Spur of the Moment (Rebroadcast) - 26 November 2018

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

🗓️ 26 November 2018

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A caller with a 25-year-old parrot wonders: How much language do birds really understand? Plus, Knock-knock. Who's there? Boo. Well… you can guess the rest. But there was a time when these goofy jokes were a brand-new craze sweeping the nation. Also, the words coffee and sugar both come from Arabic, as does ghoul. There's a spooky story about its origin. Also, freckle, diamond in the rough, spur of the moment, literary limericks, the pronunciation of divisive, and a cold vs. the flu. 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 [email protected]. 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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0:27.8	You're listening to a way with words, the show about language and how we use it. I'm Grant Barrett and I'm Martha Barnett
0:35.6	In 1936 there was a craze sweeping North America. It was written about on front pages of major newspapers from coast to coast and it involves
0:45.1	word play we've talked about it on the show before they were knock-knock jokes
0:49.9	Oh knock-knock jokes yeah written about on front pages of newspapers across the country.
0:56.4	And it's funny to go back and look at these newspaper articles.
0:59.3	They're just kind of breathless talking about this parlor game that everybody was playing.
1:04.4	And it strikes me so interesting that there was a point where
1:08.1	knock-knock jokes didn't exist.
1:09.8	And then all of a sudden, they exploded.
1:11.6	And they're still with us. Yeah, they're still with us yeah they're still with us and
1:13.8	they were pretty goofy back in those days like knock knock who's there Oklahoma
1:18.6	Oklahoma who oh Oklahoma and wash your face.
1:25.0	Yeah, that's not so good. Not so good.
1:26.0	Well, how about this one?
1:27.0	Knock, knock, knock.
	...

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