The Black Dog - 25 November 2019

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

🗓️ 25 November 2019

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Books were rare treasures in the Middle Ages, painstakingly copied out by hand. So how to protect them from theft? Scribes sometimes added a curse to the first page of those books that was supposed to keep thieves away — and some were as vicious as they were creative! Also: if you spot a typo in a published book, should you contact the publisher? Maybe, but your first step is to make sure you're right! Finally, learning another language may make you question whether you're speaking your own correctly — but there are strategies to fix that. Plus y'all, a Venn diagram brain teaser, 11 o'clock number, pronouncing the word measure, and you'll die bull-headed. 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/. Email words@waywordradio.org. Twitter @wayword. Our listener phone line 1 (877) 929-9673 is toll-free in the United States and Canada. Elsewhere in the world, call +1 (619) 800-4443; charges may apply. From anywhere, text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673. 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	Make match days easy with Google Pay.
0:03.0	When the last train before kickoff leaves in five,
0:05.0	tap in with your Android phone to catch it.
0:09.0	No stress.
0:12.0	And if the queue for the merch store means extra time, tap to pay faster than you can say,
0:17.8	come on England.
0:19.8	Fast, safe, simple.
0:23.0	Match days made easy with Google Pay.
0:26.0	Add a card to Google Wallet.
0:30.0	You're listening to Away With Words, the show about language and how we use it.
0:33.7	I'm Grant Barrett.
0:34.7	And I'm Martha Barnett.
0:36.3	In the Middle Ages, books were the rarest of treasures painstakingly copied out by hand
0:41.6	and often over many long years. So how to protect these valuable
0:46.2	works from theft? Well one way was for medieval scribes to include a curse
0:51.2	written on the callifon that is either the first page or the
0:54.2	last page to warn away would be thieves. Here's one, may whoever steals me cease
1:00.5	ever to have a moment's peace.
1:02.7	They want to just haunt these people.
1:05.0	And here's one that it's a 16th century translation
1:08.2	of a similar inscription in a French book.
1:11.8	Whoever steals this book of prayer, may he be ripped apart by swine, his
	...

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