Springtime Twitterpation - 31 March 2014 - a podcast by A Way with Words

Springtime is the right time to feel twitterpated—you know, you're smitten beyond a crush. Speaking of relationships, are dog owners really owners, or should they call themselves something else, like guardian or human? And if you're up for a challenge, some adult spelling bee words, including ostreiform and langlauf. Plus, ollie ollie oxen free, toad-strangling rain, zugzwang, canceled vs. cancelled, and how to pronounce herbal, hyperbole, and inchoate. FULL DETAILSEven adults can use a good spelling bee now and then. It's a good way to learn words like ostreiform, meaning "having the shape of an oyster," and langlauf, a "cross-country ski run."Springtime is the right time to feel twitterpated. That is, smitten like a nutty, twittering bird.Why do the Brits pronounce the H in herbal? When it rains, it pours. And when it pours, it's called a toad-strangler. Depending on what part of the U.S. you're from, you might also call it other names, such as frog strangler, goose-drownder, or gullywasher.The word yannigan, meaning "a member of a scrub team in baseball," may come from an alteration of "young one."What do darts, flubs, and maids have in common? Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski puts it to us in a game of rhymes.Did you say ollie ollie oxen free to draw people out of hiding during hide-and-seek? Or maybe you said one of the other versions of this phrase, such as all-ee, all-ee, in free, or Ole Ole Olson all in free.If you've accomplished something, be proud! But is it condescending to say you're proud of someone when you had nothing to do with their success? A listener worries that the meaning of the word proud includes a sense of ownership.In the Kiswahili language, the dead go into two categories: sasha for the recently departed, and zamani for spirits not known by anyone living.How many L's go in past tense of cancel? If you're mispronouncing words like inchoate and hyperbole, you can console yourself with the knowledge that you're most likely reading at a high level.You have a dog. Are you its owner, or person, or Mommy dearest? What do you call yourself in reference to the pet?The term zugzwang comes from chess, and refers to that situation where you can't make any desirable moves—like being between a rock and a hard place.Ombrology is a fancy word for the study of toad-stranglers. Why do we turn proper nouns, like JC Penney or Kroger, into possessives, as in, Penny's or Kroger's?For all the gothic architecture fans out there—hold onto the term ogival, which means "having the form of a pointed arch."This episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett.....Support for A Way with Words comes from The Ken Blanchard Companies, celebrating 35 years of making a leadership difference with Situational Leadership II, the leadership model designed to boost effectiveness, impact, and employee engagement. More about how Blanchard can help your executives and organizational leaders at kenblanchard.com/leadership.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: 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 2014, Wayword LLC.
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