[This episode first aired February 7, 2009.]Are fairy tales too scary for children? A survey of parents in Britain
found that more than half wouldn't read them to their children before
age five. Martha and Grant discuss the grisly imagery in fairy tales,
and whether they're too traumatizing for kids. Also, when did 'dog
food' become a verb? And does the word butterfly come from 'flutter by'?How
did serialized melodramas come to be called soap operas? The answer has
to do with the suds-selling sponsors of old-time radio shows.When
a theater company gives out free tickets to a performance, it's called
papering the house. But what kind of 'paper' are we talking about,
anyway? Our show's pun-loving Quiz Guy, Greg Pliska, whips up
a word game called 'Country Kitschin'.' The challenge is to fill in the
blank in a sentence with the name of a country so that the spoken
sentence makes sense. Try this one: 'We'll take our time today, because
you'd hate to _____________ quiz as good as this one.''Don't
tump over the canoe!' The verb to tump is familiar to folks in many
parts of the United States. Use it elsewhere, though, and you might get
some quizzical looks. What does it mean and who uses it? The hosts tump
over their reference works and answers spill out.Why do some people add a final 'th' sound to the word 'height'? At one time, that pronunciation was perfectly proper. If
you work in the software industry, you may already know the term
dogfooding, which means 'to use one's own product.' Grant explains how
dogfood became a verb.In this week's installment of 'Slang
This!,' a member of the National Puzzlers League
(http://www.puzzlers.org/) tries to separate the real slang terms from
the impostors from a list that includes: backne, button cotton, snake
check, and filter filter.A caller suspects that the word
butterfly derives from a reversal of the expression 'flutter by.' But
is it? Her question leads to a discussion of butterfly behavior and a
handy five-letter word that means 'caterpillar poop.' That groove between your nose and upper lip? It's your philtrum, from the Greek word for 'love potion.' Martha explains.Which is correct: 'I'm reticent to do that' or 'I'm reluctant to do that?' --Do you like what you hear? Help support the program with a donation: http://waywordradio.org/donate/--Get
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