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

You Bet Your Boots - 9 May 2016

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

A Way with Words

Language Learning, Society & Culture, Education

4.62.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2016

⏱️ 52 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You may have heard the advice that to build your vocabulary you should read, read, and then read some more – and make sure to include a wide variety of publications. But what if you just don’t have that kind of time? Martha and Grant show how to learn new words by making the most of the time you do have. Also, when new words are added to a dictionary, do others get removed to make room? Plus, words of encouragement, words of exasperation, and a polite Japanese way to say goodbye when a co-worker leaves at the end of the day. Also, “you bet your boots,” “the worm has turned,” “raise hell and put a chunk under it,” “bread and butter,” “on tomorrow,” a love letter to libraries and an apology to marmots. 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

There's no one like you, and there never will be.

0:02.7

From the producer of Bohemian Rhapsody.

0:06.6

There are many legends, but there is only one.

0:12.0

Michael, in IMAX in Cinema's Wednesday, April 22.

0:15.1

You're listening to Away With Words, the show about language and how we use it.

0:18.1

I'm Grant Barrett.

0:19.0

And I'm Martha Barnett.

0:20.5

And this week, I want to start the show with an apology.

0:23.7

Oh.

0:24.8

You remember the call we had from John?

0:27.1

He lived in Tennessee, and he wanted to talk about whistlepigs, the term whistle pig, and how that's another name for groundhog.

0:34.8

Well, in that call, I mentioned marmots, and I said that they were small and mouse-like.

0:41.5

And we got an email from David Bainbridge in Miramesa, California.

0:46.7

And David writes, you have slandered marmots by saying they are small and mouse-like.

0:52.6

Our western marmots are magnificent creatures, lovely golden

0:56.6

fur and chunky, up to 12 pounds. They do whistle. I've watched them at work, asleep in the sun,

1:04.8

and it play in the Sierra and Colorado Rockies. One of my favorite memories is of a couple of young

1:10.6

marmots enjoying sliding down a

1:12.6

snowy slope in spring. They would romp back to the top to go down again. Another time in Colorado,

1:18.4

we found two marmots living in old, quite large boilers from a long abandoned mine. They looked like

1:24.2

crew members on a steampunk submarine. That's awesome.

1:28.5

David, you'll be happy to know.

...

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