Spinning Cookies (Rebroadcast) - 5 October 2026
A book of photographs and essays by famous writers celebrates libraries — and the librarians who changed their lives. Plus cutting doughnuts...
Radio and PodcastLive Radio & Podcasts
Society & Culture
A Way with Words — language, linguistics, and callers from all over
A fun weekly radio show about language seen through culture, history, and family. Co-hosts Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett talk with callers who have questions and stories about linguistic...
Episodes
20 of 990 episodes
Just Skylarking (Rebroadcast) - 28 September 2026
The art of the invitation can be tricky. An inviter’s idea of invitation may be taken by an invitee as merely mentioning an event while they...
Carpe Diem - 21 September 2026
Carpe diem! A new book reveals the surprisingly unfamiliar stories behind familiar quotations. Also: Rock climbers have gumbies, and surfers...
Folding Money (Rebroadcast) - 14 September 2026
Barbara Kingsolver’s book Demon Copperhead is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in today’s Appalachia. Martha shares mem...
Takes the Cake (Rebroadcast) - 7 September 2026
What do you call a long sandwich filled with lots of ingredients? Whether you call it a sub, a hoagie, a grinder, or something else entirely...
Secret Code - 31 August 2026
“Are we ready to order yet?” Why do restaurant servers use the word “we” when they’re not eating with you or helping you pay the bill? And a...
Blessing Box (Rebroadcast) - 24 August 2026
Is there such a thing as a “neutral” accent, and if so what does it sound like? And that quirk in the way southern Californians talk about f...
Apple Turnover - 17 August 2026
Critters, co-workers, and clothes: What do you call your favorite mixed-breed dog? There are Heinz 57 mutts and Texas brown dogs in the U.S....
Fair Dinkum (Rebroadcast) - 10 August 2026
A magnificent new book celebrates the richness and diversity of 450 years of written and spoken English in what is now the United States. It...
Wired for Sound - 3 August 2026
If someone tells you it’s flisky or flobby outside, do you need to take an umbrella? A new book about England’s soggy climate includes 188 t...
By a Landslide (Rebroadcast) - 27 July 2026
How do you transform ancient Chinese script for use in the modern age? English uses a keyboard with just 26 letters, but the first Chinese t...
Mischief Night - 20 July 2026
What’s up with ketchup? The shifting history and spelling of the name of this condiment. For centuries, ketchup was a fishy sauce originatin...
Big Dog (Rebroadcast) - 13 July 2026
If you’re ever near a sundial, step closer and look for a message. Many sundials bear haunting, poetic inscriptions about the brevity of lif...
Cheese Toasties - 6 July 2026
If you mistype something, that’s a typo. But what do you call it when your voice-to-text program mistypes as you’re dictating? Is that a mic...
Hot Gossip (Rebroadcast) - 29 June 2026
Gossip goes by many names: the poop, the scoop, the lowdown, the dope, the scuttlebutt, the 411, the grapes, the gore, and hot tea. Plus, Jo...
Flash in the Pan - 22 June 2026
It’s the ultimate road trip: A father and son retrace the journey of Odysseus and find a way to navigate their relationship. Plus, the story...
In the Ballpark (Rebroadcast) - 15 June 2026
Novelist Charles Dickens and the musician Prince were very different types of artists, but they also had a lot in common. A new book chronic...
Outer Space - 8 June 2026
A writer stumbles upon a tiny, motionless creature on a country road and, against all good advice, takes it home. The resulting memoir, Rais...
Stub Your Toe (Rebroadcast) - 1 June 2026
Advice about college essays from the winner of a top prize for children’s literature: Kelly Barnhill encourages teens to write about experie...
Snookums and Snicklefritz (Rebroadcast) - 25 May 2026
A new book about how animals perceive their environment reveals immense worlds beyond our own. A bee can see ultraviolet light, catfish have...