Podcasts about text sms

How many of us made cup phones as kids? They were awesome, right? Simple, pure, and all you needed was a string, paper cups, a pencil/needle to punch a hole through the cup, and paper clips. Then Ta-Da you had phones to chat with our buddies. My question to you all is how much better is communication in the automotive industry today than the cup phones we made as children? I know I lost some of the audience on that question. I can guarantee there are some of you out there saying “Brooke, we have cell phones, video calling, text messaging, CRMs, and all this technology. Of course it is better.” I would agree that the world has improved its technology, but that is not the question. The question is “how much better is communication in the automotive industry today?”Knowing how imperative communication is in any industry, it should be effortless. Do you find that it is indeed effortless for you, our employees, and our customers? Think of your last doctor or dentist appointment. Did you schedule it online, over the phone, or via text? Did the office send text reminders, automated phone reminders, or some email reminder? What about afterwards, what was the follow up? What happened if you needed to change/reschedule the appointment? Now think of your last automotive service or sales appointment. Was any of this done through text messaging? Was any of it automated? If you are at a store, did you manually have to input all of this? Did any of your “awesome” technologies actually talk to each other to make any of this a seamless process for anyone? Do I need to beat the drum again that this is the second biggest purchase made in a person's life? Why the hell does the medical community have better Text/SMS offerings than automotive? Why is the appointment setting and confirmation process so damn archaic?I have been pleading with anyone that knows me for years to please come up with something to fix this issue. Gregory Cooper and SocialMiningAi not only heard me, but took it to a whole new level. On SocialMiningAi's site, one of the first lines of text states “The most intelligent real-time customer search, discovery and engagement platform.” This is a super bold claim. Join me as I sit down with Gregory Cooper, Founder & CEO at SocialMiningAi, as we dive into why they can say this. Gregory and I will dive into the importance of having a real Social Presence and Reputation Management with a SMS Platform. Yes, you can have your cake and eat it, too! We will review how our industry needs to broaden their views on what best practices are when it comes to text/SMS in the automotive industryConnect with Gregory Cooper: https://qrco.de/bdFlSzConnect with BZ Consultants Group: https://qrco.de/bcqqFoChapters0:00 Start4:36 Has Our Automotive Industry Really Evolved from the Phone Cups We Made as Kids?13:02 Why CRM Texting/SMS Platforms Are Lacking21:56 Too Many Texting Tools That Don't Talk To Each Other22:29 Why Is It Important to Have a Real Social Presence and Reputation Management with a Text/SMS platform?30:56 Where Does Gregory Want to See The Space in 5 Years?34:13 Open Recalls? Change It Up and Text Them!39:13 Lightning RoundFollow, subscribe, rate, and never miss a show!#FactsNotFeelings #MovingAutomotiveForward #SocialMiningAi #BZConsultants #GregoryCoopper #BZConsultantsGroup #FactsNotFeelingsFriday #SMS #Text #Appointments #ConnectedRetail #Communication #CustomerExperience #BeKind #CustomerExperience #Consultant #Podcast #Automotive #CarConsultant #AutomotiveConsultant #CartTalk #CarDealership #WomenInAutomotive #WomenInBusiness #AutomotiveMarketing

Max: Hello everybody and welcome back to the 'Recruitment Hackers Podcast'.  I am your host Max Armbruster, and today I'd like to welcome to the show Mr.Doug Updike, who is VP of National Sales Recruiting at Nations lending. Welcome to the show Doug.Doug: Thank you. Appreciate you and what you are doing and thanks back.Max: Thank you. Doug connected with us listening to some of our content and feeling we were just talking about the fact that we are feeling a little cooped up in 2020 and that we miss the opportunity to connect with others and so this is the chance to connect and to connect with the audience as well. So for the audience, tell us what you do and the company that you work for?Doug: Sure. YeahMax: that's about Nations lending.  Doug: Yep. Nations lending, I'll start with the company. Company is at top 80 lender in the US, traditional retail mortgage lender so our customers are first time home buyers but people who are buying you know moving up in the market place or in the last year we finance here in the US within a huge marketplace for so a top 80 mostly in the central US and I was brought on a year ago for national expansion and then brought my team from top five competitor with me over to the nations almost exactly to the day a year ago.Max: Happy anniversary.Doug: YeahMax: So refinancing is a hot topic in 2020 you are saying?Doug: Absolutely! In my lifetime I have not seen rates like this in you know in giving people opportunity to get into their dream home or first time buyers to get in the market when they didn't think they could not afford a home, so.   Max: Right. Alright, I am curious to hear more about this firms but perhaps before, for the first to understand where you're coming from, can you tell us how you ended up in recruitments?  I am looking up at your Linkden profile now and I can see it was sometime in 2004.Doug: Naah before that Max: No it was before this century. It was back in         Doug: You guys were calling me in grade school or before that. Let's not make fun of me too much. Like most folks I did not think I was going to end up a recruiter. 100% by accident, fun story. I had sold a company was trying to figure out what I wanted to do next and a recruiter, nice fellow, he had been calling me I had a non-compete and all through the year he would call and ask me-do I know a person this wasn't a bank card/credit arena but you know do I know a person in Salt lake city that I might give a name he could connect with and this went on throughout the year like I say, so he invited me and wife I was living in San Diego and he invited me to a dinner and I made the mistake of asking him 'you know the folks number I gave you, did you make any money at all?' you know how does that work, and I didn't know the industry one bit. Max: YeahDoug: He happened to tell me that he made quarter money dollars on the leads that I'd give him and all of a sudden the steak and wine didn't taste as good as I thought it was going to because I was trying to figure out what to do.  So I actually worked with him for a few years and learned it, he knew that I was going to start my own company, went on to start my own staffing company which I integrated into a mortgage company right before the credit crisis. So that's how I got in, again 100% by accident, just happened to ask the right question at the wrong time and decided to jump in.Max: So you have been in this industry specifically not just recruitment but mortgage recruitments for a long time and I suppose some of that is because you know the people, you know the industry, so you go from one opportunity to another organically but are there some specific profiles and skill sets that this industry has homed in the recruiter in you?Doug: In the arena, yeah absolutely, but I think like most one of the reasons I picked mortgage right is the freedom. I'd like to have some freedom in what I was doing, the other piece it was an industry that had when I had back when I got in it, there was a wide gap between the folks that were doing it for a long time and I didn't find any rookies any folks that were newer in the industry that changed probably in the last three years, but I saw this huge gap and so being a connector of people, I kinda just went where people weren't. Mortgage is really sleepy. They kind of it was old school recruiting it was a yellow pad, believe it or not and who did you meet at a conference and so some years ago and then you know stuck in it dabble the outside of edges and you go back to what is comfortable. The biggest part of the mortgage arena that I love is you know personal friends that it was one arena where you stay in touch really the rest of your life. So I have this round table of folks that either you follow me or that I follow them that you know they became colleagues and friends at the same time.  Max: There is always that advantage of you can probably dig and do a background screening on a lot of people indirectly you know where only one or two connections removed away from somebody in mortgage by now.Doug: Yep. I would take that.  The other piece in staying in one arena that's very much helped me and my team with that is you know when you get to know people and you like people, people refer you a lot of business so staying in that probably still today 65% of what I do is somewhat referral based. Now I might just be that I heard that you know you guys did a great job for my aunt and my uncle who lives in Florida, can you help him? but there is an awful lot of texts, quick conversations and to that I think a big part of a way that I recruit, I wanna help folks even if it doesn't help myself so if I can open the door and it's in a different arena or different part of mortgage I am gonna do that everytime, just especially in these times I wanna help folks you know a lot of people got kicked in the butt that didn't have any idea in February and March that life was gonna change. So taking that platform and making it bigger than just mortgage and being able to help folks if they need it with an introduction could be any industry but staying put has allowed me to do that.Max: Yeah. I heard that it's less and in 2020 would be explosion of volume and digital hiring and digital channels that it's a bit less about who you know and little bit more about what you know that now for a recruiter that there is more talent available than ever before if you know how to use the tools and so you're gonna be less likely to use the buddy network. On the flip side what you are saying is you are all scoring points with your network inorder to build good karma and referral for the future. So the network remains critically important, though perhaps on the sourcing side less on than before, right. I mean if you source your talent digitally I assume.Doug: Yep, a good portion. I think you nailed it too. If you were to look a year and half ago I came from a place that didn't have much technology to Nations and Nations afforded me this look into technology that I'd never experienced. A lot of your audience would laugh but I mean I didn't know what to do with the salesforce license. We had a team building out some work force but SMS I hadn't used. So when I got those tools..access to those tools and had a team that we were just traditional cold call recruiters and we integrated the technology with our network and those were bounce store steps they were something different. I think it was different I think out tech guys would tell you, you know I get there but I would call it 'too much ice cream' you know technology for me for that first little bit when I have access to some three hundred and thousand something loan officers, that is lot bigger than any network what I would have ever thought that I could built. So I am probably one of the few people that said 'wow'. I didn't fully believe it until I started using it, meaning some of the technology that's just coming out.Max: YeahDoug: Specifically in my world, I used to scoff and laugh at text because I didn't like getting them. Text SMS technology Max: YeahDoug: And we probably half of our business came from SMS, starting campaign that's not how we ended it but we started a relationship that we didn't have. So I am you know honoured to say 'Hey!' we are now we are adapters and we are catching up with probably the rest of your audiences withMax: Cool!Doug: some of the mortgage'.Max: I don't know. Sounds like you are quite advanced. Text recruiting is still a relatively fresh area. I mean I guess the early adapters were 5-10 years ago Doug: Some of them were laughing at us. Yeah but anyway.Max: Well that's interesting. So are there some specific pieces to your text act that you would recommend for the text hiring or for people who are listening or who are looking for solutions?Doug: Yep. So, it could be so redundant and stuff that you guys it is intuitive to your audience. A couple of things that we did that were just simple is, literally taking and looking up birthdays with a quick text first thing in the morning. I know it's your birthday today, I wish I would've known that and I would have texted you, and Happy Birthday by the way, which is awesome. Max: Thanks!Dough: A lot of personal touches along with our brand 'Nations'. Here is a product that we would like you to learn about. Getting down to just even a 'Happy Birthday' right and making it first thing in the day. So we make sure they go out before 8AM, there is a birthday text and it's not just branded with and by the way now we are going to try to recruit you in the second paragraph. So some of what we have done is just take or what our call would be, but a lot of it's been congratulations when we see it, in our industry there is a magazine that comes out with top 200 you know loan officers and the top branches. Using that as an SMS but just to acknowledge our competitors without you know beating them over the head. Max: YeahDoug: We call it beating them over the head recruiting has been you know helpful. And the other thing as you guys probably all do. Once we became a consistent show. Tuesday mornings you know we know within a half hour that there is gonna be a campaign going out, we know to our competitors. Once we got serious with it in building it into our everyday activities we started having some real success, with the text.Max: Right. I don't think you are behind the curve at all. I am actually thinking of taking some of your ideas right to my product team and you know we send millions of SMS every month so I should've thought about it at all but I don't think we have automated birthday messages going on, which I think is a pretty cool feature for us to add so I am writing this one down.Doug: I'll take it like I say we try to make things super simple.Max: Yeah.Doug: Right. In the recruiting world and so we look at it and go like how simple can we make it, it's like you know how complicated, and then how many touch points. And that's the other thing that is broadcast. We are doing a little, I don't want to plug that slide dial is the one that we happen to users lots of them, but on the broadcaster's piece same thing is that we use a lots of humor with here to get some of our what we'll use a broadcast. Hopefully this will go out this goes out after January 1st right? Max: YesDoug: Good good. Then I'm gonna say this or you'll leak it that part out, whatever. We're having some fun, making fun of ourselves is a recruiters. January 1st we have a campaign going out at 12:01 on social media making fun that we wanted to be the first recruiter to try to recruit you in 2021.Max: NiceDoug: and then at 08:01 we have a bet going that we wanted to be the first recruiter in our space that reached out to you because there is so many recruiters in our space and it's just so competitive that we've actually decided to have a little bit of fun, it will be..we are gonna report back to you if this works but we are literally gonna take and have a little humor because there are so many people that we get you know you are the eighth or tenth recruiter this week that have called me, what do you have that's different? So you know, using that technology but then getting personal with it is what the team goal is. Max: Brilliant! Brilliant! And you can make use of tools that will personalized as well as the outreach, so obviously using things like the first name of the recipients 'Dear Doug' etc etc but you can now also automate things like voice notes and even sending out videos and GIFs in order to give it a little bit of you know spunk and branding. Yeah. Doug: Good points on your part. The other one that, and this is gonna be just kinda down what we call it 'down and dirty recruiting' we did it by accident and it's become part of our whenever we can now. We did a little, we are quick on the iPhone, a little twenty seconds in front of the competitors office coffee shop we all like to go. 'Hey Max I was thinking of you, I am right in front of your office, I am not bold enough to walk-in and try to recruit you in person but I'd love to have a coffee with you next time I am you know off to twenty fourth street'.Max: Yeah. Love it!Doug: It was returned within thirty seconds because it was clever. The guy just said 'super clever. Next time you are buying me coffee, I can't wait to meet with you. Different than anything that I'd got this week'. Now I'll take a week. I'd like to say ever you can pattern me out, but you know we'll take it. So we are trying to use technology but put a fun spin with traditional cold call recruiting, which our industry is not an early adapter to just about anything. We wait for everybody else to make all the mistakes and then as an industry we have to go out reluctantly we come crawling in at the end. So trying to get the team up to you know what's new? What's exciting out there? How come we have a fresh take to what we are doing?Max: I like it very much. I think just try to..I am thinking of all ways we can help people re engage with their townpool and do that kind of messaging because yeah you generally, if you have a good database you know who your competitors are employing, so you can have a targeted campaign just for them and because you've been in the industry for so long you know every lender out there so it would make sense if you'll be able to use that, yeah. And yeah going back just on the way the industry or the market is changing, you're saying is your industry generally doing well? I know in the insurance phase, the insurance world and life insurance they are having a good due in 2020 and refinancing is the hot area overall. Would you say that the lending space has grown in 2020 or for your market?Doug: Yep. Absolutely. Probably one of the top three years that I've ever had in the last twenty five. Some of the challenges have been, it's been so good but we are watching other people in other industries. You know and I'll use where I am here in Arizona, you know we've had a tough tough time with converting a lot of what is around us, is some warehousing, you know electronics, manufacturing and it's, that we've been growing as an industry you know watching others have to pivot or navigate that, has been tough but I were doing so well right and in the end I don't want to, knock on the wood, I hope this continues in our space but it's been an odd year to watch others really struggle and try to find their ways especially recruiting friends.Max: I mean it's a bit countercyclical right, when business is gonna be doing great and everybody is gonna have money in the bank then you'll have a slow year.Doug: Yeah. That's well said, well said but. You know seeing recruiters too that you know we are getting a lot of calls from other industries where they just can't recruit right or they can't recruit the way they had, so that's been a challenge but overall for our industry a top three in the last twenty five and really a time for people to pause and look at a new way to do business too. The tough times of covid have forced us to we don't get to jump on a plane and have a steak dinner. That would have been a majority of a lot of what I do was, coming in the town, face to face, breaking bread and it took a minute to get hold, 'hey! we can't just crawl and haul, we have to keep recruiting if we have to keep growing' and so you know all of this is forcing us to do that. And five different avenues and tactics to say much.Max: Sounds like you are not running out of ideas there and found other ways to build rapport and that's gonna be..yeah..continue to be the same for many years to come. Looking back at 2020, are there lessons that you've taken away from this year or ways in which your industry has adapted?                                                                       Doug: Oh you are not going to cut me off guard a little bit, yes. But I think what we have to do to adapt is really slow down and it can't just all be about comp, because so many people did well, so we had to slow down and go wait a minute you can't just have a compensation conversation, right, you can't lead with compensation, everyone is doing well. So it's a time that you know I used a..mentor used to tell me you know I would feel horrible you hold up mortgage company and he said you know if people having to hit their brakes at yellow lights because they don't want to work here like I wanna slow down and look at that and go 'can we do very well?can we do incredible?' and still change the way we're doing, give people more time with their families those sort of things. So my recruiting team, we are really focused on you know 'Hey, get a little get better at your pitch, get better at your craft. Ask. Listen just listen better' and I think what we learned in you know in 2020 is, we didn't listen very well. We just kept yelling on message instead of listening to what people want. Right.Max: The more competitive and the harder the industry is, the more you've to adapt your employer or value propositions to your audience and think like a salesperson.Doug: Yeah, and again a lot more listening. Right like there is a lot more empathy, there is a lot more caring, but you are hearing. You know I tend to be storytelling I tend to recruit by story telling and but just hearing what people are going through and slowing down and going you know, it might not just be comp, it might be hey you know we just had this on a call I was today so it's just six weeks of working seven days a week fifteen hours like I don't really care about the money. I am already gonna split it in half and get divorced. Doug is joking, everybody is like I am gonna split my money in half like can you tell me you know hey I just wanna be able to do this and have baseball literally with my kids you know. So those are the things I am gratifying.Max: Baseball is not legal anymore, Doug.Doug: Oh you guys can't and you are closed down. Here in Arizona we are not closed down on anything so come on over. Everybody come visit.Max: Anyway. The one question I would like to ask is to move back down the memory lane into the dark memories and to thinking about a terrible mis-hire that you've made. We make mistakes and of course retract you thought about your mistake and realize that could have been prevented or you decide you weren't going to make the mistake again. Can you walk us through that experience and you know for our audience to learn from your mistake?Doug: Yeah, so like it was yesterday. Unfortunately I probably think about it far more than I should. I think our losses right we think about probably more than our wins at times. Quite frankly it was this, I knew of the gentlemen and his whole team. I knew of him because he did great advertising right. He was on every billboards on this town, he was on shopping cart, he was everywhere, and in our world that must mean you have a lot of production. Max: yeahDoug: So it didn't quite match up. There was ways and excuse to why he couldn't provide right any substantiation of income or this and I kept valging and valging and valging and there is no way you could be doing these things, you have to be incredibly successful. It was probably the largest sign-on bonus that I'd ever been involved with that I was just fell flat and it was one of those things where you walk to the room and everyone is looking at you like "that's on you. Like you're the one that pushed it pushed it everytime' and you know there were yellow lights there were things I could look at but I had just decided it was gonna be the deal of a life time, right, like and probably the only time or first time. I can't say the only time I had thought of my commissions ahead of slowing down and doing the right thing. I started getting literally added like you know month three it's gonna be this month four it's gonna be that, like I had my scrunchie and I got blinded by the you know just all that you know he wouldn't be there and doing what he's doing if he wasn't successful.Max: Yeah    Doug: So I started finishing my own sentences without proof right like, well he has a good reason as a tax attorney couldn't get us what he needed, but I know people that know him. So horrible mistake to just again I started finishing my own sentences and writing my own email with what I wanted to be true instead of slowing down and getting a lot more..  Max: Sounds like you got greedy, Doug.Doug: I did. There is no other word to say that yeah. I got excited and I started wanting to cash the cheques before they showed up.Max: Alright, that I think we've all made that mistake and doesn't matter whether you are selling a career or selling something else or you are selling a talent. We all get greedy sometimes, but it does hurt you in the end right? I mean you got your commissions stillDoug: What does it look it. I earned on what they do. I got I got..Max: You got nothing thenDoug: But you know relation-ly I did too, it hurt, because there were plenty of people that said you know slow down,'Are you sure Doug? Are you sure?'and I just decided I was gonna be the smartest guy in the room like I couldn't be wrong and I just stopped listening and I stopped waiting, I was gonna answer-yes this is gonna be the deal of a lifetime.Max: And in your world to somebody who is good at self promoting by bill boards and ad space and as you said it seem everywhere in the city, but for most industries we are seeing this kind of self promotion happening on social media now like people touting their success on Instagram or on Linkedin or other places and endlessly promoting their own success. I guess there is a measure to which this is necessary for them to be successful but sometimes it's just a compulsive attitude that doesn't necessarily add anything to top line.Doug: I 100% agree. The other thing and I think our team learned this at Nations. One of the things that we slow down and see is, if you are infront of..I am gonna make fun of it so it's not just a car or boat, a plane, a car or boat. It's very easy to connect on two or three or four parts of social media and it's just is the human being you are talking about the same human being five pages into a Facebook feed or Linkedin or do they have a different lifestyle on every one, right. Some of the things that we are seeing are really conservative with a nice suit on Linkedin, we won't even talk about Tik Tok or whatnot, but is it congruent and does it tell a story? and it's slowing down and watching and looking because you are right we get a lot of people that are you know in front of whatever, now I make fun of planes if somebody can afford that, that's awesome, but you know they are just trying to build it before. I'm gonna have all these things and because of that you know I'll end up working.Max: I see what you're saying. So they are so obsessed with self promotion that they are putting pictures of themselves in front of jet planes but then asking you for a 50K job.Doug: There you go. Yeah that's right. They will build it and they come you know after the fact, yeah. I just need one break, Doug and then I can start buying all these things that I want instead of you know the success let them attain it.Max: If hiring people who are in a commercial role but who are not over selling, over promoting, or pushing the envelope too far and threatening the trust of your brand, maybe a good tip there is go take a look at their social media profile and yeah see if this holds up.Doug: And are they the same person all the way through,right? Are they trying to figure out their identity on social media?Max: RightDoug: Are they kind of fake on Instagram, but then you know on Linkden they are another human being, on Facebook where their family might be they really can't quiet brag as much asMax: I agreeDoug: as much as they lie during an interview, that kind of thing. Just you know we are in a mostly who we hire is commission based folks so that trust level, and it's somebody's home we have to be very careful that they're gonna handle it in a professional manner that isn't all about just the commission.Max: Right.Doug: and can they do the right thing if no one is looking is a potent quality for what we're doing.Max: So you have it. In a world where people are hiring increasingly work from home commission based folks, trust and consistency of character is more important than ever, so Doug some really good actionable tips here for our listeners. Thanks for sharing and thanks for coming on the show.Doug: Yep and a Happy Birthday. Celebrate well my friend and I appreciate you having me on.Max: Pleasure. Thank you. I'm really go and celebrate.Doug: There you go. Appreciate you. Thanks guys so much.  

With state of the art 30,000 sq.ft facility space in Frisco, Texas, ICON Meals is offering one of the finest ready-made meals (breakfast and lunch) in the USA. Unlike other meal-kit companies, one of the key advantages and specialty of ICON Meals is, it just comes with a fresh and convenient packaging that you can then simply heat and eat without worrying about the fuss of cooking.They’re FDA compliant and their kitchen is HACCP certified. The fresh, never frozen meals are prepared every day from scratch where they also ensure the food products are sourced daily from the high-quality food purveyors in town.Unlike other eCommerce businesses running a meal company requires even more passion, and offering a fresh and healthy meal should come from within.So, I had this question of how a business owner would run a business like this but at the same time focus on other marketing activities as well.This episode, you’re going to hear from Todd Abrams, Co-Founder, and CEO of the ICON Meals. The brand he has built from scratch after his 15 years of technology entrepreneurship experience.You’ll LearnHis 20 years entrepreneurial career.Why everything starts with staying fit.How he is utilizing social media channels for the branding of his eCommerce business.Why he thinks SMS Marketing is the biggest problem solver for your abandoned carts.Show Notes[3:05] Todd’s 20-year entrepreneurial experience and journey.[14:52] Getting into the mindset of being fit.[18:42] How he managed to get through the challenges in supply chain management.[20:51] How ICON Meals get to 157k+ followers on Instagram?[24:01] How being authentic will help you to reach your audiences.[25:45] How ICON Meals is utilizing the text SMS marketing to get 90% abandoned cart conversion compared to 8-13% from the email marketing?[27:50] What kind of content consumers like when you send them a text.[30:38] How to properly use the customer review process to grow your brand.[32:21] Why being consistent is the key to any business.Show LinksICON Meals WebsiteICON Meals on InstagramTodd Abrams on InstagramTodd Abrams on LinkedInShiva Kumaar on LinkedinDriven: Ecommerce at Work Home

Questions from young listeners and conversations about everything from shifting slang to a bizarre cooking technique. Kids ask about how to talk about finding information on the internet, how tartar sauce got its name, and if the expression high and dry describes something good or something bad. Yes, kids often know more than their parents! Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

We asked for your thoughts about whether cursive writing should be taught in schools -- and you replied with a resounding "Yes!" Here's why: Cursive helps develop fine motor skills, improves mental focus, and lets you read old handwritten letters and other documents. Plus: finding your way to a more nuanced understanding of language; the more you know about linguistic diversity, the more you embrace those differences rather than criticize them. Finally, a brain game using translations of Native American words for lunar months. During which month would you see a Strawberry Moon? Plus newstalgia, fauxstalgia, lethologica, by and large, pank, yay vs. yea, collywobbles, and carlymarbles. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Choosing language that helps resolve interpersonal conflict. Sometimes a question is really just a veiled form of criticism. Understanding the difference between "ask culture" and "guess culture" can help you know how to respond. And what words should you use with a co-worker who's continually apologizing for being late--but never changes her behavior? Finally, charismatic megafauna may look cuddly, but they're best appreciated from a distance. Plus, in like Flynn, gradoo, champing, pronouncing the word the, pilot episodes, and Bless your heart. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

If someone urges you to spill the tea, they probably don't want you tipping over a hot beverage. Originally, the tea here was the letter T, as in truth. To spill the T means to pass along truthful information. Plus, some delicious Italian idioms involving food. The Italian phrase that literally translates Eat the soup or jump out the window! means Take it or leave it, and a phrase that translates as We don't fry with water around here! means We don't do things halfway! Also: why carbonated beverages go by various names, including soda, pop, and coke, depending on what part of the country you're from. Plus: fill your boots, bangorrhea, cotton to, and howdy; milkshakes, frappes, velvets, and cabinets; push-ups, press-ups and lagartijas; the Spanish origin of the word alligator, don't break my plate or saw off my bench, a takeoff quiz, FOMO after death, and much more. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

A wingnut is a handy, stabilizing piece of hardware. So why is it a pejorative term for those of a certain political persuasion? Also, is there something wrong with the phrase "committed suicide"? Some say that the word "commit" is a painful reminder that, legally, suicide was once considered a criminal act. They've proposed a different term. Finally, a word game inspired by that alliteratively athletic season, March Madness. Plus, rabble rouser vs. rebel rouser, BOLO, feeling punk, free reign, sneaky pete, and a cheesy pun. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

When you had sleepovers as a child, what did you call the makeshift beds you made on the floor? In some places, you call those bedclothes and blankets a pallet. This word comes from an old term for "straw." And: What's the story behind the bedtime admonition "Sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite"? Plus, when grownups are talking about sex or money, they may remind each other that "little pitchers have big ears." It's a reference to the ear-shaped handle on a jug, and the knack kids have for picking up on adult topics and then spilling that new knowledge elsewhere. Plus, lick the calf over, lady locks, dirty clothes vs. laundry, towhead, and build a coffee. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

The words we choose can change attitudes--and change lives. A swing-dance instructor has switched to gender-neutral language when teaching couples. He insists that using words like "leader" and "follower" actually works better than using gendered terms. But not everyone agrees. Plus, a pithy observation about how stray comments can seem meaningless at the time, but can lodge in other people like seeds and start growing. Plus, slang you might hear in Albuquerque, sufficiently suffonsified, make ends meet, cut a chogie, and minders, finders, and grinders. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Jacuzzi and silhouette are eponyms – that is, they derive from the names of people. An Italian immigrant to California invented the bubbly hot tub called a jacuzzi. And the word silhouette commemorates a penny-pinching treasury secretary who lasted only a few months in office and was associated with these shadow portraits. Also, if the words strubbly, briggling, and wabashing aren’t already in your vocabulary, they should be – if only because they’re so much fun to say. Only one of them refers to messy, tousled hair. Plus: wing it, versing, cock one’s strumples, keep your powder dry, and embeverage. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

The emotional appeal of handwriting and the emotional reveal of animal phrases. Should children be taught cursive writing in school, or is their time better spent studying other things? A handwritten note and a typed one may use the very same words, but handwritten version may seem much more intimate. Plus, English is full of grisly expressions about animals, such as "there's more than one way to skin a cat" and "until the last dog is hung." The attitudes these sayings reflect aren't so prevalent today, but the phrases live on. Finally, the centuries-old story of the mall in "shopping mall." Plus, agloo, dropmeal, tantony pig, insidious ruses, yen, and a commode you wear on your head. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.  

If you speak both German and Spanish, you may find yourself reaching for a German word instead of a Spanish one, and vice versa. This puzzling experience is so common among polyglots that linguists have a name for it. Also, the best writers create luscious, long sentences using the same principles that make for a musician's melodious phrasing or a tightrope walker's measured steps. Finally, want to say something is wild and crazy in Norwegian? You can use a slang phrase that translates as "That's totally Texas!" Plus happenstance, underwear euphemisms, pooh-pooh, scrappy, fret, gedunk, tartar sauce, antejentacular, and the many ways to pronounce the word experiment.  Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Chances are you recognize the expressions Judgment Day and the root of all evil as phrases from the Bible. There are many others, though, some of which may surprise you: the powers that be and bottomless pit first appeared in scripture. Plus, there's a term for when the language of a minority is adopted by the majority. When, for example, expressions from drag culture and hip-hop go mainstream, they're said to have covert prestige. And the language of proxemics: how architects design spaces to bring people together or help them keep their distance. All that, and Segway vs. segue, part and parcel, Land of Nod, hue and cry, on the razzle, train of thought, and a special Swedish word for a special place of refuge. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

The anatomy of effective prose, and the poetry of anatomy. Ever wonder what it'd be like to audit a class taught by a famous writer? A graduate student's essay offers a taste of a semester studying with author Annie Dillard. Also, what did George Washington sound like when he spoke? We can make a few guesses based on his social class and a look at dialect changes in colonial America. Plus, where is your body's xiphoid (ZIFF-oyd) process? Also: inept vs. ept, ruly vs. unruly, gruntled vs. disgruntled, cross and pile, lick the cat over, anyone vs. anybody, bloody, and rock, paper, scissors vs. paper, scissors, rock. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

This week on "A Way with Words": Grant and Martha discuss the L-word--or two L-words, actually: liberal and libertarian. They reflect different political philosophies, so why do they look so similar? Also, is the term expat racist? A journalist argues that the word expat carries a value judgment, suggesting that Westerners who move to another country are admirable and adventurous, while the term immigrant implies that someone moved out of necessity or may even be a burden to their adopted country. Finally, what do guys call a baby shower thrown for the father-to-be? A dad-chelor party? Plus, glottalization, film at 11, grab a root and growl, and Pig Latin. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Echoes of the Greatest Generation, and a tasty bite of history. The language and melodies of military marching songs can connect grown children with their parents who served. Is there a collection of those military cadences somewhere? Also, a story about a woman sifting through her parents' love letters from World War II, and a puzzling phrase to describe an awkward love triangle: "running a sandy." Finally, is Northern Spy the name of a military operation or a kind of apple? The surprising story of how this apple variety got its name. Plus, kayakers' slang, wooden spoon, Shakespearean knock-knock jokes, Sunday throat, celestial discharge, and mickey mousing. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Clean cursing for modern times, more about communicating after a brain injury, and 1970's TV lingo with roots in the Second World War. A young woman wants a family-friendly way to describe a statement that's fraudulent or bogus, but all the words she can think of sound old-fashioned. Is there a better term than malarkey, poppycock, or rubbish? Also, listeners step up to help a caller looking for a succinct way to explain that a brain injury sometimes makes it hard for her to remember words. Finally, you may remember the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate awarded on the old TV show "Laugh-In." As it turns out, though, the phrase "fickle finger of fate" is decades older than that!  Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Novelist Charles Dickens created many unforgettable characters, but he's also responsible for coining or popularizing lots of words, like "flummox" and "butterfingers." Also, the life's work of slang lexicographer Jonathon Green is now available to anyone online. Finally, the art of accepting apologies. If a co-worker is habitually late but apologizes each time, what words can you use to accept their latest apology but also communicate that you never want it to happen again? Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

We have books that should be on every language lover's wish list, plus a couple of recommendations for history buffs. Plus: how did the word boondoggle come to denote a wasteful project? The answer involves the Boy Scouts, a baby, a craft project, and a city council meeting. Plus, wordplay with palindromes. Instead of reversing just individual letters, some palindromes reverse entire words! Like this one: You can cage a swallow, but you can't swallow a cage, can you? Also, squeaky clean, Dad, icebox, search it up, pretend vs. pretentious, toe-counting rhymes, comb the giraffe, and a Korean song about carrots. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Are there words and phrases that you misunderstood for an embarrassingly long time? Maybe you thought that money laundering literally meant washing drug-laced dollar bills, or that AM radio stations only broadcast in the morning? A Twitter thread prompts those and other funny confessions. And: a moving new memoir by Kansas writer Sarah Smarsh touches on the connection between vocabulary and class. Plus, the inventive language of writer David Foster Wallace: Even if you've never heard the term "nose-pore-range," you can probably guess what it means. Also, ilk, how to pronounce Gemini, fart in a mitten, greebles, make over, sploot, and to boot. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Perfect sentences and slang that tickles your mind. A new book of writing advice says that a good sentence "imposes a logic on the world's weirdness" and pares away options for meaning, word by word. Plus, your musician friend may refer to his guitar as an ax, but this slang term was applied to other musical instruments before it was ever used for guitars. And: we need a word for that puzzling moment when you're standing there wondering which recyclables are supposed to go in which bin. Discomposted, anyone? Plus, tickle bump, dipsy doodle, dark as the inside of a goat, thickly settled, woodshedding, and ish. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

If you want to be a better writer, try skipping today's bestsellers, and read one from the 1930's instead. Or read something besides fiction in order to find your own metaphors and perspective. Plus, just because a city's name looks familiar doesn't mean you should assume you know how the locals pronounce it. The upstate New York town spelled R-I-G-A isn't pronounced like the city in Latvia. Turns out lots of towns and streets have counterintuitive names. Finally, why do we describe being socially competitive as "keeping up with the Joneses"? The Joneses, it turns out, were comic strip characters. Also, sugar off, filibuster, you're not the boss of me, and lean on your own breakfast. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

A caller with a 25-year-old parrot wonders: How much language do birds really understand? Plus, Knock-knock. Who's there? Boo. Well . . .  you can guess the rest. But there was a time when these goofy jokes were a brand-new craze sweeping the nation. Finally, the words "coffee" and "sugar" both come from Arabic, as does another familiar word: ghoul. There's a spooky story about its origin. Also, freckle, diamond in the rough, spur of the moment, literary limericks, the pronunciation of divisive, and a cold vs. the flu. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

If you catch your blue jeans on a nail, you may find yourself with a winklehawk. This term was adapted into English from Dutch, and means "an L-shaped tear in a piece of fabric." And: What's your relationship with the books on your shelves? Do the ones you haven't read yet make you feel guilty -- or inspired? Finally, we're all used to fairy tales that start with the words "Once upon a time." Not so with Korean folktales, which sometimes begin with the beguiling phrase "In the old days, when tigers used to smoke…" Plus, excelsior, oxtercog, wharfinger, minuend, awesome vs. awful, Good Googly Moogly, and eating crackers in bed. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Sending someone a care package shows you care, of course. But the first care packages were boxes of food and personal items for survivors of World War II. They were from the Committee for American Remittances to Europe, the acronym for which is CARE. Also: Montgomery, Alabama is home to the new National Memorial for Peace and Justice. This profoundly moving structure commemorates the thousands of African-Americans lynched between 1877 and 1950 in acts of racial terror. The word lynch itself goes back another century. Finally: a tender term in Arabic that celebrates the milestones of life. Plus high and dry, bought the ranch, neighbor spoofing, afghan blankets, bumbye, gauming around, barking at a knot, and taking the ten-toed mule. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Victorian slang and a modern controversy over language and gender. In the early 1900's, a door-knocker wasn't just what visitors used to announce their arrival, it was a type of beard with a similar shape. And in the 21st century: Is it ever okay to call someone a lady? Or is woman always the better term? Plus, surprising stories behind some familiar car brands. Chances are you've been stopped in traffic behind a car named for an ancient Persian deity -- or passed by an automobile that takes its name from a bilingual pun involving German and Latin. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

In 1803, a shy British pharmacist wrote a pamphlet that made him a reluctant celebrity. The reason? He proposed a revolutionary new system for classifying clouds--with Latin names we still use today, like cumulus, cirrus, and stratus. Also: when reading aloud to children, what's the best way to present a dialect that's different from your own? Finally, recycling our trash demands close attention. Professionals in the recycling business say it's important to be sure that an item is truly recyclable. If you're only guessing when you toss it in the blue bin, then you're engaging in wishcycling -- and that does more harm than good.  Plus, T Jones, diegetic vs. non-diegetic, affixes, solastalgia, and since Sooki was a calf. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Silence comes in lots of different forms. In fact, says writer Paul Goodman, there are several kinds: There's the noisy silence of "resentment and self-recrimination," and the helpful, participatory silence of actively listening to someone speak. Plus, the strange story behind the English words "grotesque" and "antic": both involve bizarre paintings found in ancient Roman ruins. Finally, the whirring sound of a Betsy bug and a moth's dusty wings give rise to picturesque English words and phrases. Plus millers, keysmash, subpar, placer mining, dinklepink and padiddle, machatunim and consuegros, and to clock someone. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

A clever pun can make the difference between a so-so phrase and a memorable one. The phrase "the last straw" refers to an old fable about too many items in a load, but it takes on a whole new meaning in a public-awareness campaign about the environment. Also, why do we use the term "mob scene" to refer to an unruly crowd? This term originated in the world of theater. Finally: the Basque language spoken in the westernmost Pyrenees has long posed a linguistic mystery. Its origins are unclear and it's unlike any other language in the region. But Basque is enjoying something of a revival in a surprising place . . . Idaho. Plus, sun dog, ob-gyn, mob scene, George, Double George, Geezum Pete, and somersault vs. winter pepper.  Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

A stereotype is a preconceived notion about a person or group. Originally, though, the word stereotype referring to a printing device used to produce lots of identical copies. If you suspect there's a connection, you're right!  Also, the link between tiny mythical creatures called trolls and modern-day mischief-makers, plus the stories behind the color names we give to horses. Finally, wise advice about fending off despair: learn something new. Also, grinslies, personal summers, cowboy slang, smell vs. odor, orient vs. orientate, trolls and trolling, and just for fun, some agentive and instrumental exocentric verb-noun compounds. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Sometimes it's a challenge to give a book a chance: How many pages should you read before deciding it's not worth your time? There's a new formula to help with that decision -- and it's all based on your age. And: Have you ever noticed someone mouthing your words as YOU speak? That conversational behavior can be disconcerting, but there may be good reasons behind it. Finally, a punk rock band debates the pronunciation of a word that means "tribute": is it HOM-age, OM-age, or something else entirely? Plus, chevrolegs, Pat and Charlie, on fleek, hornswoggle, 20-couple, coinkydink, and the correct way to say Nevada. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

In deafening workplaces, like sawmills and factories, workers develop their own elaborate sign language to discuss everything from how their weekend went to when the boss is on his way. Plus, English speakers borrowed the words lieutenant and precipice from French, and made some changes along the way, but not in ways you might suspect. Finally, how do you pronounce the name of the New York concert hall you can reach with lots of practice? Is it CAR-neg-ghee Hall … or Car-NEG-ghee? Plus, no great shakes, Gomer, a limerick about leopards, foafiness, and sleep in the arms of Morpheus. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Sensuous words and terms of endearment. Think of a beautiful word. Now, is it simply the word's sound that makes it beautiful? Or does its appeal also depend on meaning? Also, pet names for lovers around the world: You might call your beloved "honey," or "babe," or "boo." But in Swedish, your loved one is a "sweet nose," and in Persian, you can just say you hope a mouse eats them. Finally, in certain parts of the U.S., going out to see a stripper may not mean what you think it means. Plus, clutch, dank, girled up, gorilla warfare, dead ringer, spitten image, butter beans vs. lima beans, and the whole shebang. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

How often do you hear the words campaign and political in the same breath? Oddly enough, 19th-century grammarians railed against using campaign to mean "an electoral contest." Martha and Grant discuss why. And, lost in translation: a daughter accidentally insults her Spanish-speaking mother with the English phrase You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Finally, just how many are a couple? Does a couple always mean just two? Or does "Hand me a couple of napkins" ever really mean "Give me a few"? Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

The names of professional sports teams often have surprising histories -- like the baseball team name inspired by, of all things, trolley-car accidents. Plus, some questions to debate at your next barbecue: Is a hot dog a sandwich if it's in a bun? And when exactly does dusk or dawn begin? Dictionary editors wrestle with such questions all the time, and it turns out that writing a definition is a lot harder than you think. Finally, a new word for your John Hancock: When you use your finger to sign an iPad, what do you call that electronic scribble? Plus, hang a Roscoe, Peck's Bad Boy, coming down the pike, sozzling, stroppy, grammagrams, and umbers. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

You may have heard the advice that to build your vocabulary you should read, read, and then read some more--and make sure to include a wide variety of publications. But what if you just don't have that kind of time? Martha and Grant show how to learn new words by making the most of the time you do have. Also, when new words are added to a dictionary, do others get removed to make room? Plus, words of encouragement, words of exasperation, and a polite Japanese way to say goodbye when a co-worker leaves at the end of the day. Also, you bet your boots, the worm has turned, raise hell and put a chunk under it, bread and butter, on tomorrow, a love letter to libraries and an apology to marmots. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

This week on "A Way with Words": The language of political speech. Politicians have to repeat themselves so often that they naturally develop a repertoire of stock phrases to fall back on. But is there any special meaning to subtler locutions, such as beginning a sentence with the words "Now, look…"? Also, a peculiar twist in Southern speech may leave outsiders scratching their heads: In parts of the South "I wouldn't care to" actually means "I would indeed like to." Finally, how the word "nerd" went from a dismissive term to a badge of honor. Also, dog in the manger, crumb crushers, hairy panic, pink slips, make a branch, and horning hour. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

How do languages change and grow? Does every language acquire new words in the same way? Martha and Grant focus on how that process happens in English and Spanish. Plus, the stories behind the Spanish word "gringo" and the old instruction to elementary school students to sit "Indian Style." Finally, the English equivalents of German sayings provide clever ways to think about naps, procrastination, lemons, and more. Also: catawampus, raunchy, awful vs. awesome, Man Friday, and no-see-ums. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

The stories behind slang, political and otherwise. The dated term "jingoism" denotes a kind of belligerent nationalism. But the word's roots lie in an old English drinking-house song that was popular during wartime. Speaking of fightin' words, the expression "out the side of your neck" came up in a feud between Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa--and let's just say the phrase is hardly complimentary. Finally, a German publishing company has declared that the top slang term among that country's youth is a name for someone who's completely absorbed in his cell phone. That word is...Smombie! And if you're guessing that Smombie comes from "zombie," you're right. Plus, thaw vs. unthaw, dinner vs. supper, groundhog vs. whistle pig, riddles galore, speed bumps and sleeping policemen, pirooting around, and kick into touch. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Martha and Grant have book recommendations, including a collection of short stories inspired by dictionaries, and a techno-thriller for teens. Or, how about novels with an upbeat message? Publishers call this genre "up lit." Plus, a clergyman ponders an arresting phrase in the book Peter Pan: What does the author mean when he says that children can be “gay and innocent and heartless”? Finally, watch out: if you spend money freely, you just might be called . . . . a dingthrift. Plus, waterfalling, pegan, up a gump stump, spendthrift, vice, cabochon, cultural cringe, welsh, and neat but not gaudy. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

The game of baseball has always inspired colorful commentary. Sometimes that means using familiar words in unfamiliar ways. The word "stuff," for example, can refer to a pitcher's repertoire, or to the spin on a ball, or what happens to the ball after a batter hits it. Also: nostalgia for summer evenings and fond terms for fireflies, plus a word to describe that feeling when your favorite restaurant closes for good. "Noshtalgia," anyone? And: homonyms, forswunk, sweetbreads, get on the stick, back friend, farblonjet, and taco de ojo. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Brand names, children's games, and the etiquette of phone conversations. Those clever plastic PEZ dispensers come in all shapes and sizes -- but where did the word PEZ come from? The popular candy's name is the product of wordplay involving the German word for "peppermint." Also, the story behind that sing-songy playground taunt: "Neener, neener, NEEEEEEEEEEner!" Listen closely, and you'll hear the same melody as other familiar children's songs. Finally, the process of ending a phone conversation is much more complex than you might think. Linguists call this verbal choreography "leave-taking." It's less about the literal meaning of the words and more about finding a way to agree it's time to hang up. Also, Hold 'er Newt, copacetic, drupelet, pluggers, pantywaist, this little piggy, and the word with the bark on it. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

When does a word's past make it too sensitive to use in the present? In contra dancing, there's a particular move that dancers traditionally call a gypsy. But there's a growing recognition that many people find the term gypsy offensive. A group of contra dancers is debating whether to drop that term. Plus, the surprising story behind why we use the phrase in a nutshell to sum things up. A hint: it goes all the way back to Homer's Iliad. And finally, games that feature imaginary Broadway shows and tweaked movie titles with new plots. Also, the phrases put mustard on it, lately deceased, resting on one's laurels, and throw your hat into the room, plus similes galore. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

Have you ever offered to foster a dog or cat, but wound up adopting instead? There's an alliterative term for that. And when you're on the job, do niceties like "Yes, ma'am" and "No, sir" make you sound too formal? Not if it comes naturally. And what about the term "auntie" (AHN-tee)? In some circles, it's considered respectful to address a woman that way, even if she's not a relative. Also, the old saying "The proof is in the pudding" makes no sense when you think about it. That's because the original meaning of pudding had nothing to do with the kind we eat for dessert today. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

How colors got their names, and a strange way to write. The terms "blue" and "orange" arrived in English via French, so why didn't we also adapt the French for black and white? Plus, not every example of writing goes in one direction across the page. In antiquity, people sometimes wrote right to left, then left to right, then back again -- the same pattern you use when mowing a lawn. There's a word for that! And: a whiff of those fragrant duplicated worksheets that used to be passed out in elementary schools. Do you call them mimeographed pages or ditto sheets? Also, three-way chili, hangry, frogmarch, the cat may look at the queen, hen turd tea, and the  rhetorical backoff I'm just saying. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

7 Reasons Why You Should Believe in GhostsYou are listening to the Center of the Sun. Your favorite culture, society, and science podcast new every Sunday (Leos Lucky Day)! Thank you for listening!Subscribe, Rate, Review my Show. Also you can find me on Soundcloud, Mixcloud, and Youtube. That is in addition to all the other places you can find podcasts. Hell, Instagram just released something new too. I am trying to catch my breath. I just got the plane from Washington D.C. I appreciate you for listening!I am sharing with you today, seven (7) Answers to you questions about Ghosts! 1. Are ghosts real? Hell yes, here’s a story2. What can ghosts do to you? They can interact with you in the physical realm3. What’s ghosts weaknesses? We are physical beings in this realm4. What ghosts do I have? I feel like I live in a neutral place, but I can sense things ever since the solar eclipse5. Will ghosts haunt my bones when I die?6. Why do ghosts come back? Have they ever gone anyplace?7. Do ghosts like music?Do you believe in different realms of living?Text (SMS) me if you need clarification (513-289-0474)or Email me: Host@centersun21.comP.S. My mission is to promote the culturally iconic existence of LGBTQ people of color:This month, I am recognizing www.NaimonuJames.comfor their commitment to the fundamentals of Astrology and getting my life together during the last Total Solar Eclipse. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Teen slang from the South, and food words that are tricky to pronounce. High schoolers in Huntsville, Alabama, give Martha and Grant an earful about their slang -- including a term particular to their hometown. All we can say is: Don't be a "forf"! And: How do you pronounce the name of that tasty Louisiana specialty: Is it  JUM-buh-lye-yah or JAM-buh-lye-yah? And which syllable do you stress when pronouncing the spice spelled T-U-R-M-E-R-I-C? Finally, the word spelled W-A-T-E-R is of course pretty simple . . . so you might be surprised it can be pronounced at LEAST 15 different ways! Plus gnat flat, looking brave, vog, Russian mountains, high hat, whisker fatigue, chi hoo -- eh, fuggedaboudit! Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

There's a proverb that goes "Beloved children have many names." That's at least as true when it comes to the names we give our pets. "Fluffy" becomes "Fluffers" becomes "FluffFace" becomes "FlufferNutter, Queen of the Universe." Speaking of the celestial, how DID the top politician in California come to be named Governor Moonbeam, anyway? Blame it on a clever newspaper columnist. And: still more names for those slowpokes in the left-turn lane. Plus munge and kludge, monkey blood and chopped liver, a German word for pout, and the land of the living. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.

When writing textbooks about slavery, which words best reflect its cold, hard reality? Some historians are dropping the word "slave" in favor of terms like "enslaved person" and "captive," arguing that these terms are more accurate. And raising a bilingual child is tough enough, but what about teaching them three languages? It's an ambitious goal, but there's help if you want to try. Plus, a class of sixth-graders wonders about the playful vocabulary of The Lord of the Rings. Where did Tolkien come up with this stuff? Also, funny school mascots, grawlixes, that melon's busted, attercop, Tomnoddy, purgolders, and dolly vs. trolley vs. hand truck. Listen to all episodes for free: https://waywordradio.org/   Support the show to keep episodes coming: https://waywordradio.org/donate   Your responses, questions, and comments are welcomed at any time!    https://waywordradio.org/contact   words@waywordradio.org   Listener line 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the US and Canada   Text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673   Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. All rights reserved.