AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: We check in with the American Dialect Society for some notable words from the past year, including the one that the group considers least likely to succeed. RS: But we start with...
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: There's a new book called Euphemania: Our Love Affair With Euphemisms. RS: Author Ralph Keyes defines euphemisms as comfort words that we use in place of words that make us feel u...
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: Our guest is David Marcello, executive director of the Public Law Center, a joint program of the Tulane and Loyola law schools in New Orleans. RS: For about 20 years now, the cent...
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: We're back with the author of the new book OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word. RS: Last week, Allan Metcalf explained how OK began as a joke on March 23, 1839. Th...
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: We talk with Allan Metcalf, author of the new book OK: The Improbable Story of America's Greatest Word. RS: And not just the greatest word, in his view. ALLAN METCALF: America's m...
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: Our theme is food, or more precisely, slang having to do with food. After all, Thanksgiving is just a day away, and the traditional way to celebrate the holiday is with a big, fes...
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster -- English teacher Lida Baker joins us from Los Angeles to talk about phrasal verbs. The first word is a verb. The second word, sometimes even a third, is usually a preposition. Ph...
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: If you're looking for a break from all the U.S. election news, we've got the answer. We're back with Slangman David Burke to finish reading through a letter filled to the breaking...
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: Slangman David Burke explains some of the many uses for the word break. RS: He's brought along a letter filled to the breaking point with examples. DAVID BURKE: 'Dear Slangman, I...
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: We're back with management expert Kathleen Kelley Reardon, talking about her new book, Comebacks at Work: Using Conversation to Master Confrontation. RS: She says dealing with dif...
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: A conversation with Kathleen Kelley Reardon, a management professor whose newest book is called Comebacks at Work: Using Conversation to Master Confrontation. KATHLEEN REARDON: A...
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: We're back with linguist and author Deborah Tannen, discussing communication between sisters, the topic of her most recent book You Were Always Mom's Favorite! RS: Did you talk to...
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: We're joined by Deborah Tannen, the Georgetown University linguist and author of best-selling books on how we communicate. Her early work focused on the different conversation sty...
A: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: our guest is linguist Geoff Nunberg. He's been listening to how Americans debate issues, and there's a particular word he often finds they invoke: sensitivities. GEOFF NUNBERG: It'...
AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: a lesson in complaining. RS: English teacher Lida Baker is with us from Los Angeles to discuss a topic suggested by one of our listeners, an English teacher in Iran. His students...
