A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

Barbara Kingsolver’s book Demon Copperhead is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in today’s Appalachia. Martha shares memories of a long-ago visit to Kingsolver’s family farm in Virginia, where they discussed many of the same issues covered in this Pulitzer-winning novel. Plus, how could the Carp River in Michigan have that name long before carp existed in ...

What do you call a long sandwich filled with lots of ingredients? Whether you call it a sub, a hoagie, a grinder, or something else entirely depends on where you’re from. And: Martha’s visit to an Alaskan reindeer ranch reveals why you really do hear click, click, click when reindeer walk, and how these elegant animals got their name. Plus, if it’s time to dodo your baby, wha...

When Marilyn from Boston, Massachusetts, used the expression Them’s the berries! with neighbors in her hometown of nearby Arlington, Massachusetts, she was surprised they were unfamiliar with it. The phrase means something like “That’s life” or “That’s how the cookie crumbles.” The phrase the berries itself can connote something either extremely good or extremely bad. The ber...

Mindy from Crescent, Iowa, grew up hearing about Herman, the son of her mother’s fearsome great aunt Julia, referred to as the woods colt. That phrase is a euphemism for “a child born out of wedlock.” Mindy’s mother said there was a man thought to be Herman’s father, but no one was sure if he and Julia were married. Woods colt comes from animal husbandry, where animals that g...

Jill, who recently moved from Chicago, Illinois, to Indianapolis, Indiana, is bothered when restaurant servers say things like, “What would we like to order?” “Are we ready for the check?” and “Would we like dessert?” She says it doesn’t sound right to her because the server isn’t actually part of the dining party. Jill hears similar phrases at the vet’s office too, where sta...