[This episode first aired March 14, 2009.]If English isn't your first language, there are lots of ways to learn
it, such as memorizing Barack Obama's speech to the 2004 Democratic
Convention. Martha and Grant talk about some of the unusual ways
foreigners are learning to speak English. Also, a golfer wonders if
it's ever proper to say 'I'm going golfing' rather than 'I'm going to
play golf.' And they share an easy way to remember the difference
between 'lie' and 'lay.'Here's the The New Yorker article about Crazy English that Grant mentions.Why
do aviators say 'roger' to indicate they've received a message? A pilot
phones the show about that, 'wilco,' and similar language.For
some golfers, the phrase 'go golfing' is as maddening as a missed
two-foot putt. The proper expression, they insist, is 'play golf.' A
longtime golfer wonders whether that's true.He's sharp as the
corner of a round table' She's so sad she's pulling a face as long as a
fiddle. If startling similes leaving you grinning 'like a basket full
of possum heads,' you'll love the book Intensifying Similes in English,
published in 1918. It's available at no cost on the Internet Archive. Quiz
Guy Greg Pliska has a game called 'Odd One Out,' the object of which is
to guess which of four words doesn't belong with the rest. Try this
one: dove, job, polish, some. 'Yo!' Why did people ever start
using the word 'yo!' to get someone's attention? Grant explains that in
English there's mo' than one yo.It's one of the biggest
grammatical bugaboos of all, the one that bedevils even the most
earnest English students: 'Is it lie or lay?' Martha shares a trick for
remembering the difference. See below for her clip-and-save chart of
these verbs. Print it out and tape it to your computer. Better yet,
laminate it and carry it in your wallet at all times. And if you choose
to tattoo it onto some handy part of your body, by all means send us a
photo so we can post it on the site.How are things in your 'neck of the woods'? And why heck do we say neck?Grant
reads a few lines from a favorite poem:'A New Song of New Similes' by
John Gay. It also appears in the front of the book 'Intensifying
Similes in English' linked above.In this week's installment of 'Slang This!,' the president of the National
Puzzlersâ League tries to pick out the slang terms from a list that
includes 'poguey,' 'pushover,' 'noodles,' and 'naff.' In a 1936
episode of Jack Benny's radio show, a woman says that her father
sprained his ankle the night before while 'truckinâ.' This has an 'A
Way with Words' listener confused; she thought trucking was a term from
the 1970s. Grant clears up the mystery, and along the way inspires
Martha to bust some moves.Grant explains the connection between 'sauce' and 'don't sass me.'Why
do some people pronounce the word 'wash' as 'warsh'? Martha and Grant
discuss the so-called 'intrusive R' and why it makes people say 'warsh'
instead of 'wash' and 'Warshington' instead of 'Washington.'--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.