[This episode first aired June 6, 2009.]Has the age of email led to an outbreak of exclamation marks? Do women
use them more than men? Also, is there a word for the odd feeling when
you listen to a radio personality for years, then discover that they
look nothing like your mental picture of them? And what's the origin of
the verb 'to bogart'?Writing in the 'Guardian,' Stuart Jeffries
contends that our email boxes are being infested with exclamation marks
,
known as 'bangs' or 'bangers' (without mash) to some people. Jacob
Rubin also wrote on the subject
a couple of years
ago in Slate.If you tell a buddy, 'Don't bogart that joint,'
you're telling him not to hog the marijuana cigarette. Ahem. We know
phrase was popularized in the film 'Easy Rider' (performed by The
Fraternity of Man )
but does it have anything to do with Humphrey Bogart?You know
that odd feeling when you've listened to a radio personality for years,
but when you finally meet them, they look nothing like you'd imagined?
Is there a word for that weird disconnect? 'Radiofreude,' maybe?Martha shares what F. Scott Fitzgerald and Elmore Leonard had to say about exclamation marks. Short version: Neither is a fan.Quiz
Guys John Chaneski and Greg Pliska lead a couple of rounds of 'Chain
Reaction,' a word game that's great for parties and long car rides. Two
players try to make a third one guess the word that the other two are
thinking of. The trick is that they have to give alternating one-word
clues to build a sentence. Hilarity ensues. Hillary sues.Why do some people refer to a couch or a sofa as a 'davenport'?How should you pronounce the word 'gala' ?Grant
reports some etymological news: A recent article in the journal
American Speech suggests a new source for the term that means 'drunk,'
'blotto.'If you're in New Zealand and are told to 'rattle your
dags,' you'd better get a move on. Literally, though, the expression
has to do with sheep butts.Martha reviews the new book,
'Dreaming in Hindi,' by Katherine Russell Rich
, a memoir about setting
out to learn a second language in mid-life. Rich spent a year in India
to learn Hindi, and became so fascinated with the process that she went
on to interview experts about the mechanics of second-language
acquisition and how it affects the brain. Publisher's Weekly has an
interview with Rich
.Grant
discusses an article about what happens to the mother tongue voice

when first-language speakers of indigenous languages in India learn
English and then spend years focused on speaking and writing in their
adopted tongue.How did the word 'pigeonhole' come to mean 'classify' or 'categorize'?An
employee who gets a great termination package is said to leave the
company with a 'golden parachute.' Where'd that term come from?A
caller is adamant honorifics should be used to address the President of
the United States, as in 'President Obama,' never 'Mr. Obama.' He
thinks it's disrespectful and divisive when news organizations use 'Mr.'--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.