this or that language.
0:51.7	Or they get all excited about some fitness program or diet.
0:55.8	And then they're only on it for three days.
0:58.2	The idea in Japanese is that, you know,
1:01.7	somebody gets excited about becoming a monk,
1:03.8	but they can only last for three days.
1:05.9	Mika Bosu, I love that term.
1:07.8	Oh, I know that.
1:09.0	My son goes through that with video games.
	...

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