[This episode first aired December 8th and 9th, 2007.]This week
Martha and Grant honor winners of the Ig Nobel Prizes, those wacky
awards for weird academic research and they help a caller decipher a
puzzling word from a personals ad: what does 'paratereseomaniac' mean?A
electronic teenager repellent? An alarm clock that runs away from you
to make you'll wake up? Yep, it's the Ig Nobel Prizes, those awards for
academic research that first makes you laugh and then makes you think.
Martha and Grant honor this year's winners for linguistics and
literature.A caller shares colorful expressions from her
Texas-born mother, including 'turkey tail' and 'I'm gonna snatch you
bald-headed.' She also wonders why her mother says' bread and butter'
every time they're walking together and an object in their path makes
them step to either side of it.A pair of business partners disagree whether to use one word, 'website,' or or two words, 'Web site.'Greg
Pliska presents a groaner of a quiz about world capitals. Let's just
put it this way: the number of puns in this quiz will be Dublin
exponentially.A former resident of Buffalo, New York, puzzles
over a strange word in a 12-year-old personals ad. What exactly is a
'paratereseomaniac' with extensive knowledge of osculation'?A former Navy man has a pet peeve about using the word 'utilize' instead of 'use.' Did Gary Owen invent the word 'insegrevious'? And is there a category for words that can mean anything you want them to?This week's 'Slang This!' contestant learns the difference between a 'trailer queen' and 'soup spitter.'A
wife seeks consolation because her husband always implores her to
'drive safe' instead of 'drive safely.' Martha says if he really loves
her, he'll use an adverb. Grant says it's a message of love, so maybe
the '-ly' doesn't matter so much. You may have learned that an
'estuary' is where a river meets the sea, but a reference librarian
asks whether she should eschew estuary as a word for the confluence of
freshwater bodies. Martha and Grant tide her over with some more
information.--Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write 24 hours a day: (877) WAYâWORD/(877) 929-9673, words@waywordradio.org, or visit our web site and discussion forums at http://waywordradio.org. Copyright 2008, Wayword LLC.