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A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over

The Secret Language of Families - 8 Sept. 2008

A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over

A Way with Words

Society & Culture, Language Learning, Education

4.62.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2008

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Does your family use a special word you’ve never heard anywhere else? A funny name for “the heel of a loaf of bread,” perhaps, or for “visiting relatives who won’t leave.” In this week’s episode, Martha and Grant discuss “family words,” and Martha reveals the story behind her own family’s secret word, “fubby.”  Hear hundreds of free episodes and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org. Be a part of the show: call or text 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; elsewhere in the world, call or text +1 619 800 4443. Send voice notes or messages via WhatsApp 16198004443. Email words@waywordradio.org. 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

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com pricing shown. You're listening to Away With Words, I'm Grant Parrot. And I'm Martha Barnett.

0:38.6

And you know, speaking of Words, when I was growing up, We Barnets had a special family word and the word was fubby.

0:46.0

Now the word fubby comes from the fact that our fox terrier was named traveler,

0:51.0

but the name traveler was too hard for my little brother Jim to say and always came out fubby.

0:57.0

So whenever my mom wanted to take us on road trips, she'd say to us,

1:01.0

now I want you to be good little fubbies. I think that my mother probably

1:05.8

used the word fuby in that particular context in part because it was a family word, this

1:11.1

kind of secret code that got the attention of us little kids.

1:15.4

And Grant, I'm betting that you either had a word like that growing up or maybe you're making

1:19.8

some now.

1:20.8

Yeah, it's funny that it was a word that came from the mispronunciation of a sibling, but oh, I don't know how you get from traveler

1:28.3

to fubby, that's going to go to the distance.

1:31.1

But growing up in my household, you know, with my parents and my four siblings, I don't

1:36.2

remember very many of these words. There were the odd mispronunciations here and there that

1:39.2

we would laugh about, but nothing that really stuck. But in the household that I'm a co-boss of now I like that.

...

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