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Hosted by Paul Dickson
12 episodes with Paul Dickson
2 episodes with Paul Dickson
2 episodes with Paul Dickson
2 episodes with Paul Dickson
Bob Gay joins hosts Paul Dickson and Ty Williams on today's episode. Bob is a long time business executive and passionate about philanthropy. Bob shares stories about growing up, business, venture capital, microlending, and much more.
It was the beep heard ‘round the world. On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union launched an artificial satellite named “Sputnik” and history and mankind have not been the same since. On this week's Leaders and Legends podcast, historian Paul Dickson discusses his book “Sputnik: the Shock of the Century.” Paul's book is so terrific that Walter Cronkite called it “a fascinating history of the event that forever changed our world.”Sponsors• Veteran Strategies• NFP - A leading insurance broker and consultant• Garmong Construction• Crowne Plaza Downtown Indianapolis Historic Union StationAbout Veteran Strategies‘Leaders and Legends' is brought to you by Veteran Strategies—your local veteran business enterprise specializing in media relations, crisis communications, public outreach, and digital photography. Learn more at www.veteranstrategies.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
The unique slanguage of baseball. Writer Paul Dickson spent several years researching the special slang of baseball, and how many of those words eventually made it into our everyday language. In this 1989 interview, Dickson talks about the origins of some of those terms, words like “bullpen,” “fan,” and the phrase “out of left field.” Get The Dickson Baseball Dictionary by Paul Dickson You may also enjoy my interviews with Ron Luciano and Joe Garagiola For more vintage interviews with celebrities, leaders, and influencers, subscribe to Now I've Heard Everything on Spotify, Apple Podcasts. or wherever you listen to podcasts. #baseball #MLB #slang #wordorigins
Wealth building isn't just about financial prosperity, but also about personal growth and making a difference in the world. Our guest today, Paul Dickson, is a prime example of someone who is living for something bigger. Paul is a father and the head of a charity called OKE, which provides Kiwi kids with the opportunity to learn life and social skills through productive gardens in schools. Read more here.To learn more or to volunteer time or money on a working bee, check out: https://oke.org.nz/working-bees/Hey! Can we have a little chat?If you're picking up what I'm putting down, help me build the Everyday Investor community!Spread the word: Write a review anywhere you can, share posts on social media, vote for Pedro! Follow me on YouTube, and if you can, subscribe on Spotify also. Use the following referral/affiliate links. In some cases with these codes, I may receive a financial benefit - in other cases I've waived any benefit so you can get a better deal.Hatch: $10 for you, and $10 for me, if you sign up and deposit $100NZD.Sharesies: $10 for you, and $10 for me, if you sign up for the first time.Easy Crypto: One of NZ's most trusted places to buy/sell your digital assets. Sharesight: Get 5 months free when you sign up to an annual (paid) subscription. CMC Markets: You and I both get $150 if you sign up using this link. *Note CFD's are incredibly high risk investment options(read more here)When you're reviewing your insurance plan or KiwiSaver, obtaining a mortgage or in need of financial advice, use Ungaro & Co Financial Services, the main partner of this podcast. Want to learn more about working with Darcy Ungaro, book in a free 15-min phone call - click on this link.Enough of the sales pitch, what else?1 - You're my inspiration! Most topics are inspired by YOUR questions or suggestions. So, what do want to hear? Ask me anything, suggest a topic!2 - Subscribe to YouTube to get earlier access, participate in live-recordings, and gain additional perspectives from Darcy Ungaro.3 - Sign up to the NZ Everyday Investor Newsletter! It's a newsletter, not a sales pitch: Sign up to our newsletter hereDisclaimer: Please act independent from any content...
Paul Dickson of Shreveport, Louisiana, is a lover of ducks and a duck hunter. He's also an entrepreneur, self-taught waterfowl ecologist, world-class aviculturist, supporter of Ducks Unlimited and Wetlands America Trust, and giving philanthropist. In this episode, Paul Dickson and Jacob Kraemer, director of the Dickson-owned Pinola Aviary, share a behind-the-scenes look into the aviary, its inspiration, its 130 species of waterfowl, and how it is conserving waterfowl worldwide. www.ducks.org/DUPodcast
Hosts Jo Firestone & Manolo Moreno play listener-created games with callers!Games played: Manolo's Alphabet Soup submitted by Paul Dickson from New Orleans, Louisiana, I Am the Tenth Dentist submitted by Anthony Winder from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and Snake or Chicken submitted by Noah Levine from Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaCallers: Hayley from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Matt from Broomall, Pennsylvania; Evan from Minneapolis, Minnesota; Justin from Tacoma, Washington; Cadie, Marni, Griffin, Lauren, and Rick from Cleveland, Ohio; Natalie from Springdale, ArkansasOutro theme by Megan Myers from Raleigh, North CarolinaThis episode sponsored by: Green Chef - Go to GreenChef.com/gameshow135 and use code gameshow135 to get $135 off across five boxes, plus free shipping on your first box!
Meaningful waterfowl conservation comes in many forms. A life-long Louisiana duck hunter, Paul Dickson's backyard waterfowl aviary seems like a naturally compatible hobby, but eventually evolved into something more. Much, much more. Pinola Conservancy is the largest waterfowl aviary in the United States. Privately owned and closed to the public, this aviary is home to hundreds of bird species from all corners of the globe, from critically endangered to common. Myriad ongoing research projects are the tip of the iceberg. Surplus birds are distributed to qualified institutions and zoological parks where in the future some species, such as Baer's Pochard, might only exist due to habitat loss. How'd Dickson get started? When did it become more than a hobby, and what greater purposes does it now facilitate? How many waterfowl species are at Pinola Conservancy? What species are among the rarest or most endangered? Is it difficult raising all of these species in Louisiana, and how does he ensure they breed during Louisiana's winter months? Does he have any personal favorites? What research projects are ongoing? What are some other cool things Ramsey learned during a brief tour? Pinola Conservancy is a beacon of hope in a rapidly changing global landscape. Your inner bird-nerd is going to be unleashed listening. Afterwards, visit Pinola Conservancy's website for live streams and social media accounts for updates. Related Links: Pinola Conservancy Website Pinola Conservancy Instagram Pinola Conservancy Facebook Podcast Sponsors: BOSS Shotshells Benelli Shotguns Tetra Hearing Kanati Waterfowl Taxidermy Mojo Outdoors Tom Beckbe Flash Back Decoys Voormi GetDucks USHuntList It's really duck season somewhere for 365 days per year. Follow Ramsey Russell's worldwide duck hunting adventures as he chases real duck hunting experiences all year long: Instagram @ramseyrussellgetducks YouTube @GetDucks Facebook @GetDucks.com Please subscribe, rate and review Duck Season Somewhere podcast. Share your favorite episodes with friends! Business inquiries and comments contact Ramsey Russell ramsey@getducks.com
What rhymes with Norwich? Porridge? Storage? Norwich is a small town in England that is quaint and cute, but with so much history to go to a new city.On this episode, we are delighted to have on Paul from Paul Dickson Tours where Paul has been in the tourism industry for 30+ years where he loves to show off his town of Norwich, England to others, where he offers a variety of tours such as history tours, true crime, going through the market in Norwich, and wildlife to name a few when you plan your visit to Norwich.Some highlights we talk about in the episode:Learn more about Pauls's story to what led him to start his own tourism businessThe variety of tours that he offers; History, True Crime, Markets, and Wildlife to name a fewTop places to visit in Norwich, EnglandThe top 2 places to have a proper afternoon British tea in Norwich.Best fish and chips in Norwich? Listen to the episode to find out!___________________________________________________TRANSCRIPT available!Did you love today's episode? Don't forget to click "Subscribe" and share with us a comment on how you're loving the podcast so far!Are you interested in being featured as a tour guide or host on our podcast? Go to our website to find out how YOU can have a chance to share your story and elevate your voice by sharing more about your background, what you offer, and fun facts and tips about your city!Travel Experiences Reimagined Links:InstagramFacebookTwitterWebsiteSupport the show
We talk about the joys of archival research and marvel at Mervyn Le Roy's Depression-era musical ‘Gold Diggers of 1933'. Westminster Archives: https://www.westminster.gov.uk/leisure-libraries-and-community/westminster-archives Historical Directories of England and Wales: http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4 and http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/custom/background Gaston and Andrée Exerciser: http://www.kraveantiques.co.uk/products/Gaston-Andree-Exerciser-1897.html Rogue Fitness, ‘The Rogue Legends Series – Chapter 1: Eugen Sandow / 8K' (25 May 2017): https://youtu.be/S-nPD2__e0E Mervyn LeRoy (director), Orry-Kelly (gowns), ‘Gold Diggers of 1933' (1933): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024069/ Orry-Kelly, ‘Women I've Undressed: The Fabulous Life and Times of a Legendary Hollywood Designer', Allen & Unwin (2016): https://atlantic-books.co.uk/book/women-ive-undressed/ Mordaunt Hall, ‘Warren William, Aline MacMahon and Guy Kibbee in a Musical Conception of “The Gold Diggers”', New York Times (8 June 1933): https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/06/08/105141704.html Library of Congress, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives: https://www.loc.gov/collections/fsa-owi-black-and-white-negatives/about-this-collection/ Paul Dickson and Thomas B. Allen, ‘Marching on History', Smithsonian Magazine (February 2003): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/marching-on-history-75797769/
James Holland speaks to US historian Paul Dickson, writer of 'The Rise of the G.I. Army', about how the American Army was mobilized from scattered outposts two years before Pearl Harbor into the disciplined and mobile fighting force that helped win World War II. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Paul Dickson discusses the US Army in WWII Check out this book here https://amzn.to/3lBmxRW Interview Summary Paul Dickson has written numerous books on American history ranging from WWII, to baseball, to the space program. He recently completed a book on the development of the US Army just before the start of WWII. We spoke about…
Paul Dickson is the publisher and designer of Mill Magazine, a free, lifestyle magazine promoting the people and businesses of Renfrewshire. Despite the many challenges facing it, Mill magazine is positively thriving and is going from strength to strength at a time when the publishing industry in the UK is struggling. Through clever use of local collaboration and engagement, social media and the printed copies of the magazine, Paul has grown the magazine over the last 10 editions into a real community champion for the area. This podcast is a real positive, good news story, on the effects well put together printed materials can have on a local community and beyond.
Paul Dickson returns to discuss The Rise of the GI Army, an increasingly hard-to-imagine moment when the country overcame resistance and demagoguery to pull together. Plus a tale of two terrible first basemen going to war and a reply to Thom Brennaman. TABLE OF CONTENTSMahan, Sturm, and the Lost Players of 2040*Thom Brennaman: “Bye Bye Blackbird”*Paul Dickson: A Timely Recollection (An Army in Yankee Stadium)*Charles Lindbergh and the Isolationist Gang (And Their Enemies)*The War After the War Before*“The Veterans of Future Wars”*Bipartisanship in a Time of Crisis*General George Marshall: Hall of Famer*The CCC Saves the World*Discovering Eisenhower and Scouting Patton*Marshall and the Plattsburg Movement*Grenville Clark*The Struggle for a Desegregated American Military (The Double V)*Robeson and Robinson*Did Patton Cheat During War Games?*A Peacetime Draft and Wearing Your Mask*Playing Politics with Safety*We Could Do That But We Can’t Do This*Goodbyes.The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?
Paul Dickson returns to discuss The Rise of the GI Army, an increasingly hard-to-imagine moment when the country overcame resistance and demagoguery to pull together. Plus a tale of two terrible first basemen going to war and a reply to Thom Brennaman. TABLE OF CONTENTSMahan, Sturm, and the Lost Players of 2040*Thom Brennaman: “Bye Bye Blackbird”*Paul Dickson: A Timely Recollection (An Army in Yankee Stadium)*Charles Lindbergh and the Isolationist Gang (And Their Enemies)*The War After the War Before*“The Veterans of Future Wars”*Bipartisanship in a Time of Crisis*General George Marshall: Hall of Famer*The CCC Saves the World*Discovering Eisenhower and Scouting Patton*Marshall and the Plattsburg Movement*Grenville Clark*The Struggle for a Desegregated American Military (The Double V)*Robeson and Robinson*Did Patton Cheat During War Games?*A Peacetime Draft and Wearing Your Mask*Playing Politics with Safety*We Could Do That But We Can’t Do This*Goodbyes.The Infinite Inning is not only about baseball but a state of mind. Steven Goldman, rotating cohosts Jesse Spector, Cliff Corcoran, and David Roth, and occasional guests discuss the game’s present, past, and future with forays outside the foul lines to the culture at large. Expect stats, anecdotes, digressions, explorations of writing and fandom, and more Casey Stengel quotations than you thought possible. Along the way, they’ll try to solve the puzzle that is the Infinite Inning: How do you find the joy in life when you can’t get anybody out?
Harry S. Truman by Robert Dallek (original recording made in 2008) Presidential historian Robert Dallek returned to the program to talk about his biography of a president who was deeply unpopular while he was in office. Harry S. Truman is now considered to have been one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century. Rain Gods by James Lee Burke (original recording made in 2009) James Lee Burke has more interviews archived on our website than any other writer. Here's another one. In 2009 I talked to Jim about his novel "Rain Gods." This one features his character Hackberry Holland who is based on a real person. James Lee Burke is in his 80's now and still going strong. He's one of our greatest crime novelists and his Dave Robicheaux series will continue this August with a new book called "A Private Cathedral." I have read an early copy of it and it is dark, dark, dark. The Dickson Baseball Dictionary by Paul Dickson (original recording made in 2009) Paul Dickson has made a number of
In a special narrative episode of Effectively Wild, Ben Lindbergh traces the parallels between baseball’s latest sign-stealing crisis and an almost 60-year-old sign-stealing scandal that caused a comparable upheaval in the sport, drawing on archival clips, contemporary music, and interviews with author Paul Dickson and former major leaguers Eddie Robinson, Al Worthington, and Jay Hook […]
The Houston Astros are paying a big price for stealing signs, but author Paul Dickson says sign stealing has been going on since baseball's earliest days. Dickson joins us to discuss the rich legacy of baseball's oft-controversial hidden language.
Today's podcast features five of our 6th-grade teachers. Each grade level team has its own personality and this team is full of pedagogical best practices...and corny jokes. The 6th-grade team explores how they approach a collaborative experience for our students to ensure high levels of content knowledge along with exposure and development of communication, critical thinking, empathy, creativity, and collaboration skills. Guests: Cameron Barton, Paul Dickson, Emma Perry, Martha Kutter, Kolleen Metarko Hosted by: James Milford Thanks to David Low for show music - Acoustic Guitar, the Maclay School Alma Mater Production and Editing by David Low and James Milford --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/maclay/message
Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller talk to Paul Dickson, author of The Hidden Language of Baseball: How Signs and Sign-Stealing Have Influenced the Course of Our National Pastime, about, well, what the book’s subtitle says, including the origins of sign-sending, the earliest allegations of sign-stealing, historical precedents for the Astros’ sign-stealing scheme, the effects of […]
In this wide ranging discussion with, Chief Go Getter, Paul Dickson from OKE Charity. We hear about his journey towards OKE, how it came about and some of his learnings along the way. This episode was originally recorded nearly a year now, so some of the event references are not up to date. But the content and chat is still relevant. https://www.oke.org.nz/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/andy-crowe1/message
When last we spoke with Paul Dickson, it was about his excellent biography, Leo Durocher: Baseball’s Prodigal Son. This time it’s not about a new book, per se, but an old one that got a second life. Dickson, who recently turned 80, has re-released The Hidden Language of Baseball: How Signs and Sign-Stealing Have Influenced […]
He's the one who started it all. Tune in to hear what it took to build Vivint Solar into the dominant business it is today. Paul provides incredible insights and tips for success. Don't miss this one.
On this week's episode of SABRcast, Rob Neyer chats with author Paul Dickson about his long career as a writer before he tackled the subject of baseball, and the impacts he's made on the catalog of baseball literature. Then, as Rob and Scott discuss who won the weekend, a tongue-and-cheek wish list of the most off the beaten path destinations for an MLB road show. For show notes, extra content, and a list of what Rob's reading, visit the SABRcast website at https://sabr.org/sabrcastEpisode 20: Paul Dickson + Authoring baseball's stories
In Episode 6 Sonya & Mer say "Kia Ora!" (Hello! in Maori) to Paul Dickson. Paul is the incredible founder of the Oke Charity in Auckland, New Zealand. Paul's not only passionate about being a philanthropist; he's an amazing Dad to an adorable four-year old & husband to his beautiful wife. In this episode, they talk with Paul about all those things & more! Check out the INCREDIBLE work the Oke Charity is doing in New Zealand! Catch Paul & Oke through the following links and on his NEW podcast, Dad's Patch! Instagram @oke_charity & @DadsPatch Twitter @OkeCharity & @DadsPatch --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-bullock-garden-inc/support
The Dad's Patch podcast is a little ramble around Paul Dickson's little patch of the world, talking about life as a dad, hubby, charity founder, expat and a life long football fan.
In our first ever episode, we chat to Shrek The Musical star Kevin Yates, originally from Kings Lynn and Nicholas Fretwell from Erpingham, an understudy with great promise in Love From a Stranger. At the Norwich Playhouse: Beyoncé does Boleyn, Hamilton does Howard in SiX: The pop musical tells the real story of Henry VIII's wives. Inspired by this Tudor remix, we visited the Maids Head Hotel with local historian Paul Dickson to learn more about one of the oldest hotels in the country.
In the summer of 1932, tens of thousands of American First World War veterans marched on Washington DC to demand the bonus they'd been promised by the government for their part in the war. It was the height of the Great Depression and many were unemployed and hungry. They called themselves the Bonus Army. Louise Hidalgo talks to author Paul Dickson about their story.Photograph: Bonus Army marchers stage a mass vigil on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington while the Senate debates their case (Copyright: Getty Archive)
In the summer of 1932, tens of thousands of American First World War veterans marched on Washington DC to demand the bonus they'd been promised by the government for their part in the war. It was the height of the Great Depression and many were unemployed and hungry. They called themselves the Bonus Army. Louise Hidalgo talks to author Paul Dickson about their story. Photograph: Bonus Army marchers stage a mass vigil on the steps of the Capitol building in Washington while the Senate debates their case (Copyright: Getty Archive)
Bartender Journey - Cocktails. Spirits. Bartending Culture. Libations for your Ears.
This week on the Bartender Journey Podcast we have not one, but two guests -- plus two road trips! It's the Bartender Journey Podcast # 213! Listen with the audio player on this page, or subscribe on iTunes, Android or Stitcher Radio. At Bar Institute in Brooklyn, we spoke to Mr. Josh Davis. He’s a Bartender, and a fine Gentleman from Chicago who also recently started working with Bar Institute. We also talk to Mr. James Menite who is a Bartender at the iconic Plaza Hotel. Another fine Gentleman from NYC, who also is the vice president of the local USBG Chapter. We talk to James on a USBG day trip to the Dad’s Hat Rye Book of the Week:Cocktails: The Art of Mixing Perfect Drinks by Klaus St. Rainer. Mr. Rainer is owner and bartender at The Golden Bar in Munich Germany. This is a nice book with lots of great cocktail recipes and some good advice too. Cocktail of the Week:Smooth Criminal(Bartender Journey variation)From our Book of the Week 1 Large Chunk Fresh Pineapple - Grilled 1 ¾ oz Rye 2 tsp Orange Curacao 1 tsp Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur 1 tsp Simple Syrup 1 Dash Angostura Bitters Muddle the Pineapple. Add remaining ingredients. Shake with ice. Double strain into a Highball glass filled with Fresh Ice. Grarnish with a piece of grilled Pineapple and a sprig of mint. How do you take care of your mint behind the bar? If you have a good method, please let us know! Post your ideas on the Bartender Journey FB page! USBG NY had a great time spending the day with the very small team of great people that produce the delicious Dad’s Hat Pennsylvania Rye. As mentioned, we spoke to John Cooper from Dad’s Hat Rye on Bartender Journey #102 You can get more information about the USBG at org Bartender Journey really wants to get you involved and get to know more about you. PLEASE visit net/survey. You can record the answers to the questions with a voice recorder app on your phone and email the file to brian@bartenderjourney.net. Alternatively, on that same page, there is a link to a google form where you can just enter your answers. We’d really appreciate it! Toast of the Week: The Lord gives us our relatives, Thank God we can choose our own friends!-From the book: Toasts: Over 1,500 of the Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings, and Graces Compiled by Paul Dickson
Bartender Journey - Cocktails. Spirits. Bartending Culture. Libations for your Ears.
This week we talk with George Bressler. Mr. Bressler has worked in Law Enforcement for many years, and now plans to retire and work as a Bartender. It's the Bartender Journey Podcast # 209! Listen with the audio player on this page, or subscribe on iTunes, Android or Stitcher Radio. This week on the podcast we talk to a really interesting guy named George Bressler. He has worked part time in Hospitality, but full time for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. After a long and distinguished career in Law Enforcement, he plans to retire and take up Bartending full time. George wrote a fascinating Guest Blog Post for Bartender Journey. Read it on our Blog Page. Cocktail of the Week:George Bressler enjoys Jack Daniels on the rocks, (Jack Daniels Master Distiller Jeff Arnett was our guest on Bartender Journey # 204).Technically Jack Daniels on the rocks is not a “cocktail”. The original definition for “cocktail” was “sugar, bitters and spirits of any kind”, but we’ll go a little off the deep end this week and enjoy some Jack Daniels on the rocks as our cocktail of the week! Book of the Week:Toasts, Over 1500 of the Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings, and Graces compiled by Paul Dickson. Dickson quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson in the introduction to this book: “Next to the originator of a good sentence is the first quoter of it”. Mr. Dickson goes on to say says in the introduction: “There are a number of old thinks that we are well rid of – child labor, the Berlin wall, scurvy, glass shampoo bottles and too many others to mention, but there are still others that we are foolish to let slop away. Toasting is one of the latter”. Toast of the Week:“I would rather be with the people in this room, than with the finest people in the world”.-Steve Martin as Cyrano in Roxanne
The Total Tutor Neil Haley will interview Paul Dickson, Author of Leo Durocher: Baseball's Prodigal Son. Paul Dickson, who received widespread acclaim for his biography of Bill Veeck, has returned with this biography of the notoriously loud-mouthed, controversial Hall of Famer Leo Durocher. Dickson brings to light Durocher's full, complicated life – from his infamous womanizing and mentions in the Hollywood gossip columns, to his arguments with fellow players (Babe Ruth among them), and his winning streaks as both player & manager of teams from the New York Yankees to the Chicago Cubs.
Mar 21st - Lucas Rockwood, Drew Curtis, Paul Dickson
Mar 21st - Lucas Rockwood, Drew Curtis, Paul Dickson
A Way with Words — language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Baseball has a language all its own: On the diamond, a snow cone isn't what you think it is, and Three Blind Mice has nothing to do with nursery rhymes. And how do you describe someone who works at home while employed by a company in another city? Are they telecommuters? Remote workers? One writer wants to popularize a new term for this modern phenomenon: working in place. Also, a powerful essay on white privilege includes a vivid new metaphor for the pain of accumulated slights over a lifetime: chandelier pain. Plus, sunny side up eggs, count nouns, bluebird weather, harp on, think tank, thought box, and how to remember to spell Mississippi. FULL DETAILS Baseball is a rich source of slang, and The Dickson Baseball Dictionary by Paul Dickson is a trove of such language. A snow cone, in baseball lingo, is a ball caught so that it's sticking up out of the fielder's glove. And which month of the year is called Dreamer's Month? It's March, when loyal fans believe that anything is possible for their team in the coming season. Sunny side up eggs sometime go by the name looking at you eggs, an apparent reference to how the yolk in the middle of the egg white makes them resemble eyes. A similar idea appears in the German name, which translates as "mirror egg," and in Hebrew, where such eggs go by a name that translates as "eye egg." The Japanese term, medama yaki, translates as "fried eyeball." In Latvia, they're "ox eyes," and "cow eyes" in Indonesia. In baseball, a two-o'clock hitter is one who hits well in batting practice, but not during the game. It used to be that games traditionally started at 3 p.m., with batting practice an hour before. An attorney in El Centro, California, is bothered by the phrase a large amount of people, because the word amount is usually applied to mass nouns, not count nouns. There are exceptions, however. In baseball slang, three blind mice denotes the three umpires on the field. Quiz Guy John Chaneski has an artful quiz about, well, art. For example, remove two letters from the end of this painting's title, and now the couple in it has been replaced by a pale young man outside a farmhouse sporting a black T-shirt, eyeshadow, and several piercings. What's the name of this new painting? In Arabic-speaking families, it's not uncommon for mothers to address their children with the Arabic word for "mama" or for fathers to use the word for "father" when addressing their offspring. These words are used in this way as a term of endearment. Some other languages do the same. Writer Isabel Allende offers this writing advice: Show up, show up, show up, and after a while, the Muse shows up, too. A listener in Honolulu, Hawaii, wonders about an expression used by her husband's grandmother, who was from Eastern Kentucky: He left so fast, that you could have played marbles on his coattails. The notion that a person is running so fast his coattails are stretched out perfectly flat goes back at least to the 1850's. Since the 1950's, the term think tank has meant "a research institute." But even earlier than that, going as far back as the 1880's, think tank referred "a person's mind." Another slang term for one's mind is thought box. A Seattle, Washington, listener wants to know why, when marking time, we say One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, as opposed to other states or rivers. In the United Kingdom, they're more likely to say hippopotamus. Some people count instead with the word banana, or Nevada, or one thousand one. Also, a mnemonic for spelling the pesky name Mississippi: M-I-crooked letter-crooked letter-I-crooked letter-crooked-letter-I-humpback-humpback-I. In Maryland and Virginia, bluebird weather is a brief period of warm weather in autumn. What do you call it when you work for a corporation but aren't based in the same place as its headquarters. Writer Michael Erard believe that the term working remotely doesn't really characterize it, and instead has suggested working in place. A caller from New York City wonders about his grandmother's use of the word says rather than said when she's telling a story about something that happened in the past. It's a form of the historical present tense that helps describe recounted or reported speech. In a powerful essay on white privilege, Good Black News editor Lori Lakin Hutcherson includes the term chandelier pain to describe how painful accumulated slights can be. Medical professionals use the term chandelier pain to refer to the result of touching an exquisitely painful spot--so painful that patients involuntarily rise from the examining table or reach toward the ceiling. Does the expression to harp on something, as in "to nag," have anything to do with the stringed instrument one plays by plucking? Yes. As early as the 16th century to harp all of one string meant to keep playing the same single note monotonously. We talk about something occurring beforehand, so why don't we talk about something happening afterhand? Actually, afterhand goes all the way back to 15th-century English, even though it's not that commonly used today. A New Hampshire listener recalls that as a boy, when he talked friends within earshot of his mother and said referred to her as She, his mother would pipe up with She, being the cat's mother. It's an old expression suggesting that it's insulting to refer to people in the third person if they're present. The early 20th-century Spanish poet Antonio Machado has a beautiful poem about finding one's way. The translation in this segment is by Anna Rosenwong and Maria Jose Gimenez. This episode is hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, and produced by Stefanie Levine. -- A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donate Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: words@waywordradio.org Phone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate Site: http://waywordradio.org/ Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2016, Wayword LLC.
It remains a tradition for many at the ballpark- the ritual of score keeping. Baseball historian and author Paul Dickson looks at the origins of score keeping and its evolution into an art form in the digital age. Later, a view of the ballpark through the eyes of big league umpire Dave Pallone. Pallone talks about umpiring the first night game at Wrigley Field and and takes us behind the plate on historic nights for Pete Rose and Nolan Ryan. Our Talking Shop segment takes peek behind the curtain at new U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis; a preview of major renovations at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa; and a trek across the country to NFL training camp sites.
A Way with Words — language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Right off the bat, it's easy to think of several everyday expressions that derive from America's pastime. Including right off the bat. The Dickson Baseball Dictionary catalogues not just those contributions but also more obscure terms like "pebble picker," and explains why a fastball is called a "Linda Ronstadt." Plus, as more transgender people are publicly recognized, there's a debate about which pronouns to use. And who in the world would give a one-star review on Amazon to … Herman Melville's Moby-Dick? Plus, the plural of hummus, tear the rag off the bush, to boot, synesthesia, paper stretchers, wet washes, and the verb to podcast. FULL DETAILS Right off the bat, you can probably name a long list of common idioms that come from baseball. For example, right off the bat. But how about some of the more obscure ones, like the Linda Ronstadt? In a nod to Ronstadt's song "Blue Bayou," her name is used in baseball to refer to a ball that blew by you. Paul Dickson has collected this and hundreds of other baseball terms in his comprehensive book, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary. The plural of hummus isn't easy to pin down, because although the word's ending looks like a Latin singular, it's actually Arabic. For waiters and party hosts serving multiple plates of hummus, it's not wrong to say hummuses, but plates of hummus will do just fine. The Spanish idiom, arrimar el ascua a su sardina, literally means "to bring an ember to one's own sardine." It means "to look out for number one," the idea being that if a group is cooking sardines over a fire, and each person pulls out a coal to cook his own fish, then the whole fire will go out. So the idiom carries the sense not only of being selfish, but the effects of that selfishness on the larger community. Something excellent can be said to tear the rag off the bush, or take the rag, and it likely comes from old Western shooting competitions, where the winner would shoot a rag off a bush. The Oxford English Dictionary shows examples in print going back to the early 19th century. A listener in St. Cloud, Minnesota, reports that when she first started in the printing business, new employees would be hazed with the prank assignment of finding a "paper stretcher" to make a web—the big sheet of paper that newspapers are printed on—a little larger. There is, of course, no such thing, and sending someone to find one is just one of many ways to tease newbies. Also, strippers in the newspaper business are much tamer than the common stripper—it's just a term for those who prep images and copy for the printing plates. Quiz Guy John Chaneski scoured Amazon for 1-star reviews of classic literature and turned them into a puzzle about some readers' questionable taste. For example, what novel isn't even about fishing, since a whale is a mammal? The saying to boot comes from an Old English word bot, meaning "advantage" or "remedy." It's related to the contemporary English words better and best, so if something's to boot, it's added or extra. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote, in a Supreme Court opinion no less, that "a word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used." As more transgender people are publicly recognized, what pronouns should we use to describe them? The best thing to do is find a polite way to ask how someone would like to be addressed. Epicene pronouns like they, ze, and others have had a hard time sticking. A good starting place for exploring transgender issues is Laverne Cox's documentary The T-Word. People with synesthesia have long been known to associate sensations like sounds with others, like seeing certain colors. New research suggests that color associations with certain letters—at least for individuals born after 1967—are largely influenced by Fisher Price fridge magnets. One caller says his grandma's favorite parting phrase was See you in the wet wash! A wet wash was an old-fashioned facility for washing—though not drying—laundry. But it's anyone's guess as to why someone would allude to soaked laundry when taking their leave. We've spoken before about It'll be better when you're married, often used to console someone who just had a small scrape or cut. A Chicago-area listener wrote us to say that in such cases, her mom's phrase was Quick, get a spoon! The word podcasting is commonly used to refer to making podcasts, but it's also used by some as the verb for listening to downloading or listening to podcasts. The language around podcasts has always been tricky since the format was released—Apple initially disliked the use of pod—and practitioners like the TWiT network advocated for netcast. Every time Martha tries naming all 26 letters in the alphabet, she only comes up with 25. But she can't remember Y. The exclamation crime in Italy is a variation of criminently, or criminy, both euphemisms for Christ. In baseball, a pebble picker, or pebble hunter, is a fielder who picks up a pebble from the ground after a missed catch, as if to blame the pebble for his own error. In the world at large, the term is a jab at someone who can never admit a mistake. This episode is hosted by Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette. -- A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donate Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time: Email: words@waywordradio.org Phone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673 London +44 20 7193 2113 Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771 Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate Site: http://waywordradio.org/ Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/ Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/ Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/ Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2016, Wayword LLC.
A Way with Words — language, linguistics, and callers from all over
This week on "A Way with Words": The best way to read poetry. When you pick up a book of poems, how many do you read in one sitting? Some people devour several in a row, while others savor them much more slowly. Plus, it's a problem faced by politicians and public speakers: When you have to stand in front of people, what do you do with your hands? German Chancellor Angela Merkel came up with a solution. She positions her fingers in a special way that's become so closely associated with her, it now has its own name. And what does it mean if someone says you're "a real pipperoo"? Plus, orange grove vs. orange orchard, Pilish, ducksnorts and duckfarts, and the worst online passwords imaginable.FULL DETAILSOn March 14, or 3/14, fans of both dessert and decimals come together to celebrate Pi Day. This year, though, it's not enough to call it at 3/14, because it's 3/14/15, and at 9:26 and 53 seconds, the first ten digits of pi will all be aligned. Speaking of aligning the digits, there's also a form of writing called pilish, where the sequential words in a passage each have an amount of letters that corresponds with the numbers in pi.A swinging song by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra called "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo" drops the line What a gal, a real pipperoo. A homeschooling family in Maine wonders just what a pipperoo is. For one, the suffix -eroo is a jokey ending sometimes added for comic effect, as with switcheroo and flopperoo. Pipperoo may derive from a particularly desirable type of apple called a pippin. And the jokey suffix -eroo is added for comic effect, as with switcheroo and flopperoo. So calling someone a pipperoo is fond way of saying, in effect, you're a peach.Former U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan once observed that a poem should act like a clown suitcase, one you can open up and never quit emptying.In East Tennessee, if someone invites you to a "fire," don't be alarmed—there's a chance they're talking about a fair. A former Floridian who moved to that part of the country has been collecting some funny stories about local pronunciations.Even foreign dignitaries can be plagued with the age-old problem of standing around in public: what do you do with your hands? German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken to holding her hands in a certain way so often that it's been named the Merkel-Raute, or Merkel rhombus, which pretty accurately describes the shape she's making.Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game where you have to guess what three clues—like Bob, Tom, and Allie or bulb, silver, and month—have in common.A ducksnort in softball or baseball will never make the highlight reel. It's often a blooper of a hit that lands between the infield and the far outfield, but still gets the job done. Paul Dickson, author of the authoritative Dickson Baseball Dictionary, explains the original version of the term: duckfart. White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson is credited with popularizing the more family-friendly version.Are your Internet passwords bad enough to make the Worst Passwords List? An Internet security firm put out a list of bad ideas, and among them are things like baseball, football, car models, and your kid's name.The Blind Tiger was a speakeasy during prohibition, perhaps so named because patrons would hand over money to peek at a fictitious blind animal, but also receive illegal booze as part of the bargain. The terms blind tiger and blind pig eventually came to describe a kind of liquor—one so powerful it could make you go blind, at least for a while. A Tallahassee, Florida, caller says one of his ancestors was gunned down by a gang called the Blind Tigers.A Wisconsin listener says that when her body gets an involuntary, inexplicable shudder, she says A goose walked over my grave. An early version of the saying, There's somebody walking over my grave! appears in a 1738 book by Jonathan Swift, A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, in Three Dialogues. The phrase is generally used to describe an eerie premonition, though A goose walked over our grave may be used at that moment when a conversation falls silent.Retcon, short for retroactive continuity, is the phenomenon commonly used in video games, comic books, and soap operas where something from a past plotline is changed in order for what's happening in the present to make sense. Also along those lines is a ret canon, used to blow up a problem from the past.Glyn Maxwell, in a recent review of the book Ideas of Order: A Close Reading of Shakespeare's Sonnets, argues that reading the sonnets altogether in a collection is a little strange, since many of them are worth more attention than they'll get if you read through them all quickly. Grant explains a similar problem he's had with poetry, but in going back to Langston Hughes' poems, he finds that trying not to focus on the rhyme or rhythm allows him to more fully understand the meaning of the words. A Spotswood, Virginia, listener came across the phrase steppin' and fetchin' used in a positive way to describe a speedy race run by the great horse Secretariat. But the phrase has an ugly past. To step and fetch is how many people once described the job of a slave or handyman, and Stepin Fetchit was a famous actor who often played the stereotype of the lazy black man. The documentary Ethnic Notions covers some of the history of this racially charged imagery. A new book called Ciao, Carpaccio!: An Infatuation, by veteran travel writer Jan Morris, celebrates the Venetian artist Carpaccio, who often used swaths of bright red in his paintings. His color choice is said to be the inspiration for beef or tuna carpaccio, slices of which are similarly deep red in the middle.What's the difference between an orchard and a grove? People plant orchards with trees meant to bear fruit or nuts, whereas groves aren't necessarily planted. So an orange grove might be more accurately called an orange orchard. The problem is, orange orchard doesn't sound nearly as pleasant as orange grove.Shrilk, a new substance made out of shrimp shells and silk, is gaining popularity as a substitute for plastic. We can still pretty much guarantee that, "One word: shrilk," will never be a classic movie line.We all know that gesture people do, sometimes ironically, where you wipe or smack your hands together to signify that a job's done. There's no common term for it, but a Schenectady, New York, listener has a great suggestion: all-done clappy hands.This episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2016, Wayword LLC.
In Episode 6, we chat with Josh Christie, manager at Sherman's Books and Stationery in Portland, ME. Get excited. You also can stream the episode on iTunes and Stitcher. Find us on Tumblr at drunkbooksellers.tumblr.com. Follow us on Twitter at @drunkbookseller for updates, book recs, and general bookish shenanigans. Epigraph Bitches in Bookshops Our theme music, Bitches in Bookshops, comes to us with permission from Annabelle Quezada. It’s the best. Introduction [0:30] In Which We Drink Strong Stouts and Cat Valente Singing in Russian for a Talent Show Josh is the perfect guest for Drunk Booksellers. He is the manager and book buyer at Sherman's Books and Stationery in Portland, Maine (not Oregon). He’s also the co-author of Maine Outdoor Adventure Guide and The Handbook of Porters & Stouts, as well as the author of Maine Beer: Brewing in Vacationland. In his spare time, he’s an adjunct professor on the The Maine Brew Bus and a co-host of The Bookrageous Podcast. Drink of the Day: As one might expect from a stout & porter expert, Josh gave us three options for our drink of the day. Lion Stout Guinness Foreign Extra Stout Anchor Porter Josh is reading Drinking in America: Our Secret History by Susan Cheever, Judge This by Chip Kidd, and The Beer Bible by Jeff Alworth. Kim’s reading Tuesday Nights in 1980 by Molly Prentiss (pubs April 2016) and Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor. Emma’s reading Thunderstruck & Other Stories by Elizabeth McCracken, Nimona by Noelle Stevensen, Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente (also mentioned Six-Gun Snow White) Books we’re excited about: The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff (also mentioned Cleopatra: A Life) The One-In-A-Million Boy by Monica Wood (pubs April 2016) Embed with Games: A Year on the Couch with Game Developers by Cara Ellison (pubs February 2016) Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five (Bookmarked Series) by Curtis Smith (pubs March 2016) Harry Potter Coloring Book from Scholastic, Inc. Contraband Cocktails: How America Drank When It Wasn't Supposed to by Paul Dickson (published by the ever-awesome Melville House) The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip by George Saunders & Lane Smith The Good Book: Writers Reflect on Favorite Bible Passages, edited by Andrew Blauner Gratitude by Oliver Sacks Chapter I [20:17] In Which We Love Everything Except Rap and Polka, Particularly Maps Sherman’s Books & Stationery has 5 locations in Maine, with a 6th opening in 2016. Most surprising bestseller (other than adult coloring books): The Historical Atlas of Maine, edited by Stephen J. Hornsby Also mentioned: Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free by Hector Tobar, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr If maps and books are your thing, definitely check out Plotted: A Literary Atlas by Andrew Degraff and Daniel Harmon . We all love it so hard. From Plotted: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle Chapter II [32:23] In Which We Lust after Built-in Bookshelves, Love Everything Except Rap & Polka Josh loves some good narrative nonfiction: Mary Roach, Erik Larson, Stacy Schiff, John Muir, and Ralph Waldo Emerson Kim and Emma get overexcited about handselling nature essays to Josh. Emma loves Limber by Angela Pelster. Kim’s excited about Annie Dillard’s forthcoming collection, The Abundance: Narrative Essays Old and New (pubs March 2016). Josh recs the Best American series, particularly Best American Sports Writing Go read anything published by Write Bloody. Especially Andrea Gibson (start with Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns). Originally posted by x-rayvisions Chapter III [41:06] In Which We Love Maps and Weirdos, Learn that Maine is More Than Just Lighthouses & Lobsters, Josh’s Wheelhouse includes books with maps, character indexes, and anything that’s super weird, such as Mort(e) by Robert Repino Josh’s very practical Station Eleven/Wild book: SAS Survival Guide by John Lofty Wiseman Josh’s real Station Eleven/Wild book: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace Go-To Handsell: Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed, The Lobster Kings by Alexi Zentner Originally posted by cuddle Generally Impossible Handsells: Poetry and Graphic Novels If you’re not a graphic novel reader yet, start with Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, The Sculptor by Scott McCloud, or Habibi by Craig Thompson That annoying Slate article that Josh mentions can be found here: Don’t Support Your Local Bookseller. Feel free to read it if you feel like angrily ranting at everyone you interact with for the next few years. Epilogue [51:27] In Which Josh Tells Us About His Awesome Bookish Wedding and Where You Can Find Him On the Internet Josh and his wife gifted each other literary tattoos as wedding presents, because they’re the coolest. Josh is getting the the Escapist’s key from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon and his wife is getting the the Brakebills seal from Lev Grossman’s The Magicians. Totes adorbs, right? Favorite Bookstore other Than Your Own: WORD (aw, yeah!), Harvard Book Store, Porter Square Books, Northshire Bookstore Favorite Literary Media: PANELS, Reading Aloud Podcast If you’re not listening to Bookrageous, go remedy that immediately. We love it so hard. Find Josh on the interwebz at: Twitter: @jchristie Website: BrewsAndBooks.com Instagram: JChristie7 You should probably follow us on Twitter @drunkbookseller if you’re not doing so already. We’re pretty cool. Emma tweets @thebibliot and writes nerdy bookish things for Book Riot. Kim occasionally tweets at @finaleofseem. Make sure you don’t miss an episode by subscribing to Drunk Booksellers from your podcatcher of choice. Also, if you read this far in the show notes, you should probably go ahead and rate/review us on iTunes too. The only compensation we get from this podcast is a nerdy ego-boost, so we’d love to hear how much you’re digging it.
Right off the bat, it's easy to think of several everyday expressions that derive from America's pastime. Including right off the bat. The Dickson Baseball Dictionary catalogues not just those contributions but also more obscure terms like "pebble picker," and explains why a fastball is called a "Linda Ronstadt." Plus, as more transgender people are publicly recognized, there's a debate about which pronouns to use. And who in the world would give a one-star review on Amazon to … Herman Melville's Moby-Dick? Plus, the plural of hummus, tear the rag off the bush, to boot, synesthesia, paper stretchers, wet washes, and the verb to podcast.FULL DETAILSRight off the bat, you can probably name a long list of common idioms that come from baseball. For example, right off the bat. But how about some of the more obscure ones, like the Linda Ronstadt? In a nod to Ronstadt's song "Blue Bayou," her name is used in baseball to refer to a ball that blew by you. Paul Dickson has collected this and hundreds of other baseball terms in his comprehensive book, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary. The plural of hummus isn't easy to pin down, because although the word's ending looks like a Latin singular, it's actually Arabic. For waiters and party hosts serving multiple plates of hummus, it's not wrong to say hummuses, but plates of hummus will do just fine.The Spanish idiom, arrimar el ascua a su sardina, literally means "to bring an ember to one's own sardine." It means "to look out for number one," the idea being that if a group is cooking sardines over a fire, and each person pulls out a coal to cook his own fish, then the whole fire will go out. So the idiom carries the sense not only of being selfish, but the effects of that selfishness on the larger community.Something excellent can be said to tear the rag off the bush, or take the rag, and it likely comes from old Western shooting competitions, where the winner would shoot a rag off a bush. The Oxford English Dictionary shows examples in print going back to the early 19th century.A listener in St. Cloud, Minnesota, reports that when she first started in the printing business, new employees would be hazed with the prank assignment of finding a "paper stretcher" to make a web—the big sheet of paper that newspapers are printed on—a little larger. There is, of course, no such thing, and sending someone to find one is just one of many ways to tease newbies. Also, strippers in the newspaper business are much tamer than the common stripper—it's just a term for those who prep images and copy for the printing plates.Quiz Guy John Chaneski scoured Amazon for 1-star reviews of classic literature and turned them into a puzzle about some readers' questionable taste. For example, what novel isn't even about fishing, since a whale is a mammal?The saying to boot comes from an Old English word bot, meaning "advantage" or "remedy." It's related to the contemporary English words better and best, so if something's to boot, it's added or extra.Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote, in a Supreme Court opinion no less, that "a word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used."As more transgender people are publicly recognized, what pronouns should we use to describe them? The best thing to do is find a polite way to ask how someone would like to be addressed. Epicene pronouns like they, ze, and others have had a hard time sticking. A good starting place for exploring transgender issues is Laverne Cox's documentary The T-Word.People with synesthesia have long been known to associate sensations like sounds with others, like seeing certain colors. New research suggests that color associations with certain letters—at least for individuals born after 1967—are largely influenced by Fisher Price fridge magnets.One caller says his grandma's favorite parting phrase was See you in the wet wash! A wet wash was an old-fashioned facility for washing—though not drying—laundry. But it's anyone's guess as to why someone would allude to soaked laundry when taking their leave.We've spoken before about It'll be better when you're married, often used to console someone who just had a small scrape or cut. A Chicago-area listener wrote us to say that in such cases, her mom's phrase was Quick, get a spoon!The word podcasting is commonly used to refer to making podcasts, but it's also used by some as the verb for listening to downloading or listening to podcasts. The language around podcasts has always been tricky since the format was released—Apple initially disliked the use of pod—and practitioners like the TWiT network advocated for netcast. Every time Martha tries naming all 26 letters in the alphabet, she only comes up with 25. But she can't remember Y.The exclamation crime in Italy is a variation of criminently, or criminy, both euphemisms for Christ.In baseball, a pebble picker, or pebble hunter, is a fielder who picks up a pebble from the ground after a missed catch, as if to blame the pebble for his own error. In the world at large, the term is a jab at someone who can never admit a mistake. This episode is hosted by Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2015, Wayword LLC.
A Way with Words — language, linguistics, and callers from all over
This week on "A Way with Words": The best way to read poetry. When you pick up a book of poems, how many do you read in one sitting? Some people devour several in a row, while others savor them much more slowly. Plus, it's a problem faced by politicians and public speakers: When you have to stand in front of people, what do you do with your hands? German Chancellor Angela Merkel came up with a solution. She positions her fingers in a special way that's become so closely associated with her, it now has its own name. And what does it mean if someone says you're "a real pipperoo"? Plus, orange grove vs. orange orchard, Pilish, ducksnorts and duckfarts, and the worst online passwords imaginable.FULL DETAILSOn March 14, or 3/14, fans of both dessert and decimals come together to celebrate Pi Day. This year, though, it's not enough to call it at 3/14, because it's 3/14/15, and at 9:26 and 53 seconds, the first ten digits of pi will all be aligned. Speaking of aligning the digits, there's also a form of writing called pilish, where the sequential words in a passage each have an amount of letters that corresponds with the numbers in pi.A swinging song by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra called "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo" drops the line What a gal, a real pipperoo. A homeschooling family in Maine wonders just what a pipperoo is. For one, the suffix -eroo is a jokey ending sometimes added for comic effect, as with switcheroo and flopperoo. Pipperoo may derive from a particularly desirable type of apple called a pippin. And the jokey suffix -eroo is added for comic effect, as with switcheroo and flopperoo. So calling someone a pipperoo is fond way of saying, in effect, you're a peach.Former U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan once observed that a poem should act like a clown suitcase, one you can open up and never quit emptying.In East Tennessee, if someone invites you to a "fire," don't be alarmed—there's a chance they're talking about a fair. A former Floridian who moved to that part of the country has been collecting some funny stories about local pronunciations.Even foreign dignitaries can be plagued with the age-old problem of standing around in public: what do you do with your hands? German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken to holding her hands in a certain way so often that it's been named the Merkel-Raute, or Merkel rhombus, which pretty accurately describes the shape she's making.Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game where you have to guess what three clues—like Bob, Tom, and Allie or bulb, silver, and month—have in common.A ducksnort in softball or baseball will never make the highlight reel. It's often a blooper of a hit that lands between the infield and the far outfield, but still gets the job done. Paul Dickson, author of the authoritative Dickson Baseball Dictionary, explains the original version of the term: duckfart. White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson is credited with popularizing the more family-friendly version.Are your Internet passwords bad enough to make the Worst Passwords List? An Internet security firm put out a list of bad ideas, and among them are things like baseball, football, car models, and your kid's name.The Blind Tiger was a speakeasy during prohibition, perhaps so named because patrons would hand over money to peek at a fictitious blind animal, but also receive illegal booze as part of the bargain. The terms blind tiger and blind pig eventually came to describe a kind of liquor—one so powerful it could make you go blind, at least for a while. A Tallahassee, Florida, caller says one of his ancestors was gunned down by a gang called the Blind Tigers.A Wisconsin listener says that when her body gets an involuntary, inexplicable shudder, she says A goose walked over my grave. An early version of the saying, There's somebody walking over my grave! appears in a 1738 book by Jonathan Swift, A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, in Three Dialogues. The phrase is generally used to describe an eerie premonition, though A goose walked over our grave may be used at that moment when a conversation falls silent.Retcon, short for retroactive continuity, is the phenomenon commonly used in video games, comic books, and soap operas where something from a past plotline is changed in order for what's happening in the present to make sense. Also along those lines is a ret canon, used to blow up a problem from the past.Glyn Maxwell, in a recent review of the book Ideas of Order: A Close Reading of Shakespeare's Sonnets, argues that reading the sonnets altogether in a collection is a little strange, since many of them are worth more attention than they'll get if you read through them all quickly. Grant explains a similar problem he's had with poetry, but in going back to Langston Hughes' poems, he finds that trying not to focus on the rhyme or rhythm allows him to more fully understand the meaning of the words. A Spotswood, Virginia, listener came across the phrase steppin' and fetchin' used in a positive way to describe a speedy race run by the great horse Secretariat. But the phrase has an ugly past. To step and fetch is how many people once described the job of a slave or handyman, and Stepin Fetchit was a famous actor who often played the stereotype of the lazy black man. The documentary Ethnic Notions covers some of the history of this racially charged imagery. A new book called Ciao, Carpaccio!: An Infatuation, by veteran travel writer Jan Morris, celebrates the Venetian artist Carpaccio, who often used swaths of bright red in his paintings. His color choice is said to be the inspiration for beef or tuna carpaccio, slices of which are similarly deep red in the middle.What's the difference between an orchard and a grove? People plant orchards with trees meant to bear fruit or nuts, whereas groves aren't necessarily planted. So an orange grove might be more accurately called an orange orchard. The problem is, orange orchard doesn't sound nearly as pleasant as orange grove.Shrilk, a new substance made out of shrimp shells and silk, is gaining popularity as a substitute for plastic. We can still pretty much guarantee that, "One word: shrilk," will never be a classic movie line.We all know that gesture people do, sometimes ironically, where you wipe or smack your hands together to signify that a job's done. There's no common term for it, but a Schenectady, New York, listener has a great suggestion: all-done clappy hands.This episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2015, Wayword LLC.
In December 1943, American bomber pilot Charlie Brown was flying a severely damaged B-17 out of Germany when he looked out the cockpit window and saw "the world's worst nightmare" off his right wing -- a fully armed German fighter whose pilot was staring back at him. In this episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll follow the strange drama that ensued, in which German fighter ace Franz Stigler weighed the human impulse to spare the wounded bomber against his patriotic duty to shoot him down. We'll also consider whether animals follow the 10 commandments and wonder why a man might tell his nephew that his dog will be shot. Our segment on Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler is drawn largely from Adam Makos' 2012 book A Higher Call: The Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II. The book trailer contains brief interviews with both men: Sources for our segment on Ernest Thompson Seton and the 10 commandments: Ernest Thompson Seton, "The Natural History of the Ten Commandments," The Century, November 1907. Theodore Roosevelt, "Nature Fakers," Everybody's Magazine, September 1907. Ralph H. Lutts, The Nature Fakers: Wildlife, Science & Sentiment, 2001. Paul Dickson, Words From the White House, 2013. Our post about Seton's belief that the commandments are "fundamental laws of all creation" and thus might be discovered in the animal world originally appeared on April 21, 2010. The episode in which Seton's father presented him with a bill for his rearing appears in his wife's 1967 collection of his writings, By a Thousand Fires. Our post recounting it ran on July 8, 2014. Here's Jackie Cooper crying in Skippy (1931), just after hearing that his dog has been shot: You can listen using the player above, or subscribe on iTunes or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!
Paul Dickson discussed and signed his book "Bill Veeck: Baseball's Great Maverick" at the Whittall Pavilion. For captions, transcript, and more information visit http://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=5675
A Way with Words — language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Get out your umbrellas -- it's raining pitchforks and . . . bullfrogs? This week, it's odd expressions that mean "a heavy downpour." Also, holistic vs. wholistic, recurrence vs. reoccurrence, flash drive vs. thumb drive, whether it's good or bad to be jacked up, stomach Steinways and bunheads, and the origin of listless. And not to mince words, but what does the expression "not to mince words" really mean? FULL DETAILSIn what profession would you deal with clams, footballs, hairpins, and axes? They're all slang terms used by classical musicians. What's the origin of the term listless? Does it mean you can't find the piece of paper with the groceries you need? No. Listless shares a root with the English word lust. In its most literal sense, listless means "without lust," or "lacking want or desire."Is being jacked up a good thing or a bad thing? It depends. To jack up means "to raise up," as with a car on a lift. But jack up also has a negative meaning, perhaps deriving from hijack or blackjack, suggesting that something's been hurt or cheated. Our Quiz Master John Chaneski has some answers to classic songs in this week's puzzle about song titles in question form. For example, the answer "Because they're too dumb to stay out of it" answers the musical question from Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?"What do we mean by the expression not to mince words? The New York Times' Paul Krugman http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/opinion/krugman-europes-economic-suicide.html often uses this idiom meaning "to be straightforward and blunt." The verb mince means "to make small," and is a linguistic relative of such words as diminish, miniature, and minute. Mincing is what you do when you're cutting onions into small pieces or diminishing the force of your speech by using euphemisms. In an earlier episode http://www.waywordradio.org/horse-you-rode-in-on/, we discussed various meanings for the term stove up. One meaning of stove up is "to be in pain from work or exercise to the point where it's hard to move." Similarly, lots of athletes will get stoved fingers from getting them jammed with volleyballs or baseballs. Do you store files on a flash drive, a thumb drive, a USB stick -- or perhaps on a monkey? What do you call the little device that holds flash memory and goes into the USB drive of a computer. Some come in wild forms http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/50-weirdest-usb-flash-drives-ever/, like sushi or animals.Did you ever take lessons to play the stomach Steinway? You know, the accordion? That's another bit of musicians' slang sent in by a listener, along with the term bunhead http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/bunhead/, which means "a ballet dancer." Which is the better term, recurrence or reoccurrence? A look at the corpus of American literature confirms that recurrence is far and away the more commonly used word denoting "something that occurs more than once." Some dictionaries don't even have entries for reoccurrence. An old book of Virginia folk sayings contains such gems as "It's as old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth," and "He can't spell A-B-L-E."Is crick a Southern term? Surprisingly, crick, as in creek, is mostly used in New England and the Great Lakes region. The Northeast is also where you'll find people smoking boges, or boags. Both words for "cigarette," apparently derive from the verb "to bogart," discussed in an earlier episode http://www.waywordradio.org/bogarting-bangers/. What do you call a fierce rainfall? There are lots of vivid terms in this country besides it's raining cats and dogs. Some Americans say It's raining pitchforks and hoehandles, or raining pitchforks and bullfrogs. Or they might call a heavy rain a toadstrangler, a ditchworker, or stumpwasher. In other countries http://www.omniglot.com/language/idioms/rain.php, this kind of cacophonous rain is denoted by lots of picturesque phrases involving imaginary falling things, including chair legs, female trolls, ropes, jugs -- and even husbands.If something pertains to a whole system or body, is it holistic or wholistic? Despite that tempting "w," holistic is the correct term. It's an example of folk etymology http://books.google.com/books/about/Folk_etymology.html?id=e0wHAAAAQAAJ, the result of looking at the word whole and assuming that wholistic is the proper correlative. If something's soft and fuzzy, why not call it suvvy? Grant collected that bit of slang during a recent appearance in Potsdam, NY. http://readme.readmedia.com/SUNY-Potsdam-Hosts-First-Ever-Lougheed-Kofoed-Festival-of-the-Arts/3807415Everyone knows New Yorkers and Angelenos, but what do you call someone from Sheboygan, Wisconsin? Demonyms, or the names for people from a given place, can get pretty complicated, but there are seven rules as drawn by George Stewart http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com/away_with_words/demonyms/, and Paul Dickson's book Labels for Locals http://books.google.com/books/about/Labels_for_Locals.html?id=MJpt4QCXWWoC has lots of other answers.An old Chinese proverb says, he who asks a question is a fool for a minute. He who does not remains a fool forever.This week's episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett.....Support for A Way with Words also comes from National University, which invites you to change your future today. More at http://www.nu.edu/.And from The Ken Blanchard Companies, whose purpose is to make a leadership difference among executives, managers, and individuals in organizations everywhere. More about Ken Blanchard's leadership training programs at kenblanchard.com/leadership.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2012, Wayword LLC.
A Way with Words — language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Can children adopted from other countries easily re-learn their native languages as adults? And if you're invited to an old-fashioned pound party, what should you bring? Also, regional names for those wheeled contraptions you use at the grocery, summer reading recommendations, and a breed of cat that's supposed to bring you riches and good luck. Plus, the Tour de Franzia (as in boxed wine), police slang from the 1940's, mnemonics, and a breed of cat that brings good luck and riches! Always remember: Martha never ever makes ornery noises in church. That is, of course, a mnemonic for the spelling of "mnemonic." When would you give a pounding to someone in need? When you're talking about a community coming together to give food staples to, say, the new family in town or a new bride and groom. The term pounding, also known as a pound party, derives from the early practice of bringing foodstuffs by the pound. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of The Yearling, once wrote about a pound party, albeit one with a surprise ending. What slang do you use for "getting drunk"? Paul Dickson has collected his share of terms for being drunk, as have, surprisingly enough, college students. How about slizzered, schwasted, or riding in the Tour de Franzia? If it's cold as all get-out, you'll probably want to get to someplace warmer. The "get-out" in this informal expression might refer to being out in front, as in "the winner of all cold days," or it could be a mashup of "Doesn't that beat all!" and "Get out!" It's just one of many terms we use to describe cold temperatures. You don't want Dorothy Parker reviewing your novel — at least not when she's dropping zingers like "This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly, it should be thrown with great force." Parker did have a way with words. How about this description of another birthday rolling around: "This wasn't just plain terrible, this was fancy terrible, it was terrible with raisins in it." Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a word game about words with a silent "e" and their "e"-sound counterparts. For example, a walking stick and someone good at judging situations might be a canny guy with a cane. Or a guy with a noble title playing with a bathtub water fowl would be a duke with a ducky. A Tacoma, Wash., police report from 1946 is chock-full of showy police slang, from the punk on the stem to the handle of the beefer. Read the whole thing here. Can a child adopted from a foreign country at the age of eight easily relearn her first language as an adult? It seems so. Terri Kit-fong Au describes a group of Korean students in Australia who pick up Korean with ease. What do you call the sign used in long division that looks a bit like an awning separating dividend and the divisor? How about a gazinta? As in, two gazinta four twice. Otherwise, you're stuck with boring terms like long division sign or division bracket. Grant and Martha have summer reading suggestions. Grant's going through books by great women in show business — Tallulah Bankhead, Mindy Kaling, and Tina Fey. Martha finally got a Kindle, and is starting with Herman Melville's classic, Moby-Dick! A bit wary of tackling this leviathan of a novel? Nathaniel Philbrick makes an excellent case for why you ought to read Moby-Dick. Do you call your cart at the grocery store a shopping cart, a shopping carriage, a grocery cart, or a buggy? The term buggy seems to be particularly widespread in the South. What's a money cat? It's a regional term for "calico cat," and it's particularly common in Maine. The idea goes back to a bit of folklore that calicos bring you good luck. To hox, or hocks, means to call dibs on something, as in "You better hox shotgun if you want to sit up front for the eight-hour drive to Grandma's!" Here's a sly Southernism for Sundays: "Each one of his sermons is better than the next." What do you say when you're frustrated? There's always, "I'll be jumped up and down, bowlegged, and Johnny Busheart!" Or "For cryin' out loud and weepin' in public!" What does it mean to be lousy with, as in "She was lousy with diamonds"? Lousy comes from the English word louse, as in lice. To be lousy with means "to have lots of something."
A Way with Words — language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Get out your umbrellas -- it's raining pitchforks and . . . bullfrogs? This week, it's odd expressions that mean "a heavy downpour." Also, holistic vs. wholistic, recurrence vs. reoccurrence, flash drive vs. thumb drive, whether it's good or bad to be jacked up, stomach Steinways and bunheads, and the origin of listless. And not to mince words, but what does the expression "not to mince words" really mean? FULL DETAILSIn what profession would you deal with clams, footballs, hairpins, and axes? They're all slang terms used by classical musicians.What's the origin of the term listless? Does it mean you can't find the piece of paper with the groceries you need? No. Listless shares a root with the English word lust. In its most literal sense, listless means "without lust," or "lacking want or desire."Is being jacked up a good thing or a bad thing? It depends. To jack up means "to raise up," as with a car on a lift. But jack up also has a negative meaning, perhaps deriving from hijack or blackjack, suggesting that something's been hurt or cheated. Our Quiz Master John Chaneski has some answers to classic songs in this week's puzzle about song titles in question form. For example, the answer "Because they're too dumb to stay out of it" answers the musical question from Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?"What do we mean by the expression not to mince words? The New York Times' Paul Krugman http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/16/opinion/krugman-europes-economic-suicide.html often uses this idiom meaning "to be straightforward and blunt." The verb mince means "to make small," and is a linguistic relative of such words as diminish, miniature, and minute. Mincing is what you do when you're cutting onions into small pieces or diminishing the force of your speech by using euphemisms. In an earlier episode http://www.waywordradio.org/horse-you-rode-in-on/, we discussed various meanings for the term stove up. One meaning of stove up is "to be in pain from work or exercise to the point where it's hard to move." Similarly, lots of athletes will get stoved fingers from getting them jammed with volleyballs or baseballs. Do you store files on a flash drive, a thumb drive, a USB stick -- or perhaps on a monkey? What do you call the little device that holds flash memory and goes into the USB drive of a computer. Some come in wild forms http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/50-weirdest-usb-flash-drives-ever/, like sushi or animals.Did you ever take lessons to play the stomach Steinway? You know, the accordion? That's another bit of musicians' slang sent in by a listener, along with the term bunhead http://www.doubletongued.org/index.php/dictionary/bunhead/, which means "a ballet dancer." Which is the better term, recurrence or reoccurrence? A look at the corpus of American literature confirms that recurrence is far and away the more commonly used word denoting "something that occurs more than once." Some dictionaries don't even have entries for reoccurrence. An old book of Virginia folk sayings contains such gems as "It's as old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth," and "He can't spell A-B-L-E."Is crick a Southern term? Surprisingly, crick, as in creek, is mostly used in New England and the Great Lakes region. The Northeast is also where you'll find people smoking boges, or boags. Both words for "cigarette," apparently derive from the verb "to bogart," discussed in an earlier episode http://www.waywordradio.org/bogarting-bangers/. What do you call a fierce rainfall? There are lots of vivid terms in this country besides it's raining cats and dogs. Some Americans say It's raining pitchforks and hoehandles, or raining pitchforks and bullfrogs. Or they might call a heavy rain a toadstrangler, a ditchworker, or stumpwasher. In other countries http://www.omniglot.com/language/idioms/rain.php, this kind of cacophonous rain is denoted by lots of picturesque phrases involving imaginary falling things, including chair legs, female trolls, ropes, jugs -- and even husbands.If something pertains to a whole system or body, is it holistic or wholistic? Despite that tempting "w," holistic is the correct term. It's an example of folk etymology http://books.google.com/books/about/Folk_etymology.html?id=e0wHAAAAQAAJ, the result of looking at the word whole and assuming that wholistic is the proper correlative. If something's soft and fuzzy, why not call it suvvy? Grant collected that bit of slang during a recent appearance in Potsdam, NY. http://readme.readmedia.com/SUNY-Potsdam-Hosts-First-Ever-Lougheed-Kofoed-Festival-of-the-Arts/3807415Everyone knows New Yorkers and Angelenos, but what do you call someone from Sheboygan, Wisconsin? Demonyms, or the names for people from a given place, can get pretty complicated, but there are seven rules as drawn by George Stewart http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com/away_with_words/demonyms/, and Paul Dickson's book Labels for Locals http://books.google.com/books/about/Labels_for_Locals.html?id=MJpt4QCXWWoC has lots of other answers.An old Chinese proverb says, he who asks a question is a fool for a minute. He who does not remains a fool forever.....Support for A Way with Words also comes from National University, which invites you to change your future today. More at http://www.nu.edu/.We're also grateful for support from the University of San Diego. Since 1949, USD has been on a mission not only to prepare students for the world, but also to change it. Learn more about the college and five schools of this nationally ranked, independent Catholic university at sandiego.edu.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2012, Wayword LLC.
Mention the name Bill Veeck to a baseball fan and what will likely come to mind is the back-and-white image of three-foot, seven-inch Eddie Gaedel at the plate of a Major League game, swimming in his St. Louis Browns uniform, the opposing catcher having just caught a pitch well over... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mention the name Bill Veeck to a baseball fan and what will likely come to mind is the back-and-white image of three-foot, seven-inch Eddie Gaedel at the plate of a Major League game, swimming in his St. Louis Browns uniform, the opposing catcher having just caught a pitch well over his head. Gaedel’s sole appearance for the Browns in 1951 is part of the lore of baseball, and it is often cited as the prime example of Veeck’s antics and his irreverence as a team owner. As owner of the Browns, the Cleveland Indians, and the Chicago White Sox, as well as owner of the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers and executive for the Chicago Cubs, Veeck was famous–and infamous–for his promotions and publicity stunts. Veeck wanted to bring people to the ballpark, and he was willing to try any scheme to do that: giving away 100 dollar coins frozen in a block of ice, serving free breakfast cereal for morning games, inviting fans to bring their detested disco records for an on-field demolition, or sending a midget into a Major League game. Paul Dickson‘s new biography of the owner, Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick (Walker & Company, 2012), shows that there was far more to Veeck than Gaedel at the bat, Disco Demolition Night, or any other promotional stunt. Veeck had a genuine interest in serving his customers, in making a day at the ballpark an enjoyable experience for the whole family. The owners of the time judged his schemes as insults to the game. Even more than that, they resented Veeck’s willingness to mix with fans at the stadium gate and in the bleacher seats. Eventually, baseball’s owners came to recognize the wisdom of this so-called showman. The fan-friendly ballpark experience of today owes much to Bill Veeck’s innovations, from wider seats and widely available restrooms to specialty foods and promotional giveaways. At the very least, Veeck should be remembered for directing the renovations of Wrigley Field in 1936-37, a project that included building a brick wall in the outfield and planting ivy at its base (the Chinese Elms planted by the scoreboard didn’t survive the famous winds at the North Side park). But perhaps Veeck’s greatest legacy was his commitment to the integration of baseball. As Paul explains in the book and the interview, Veeck had a bold plan to introduce black players into the Major Leagues already in 1942. League officials, however, intervened to scuttle the plan. Five years later, just eleven weeks after Jackie Robinson first stepped onto the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Veeck signed Larry Doby to the Cleveland Indians, making him the first black player in the American League. The following year, he signed the legendary pitcher of the Negro Leagues, Satchel Paige. And in 1949, Cleveland had 11 black and Latino players in spring training as well as African Americans working in the front office, the stadium staff, and the grounds crew. Veeck was indeed a maverick and a showman, but he was also a man of principle and resolve. Not many owners of sports teams merit such a description. Nor could many owners be the subject of such an illuminating and entertaining biography. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mention the name Bill Veeck to a baseball fan and what will likely come to mind is the back-and-white image of three-foot, seven-inch Eddie Gaedel at the plate of a Major League game, swimming in his St. Louis Browns uniform, the opposing catcher having just caught a pitch well over his head. Gaedel’s sole appearance for the Browns in 1951 is part of the lore of baseball, and it is often cited as the prime example of Veeck’s antics and his irreverence as a team owner. As owner of the Browns, the Cleveland Indians, and the Chicago White Sox, as well as owner of the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers and executive for the Chicago Cubs, Veeck was famous–and infamous–for his promotions and publicity stunts. Veeck wanted to bring people to the ballpark, and he was willing to try any scheme to do that: giving away 100 dollar coins frozen in a block of ice, serving free breakfast cereal for morning games, inviting fans to bring their detested disco records for an on-field demolition, or sending a midget into a Major League game. Paul Dickson‘s new biography of the owner, Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick (Walker & Company, 2012), shows that there was far more to Veeck than Gaedel at the bat, Disco Demolition Night, or any other promotional stunt. Veeck had a genuine interest in serving his customers, in making a day at the ballpark an enjoyable experience for the whole family. The owners of the time judged his schemes as insults to the game. Even more than that, they resented Veeck’s willingness to mix with fans at the stadium gate and in the bleacher seats. Eventually, baseball’s owners came to recognize the wisdom of this so-called showman. The fan-friendly ballpark experience of today owes much to Bill Veeck’s innovations, from wider seats and widely available restrooms to specialty foods and promotional giveaways. At the very least, Veeck should be remembered for directing the renovations of Wrigley Field in 1936-37, a project that included building a brick wall in the outfield and planting ivy at its base (the Chinese Elms planted by the scoreboard didn’t survive the famous winds at the North Side park). But perhaps Veeck’s greatest legacy was his commitment to the integration of baseball. As Paul explains in the book and the interview, Veeck had a bold plan to introduce black players into the Major Leagues already in 1942. League officials, however, intervened to scuttle the plan. Five years later, just eleven weeks after Jackie Robinson first stepped onto the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Veeck signed Larry Doby to the Cleveland Indians, making him the first black player in the American League. The following year, he signed the legendary pitcher of the Negro Leagues, Satchel Paige. And in 1949, Cleveland had 11 black and Latino players in spring training as well as African Americans working in the front office, the stadium staff, and the grounds crew. Veeck was indeed a maverick and a showman, but he was also a man of principle and resolve. Not many owners of sports teams merit such a description. Nor could many owners be the subject of such an illuminating and entertaining biography. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mention the name Bill Veeck to a baseball fan and what will likely come to mind is the back-and-white image of three-foot, seven-inch Eddie Gaedel at the plate of a Major League game, swimming in his St. Louis Browns uniform, the opposing catcher having just caught a pitch well over his head. Gaedel’s sole appearance for the Browns in 1951 is part of the lore of baseball, and it is often cited as the prime example of Veeck’s antics and his irreverence as a team owner. As owner of the Browns, the Cleveland Indians, and the Chicago White Sox, as well as owner of the minor-league Milwaukee Brewers and executive for the Chicago Cubs, Veeck was famous–and infamous–for his promotions and publicity stunts. Veeck wanted to bring people to the ballpark, and he was willing to try any scheme to do that: giving away 100 dollar coins frozen in a block of ice, serving free breakfast cereal for morning games, inviting fans to bring their detested disco records for an on-field demolition, or sending a midget into a Major League game. Paul Dickson‘s new biography of the owner, Bill Veeck: Baseball’s Greatest Maverick (Walker & Company, 2012), shows that there was far more to Veeck than Gaedel at the bat, Disco Demolition Night, or any other promotional stunt. Veeck had a genuine interest in serving his customers, in making a day at the ballpark an enjoyable experience for the whole family. The owners of the time judged his schemes as insults to the game. Even more than that, they resented Veeck’s willingness to mix with fans at the stadium gate and in the bleacher seats. Eventually, baseball’s owners came to recognize the wisdom of this so-called showman. The fan-friendly ballpark experience of today owes much to Bill Veeck’s innovations, from wider seats and widely available restrooms to specialty foods and promotional giveaways. At the very least, Veeck should be remembered for directing the renovations of Wrigley Field in 1936-37, a project that included building a brick wall in the outfield and planting ivy at its base (the Chinese Elms planted by the scoreboard didn’t survive the famous winds at the North Side park). But perhaps Veeck’s greatest legacy was his commitment to the integration of baseball. As Paul explains in the book and the interview, Veeck had a bold plan to introduce black players into the Major Leagues already in 1942. League officials, however, intervened to scuttle the plan. Five years later, just eleven weeks after Jackie Robinson first stepped onto the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Veeck signed Larry Doby to the Cleveland Indians, making him the first black player in the American League. The following year, he signed the legendary pitcher of the Negro Leagues, Satchel Paige. And in 1949, Cleveland had 11 black and Latino players in spring training as well as African Americans working in the front office, the stadium staff, and the grounds crew. Veeck was indeed a maverick and a showman, but he was also a man of principle and resolve. Not many owners of sports teams merit such a description. Nor could many owners be the subject of such an illuminating and entertaining biography. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
A Way with Words — language, linguistics, and callers from all over
SUMMARYWhat do the words marathon, paisley, and bikini have in common? They're all words that derive from the names of places. Martha and Grant talk toponyms. Also, what's the difference between a nerd and a geek? Why do some Marines greet each other with the word "Yambo"? And what do you call the crust that forms at the corners of your eyes after a night's sleep?FULL DETAILSWhat do the words marathon, paisley, and bikini have in common? They're all words that derive from the names of places. Martha and Grant talk about these and other toponyms.What's the difference between a nerd and a geek? An Ohio professor of popular culture wants to talk about it. Here's the Metafilter thread mentioned in that discussion.http://bit.ly/Nl38hHere's a Venn Diagram about nerds, geeks, dorks, and dweebs. http://bit.ly/aJxb9EIn the Pacific Northwest, the term spendy means "expensive." Grant has an update on the jocular pronunciation of "skedooly" for the word schedule. The original discussion about it is here:http://waywordradio.org/chester-drawers/Puzzle Guy John Chaneski presents a quiz called "Repeat after Me." It's a quiz that's neither so-so nor too-too. A Marine at Camp Pendleton says that while in Iraq, he and his buddies heard the greeting "Yambo!" from Ugandan troops there. Now they use it with each other, and he wonders about its literal meaning. Martha explains that it's a common Kiswahili term.In the novel Jane Eyre, characters sometimes speak whole sentences in French. A high school English teacher says her students wonder if there's a term for inserting whole sentences from another language into fiction. Grant talks about the use of foreignisms and loanwords.Martha has a crazy crossword clue sent by a listener: "Camel's Nemesis." Twelve letters. Got it?Residents of Maine are called "Mainers," people in Texas are "Texans," those in Wisconsin are "Wisconsinites," and people in Phoenix are . . . Phoenicians"? Grant and Martha explain that there are consistent rules for the naming the locals. The book they reference is Paul Dickson's Labels for Locals.http://bit.ly/eXeAWxMartha and Grant offer gift recommendations for language lovers:Through the Language Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Languages, by Guy Deutscherhttp://bit.ly/bSjZONOK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word, by Allan Metcalfhttp://bit.ly/igLJn8Lost in Lexicon: An Adventure in Words and Numbershttp://www.lostinlexicon.com/Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, and Language http://www.deborahfallows.com/What do you call the crust that forms in the corners of your eyes when you sleep? Sleepydust, sleepysand, eyejam, slam, eye boogers, eye potatoes, sleep sugar, eye crusties, sleepyjacks. An Indiana man wonders if anyone else uses his family's term for it, cat butter.Is the proper phrase toe the line or tow the line?Grant talks about how that great American export, the word OK, was part of the first conversation on the surface of the moon.You upgrade your software, and instead of working better, it's worse. Is there a word for that phenomenon? Downgrade? Oopsgrade? How about Newcoked?Poutrage is a new term for "acting outraged when you're really not. It's sort of like accismus, "the pretended refusal of something actually very much desired."--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2011, Wayword LLC.very much desired."
A Way with Words — language, linguistics, and callers from all over
An interview with slang lexicographer Paul Dickson about drinking language and his book "Drunk: the Definitive Drinkers Dictionary."--A Way with Words is supported by its listeners. Drop a few bucks in the guitar case: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone:United States an Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org/Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradioCopyright 2010, Wayword Inc.
A Way with Words — language, linguistics, and callers from all over
[This episode originally aired March 28, 2009.]Why is it that what you say to your family and what they hear are different? If you say 'no,' your child hears 'maybe,' and if you say 'maybe,' she hears 'ask again and again, and yes is just around the corner.' Grant and Martha discuss ways that families communicate and miscommunicate. Also in this episode: the West Coast exclamation 'moded!,' the Navy expression 'turn to,' how to pronounce 'llama,' what it means if someone says your car is 'banjaxed,' and more.Grab some popcorn, slip into a folding seat, and you're ready to watch the coming attractions. But if they're shown before the main feature, why in the world are movie previews called 'trailers'? Enjoy old movie trailers at Turner Classic Movies.It's California in the 1980s, and--uh-oh!--you're outsmarted or caught doing something stupid and someone else says, 'Ooooooooooo, moded!' This Schadenfreudian slip of an expression was sometimes accompanied by a chin-stroking gesture, or elaborated still further as 'Moded, corroded, your booty exploded!' Grant has the goods on this expression's likely origin. Check out his entry for itâand the comments of people who know the termâat his dictionary site .In a previous episode, , a caller sought a classy term for a worker in the meat section of a cheese shop, something a little more sophisticated than, say, 'meatmonger.' The helpful suggestions from listeners keep rolling in, and Grant and Martha share a few. Wait, did they really suggest 'carncierge' and 'meatre d''?Quiz Guy Greg Pliska drops in with a word game called 'False Opposites.' They're pairs of words whose prefixes, suffixes, and other elements make them appear to be opposites, even though they're not. For example, what seeming opposites might be derived from the clues 'forward motion' and 'American legislative body'? Feel free to weigh the pros and cons of your answer.Navy veterans will recognize the two-fingered gesture that looks as if someone's turning an invisible doorknob. It accompanies the order 'turn to,' meaning 'get to work.' How did this handy expression get started?If you appropriate something that no one else seems to be using, you may be said to 'kipe' that object. A Wisconsin caller remembers 'kiping' things as a youngster, like a neighbor's leftover wood to build a fort. Grant discusses this regionalism and its possible origins.Is there a distinction to be made between 'envy' and 'jealousy'? The hosts try to parse out the difference.Grant gives a brief review of the new third edition of Paul Dickson's 'The Dickson Baseball Dictionary' , all 974 pages and 4.5 pounds of it.To some folks, they're 'thermals.' To others, they're 'long underwear.' And some folks call them 'long johns.' Are these warm undergarments named after some guy called John? If your car's broken down you might say it's 'banjaxed,' especially if you're in Ireland. A caller who grew up in Dublin is curious about the word.Martha and Grant revisit the 'apple core, Baltimore' game they discussed a few episodes ago . Many listeners learned it from this Donald Duck cartoon .How do you pronounce the word 'llama'? A caller who learned in school that Spanish 'll' is pronounced like English 'y' thinks it's a mistake to pronounce this animal's name as 'LAH-ma.' Is he correct?--Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Site: http://waywordradio.org.Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2009, Wayword LLC.
A Way with Words — language, linguistics, and callers from all over
[This episode first aired January 19th, 2008.]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.'Why do we say that someone who's pregnant is 'knocked up'? The hit movie starring Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen has a caller wondering about this term.A man whose last name is McCoy wants a definitive answer about the origin of the expression 'the real McCoy.' He's been told it comes from the name of turn-of-the-century boxing champ Kid McCoy. Is that really the case?A Michigander wants to know about the difference between 'titled' and 'entitled.' She'd assumed that a book is 'titled' Gone with The Wind and a person is 'entitled' to compensation for something. Grant and Martha explain it's a little more complicated than that.Quiz Guy Greg Pliska presents a quiz about 'False Plurals,' based on the old riddle: What plural word becomes singular when you put the letter 's' at the end of it? (Hint: Think of a brand of tennis racket, as well as the former name of a musical artist before he changed it back again.)Quick, which is faster? Something that happens 'instantly' or that happens 'instantaneously'? A caller wants to know if there's any difference between the two. A Brazilian has been researching why actors use the unlikely expression 'break a leg' to wish each other well before going on stage. He suspects it's a borrowing of a German phrase that means, 'May you break your neck and your leg,' but he's not sure.A caller who lived in the Bay Area during the 1960s remembers using the word 'loosecap' to describe someone who's 'not playing with a full deck.' He wonders if he and his friends are the only ones to use it, as in, 'Don't be such a loosecap!'This week's 'Slang This!' contestant tries to decipher the slang phrases 'dance at two weddings' and 'put the big pot in the little pot.' She also shares her own favorite slang terms for 'crumb crusher,' 'rug rat' and 'ankle biter.' By the way, you can read Grant's essay about slang terms for small children, 'Sprogs in a Poop Factory,' here. His column about language appears every two weeks in The Malaysia Star newspaper.A caller fears that the term 'Indian giver' is politically incorrect, and wants an alternative to teach her children. A Princeton University student wonders if his school can lay claim to being the first to apply the Latin word 'campus' to the grounds of an institution of higher learning.By the way, if you want to read about more family words, check out Paul Dickson's book, 'Family Words: A Dictionary of the Secret Language of Families.'Here's hoping all of you are happy fubbies!--Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.
The launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union was an event that profoundly changed the course of history. In the United States, it spurred the rapid development of the scientific establishment that remains in place today. On this show, Paul Dickson discussed the effects resulting from the launch of Sputnik.
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