Best Grant Barrett Produced By Stefanie Levine Podcasts (2025)

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Sleepy Winks (Rebroadcast) - 22 September 2025 53:45

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It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton's best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly convoluted and over-the-top -- often with hilarious results. Plus: George Orwell's prescient novel 1984 gave us the …

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Cat Bristle - 15 September 2025 53:45

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How do social media algorithms shape the way we communicate? A new book argues that the competition for clicks is changing the way we speak and write, from the so-called “YouTube accent” to the surprising evolution of the word preppy. Also: A Massachusetts woman complains that a digital highway sign that says Use Ya Blinkah is well-intentioned, but…

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Made from Scratch (Rebroadcast) - 8 September 2025 53:45

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Enthusiastic book recommendations! Martha's savoring the biography of Alexander von Humboldt, the 19th-century explorer, polymath, and naturalist who revolutionized our understanding of nature and predicted the effects of human activity on climate. Grant's enjoying A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, about how the study of DNA is rewriting …

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Good Egg, Bad Apple - 1 September 2025 53:45

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If you like to use emojis, you have some 3800 to choose from—and the organization that approves them is about to announce even more. But do we really need a purple splatter emoji? Or one that looks like Sasquatch? Plus: If you’re retired, you may jokingly call yourself a “geezer.” In the UK, though, the term is downright derogatory. Also, why good …

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Salad Days (Rebroadcast) - 25 August 2025 53:45

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A documentary film called My Beautiful Stutter follows youngsters at a summer camp specifically for stutterers. It’s a place for finding acceptance, support, and confidence for navigating the larger world. And:, “The High Priestess of Soul,” Nina Simone, was one of the most beguiling performers of all time. A beautiful new picture book for children…

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Tall Drink of Water - 18 August 2025 53:45

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Why is it harder to talk if we don’t move our hands? Even when we’re talking on the phone we feel the need to gesture to aid communication. A new book offers a look at the relatively new field of gesture studies. And: Ever wonder why we describe the American flag as “red, white, and blue?” Why not “blue, white, and red?” Plus, everyone should have …

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Your Imaginary Boyfriend (Rebroadcast) - 11 August 2025 53:45

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We use the term Milky Way for that glowing arc across the sky. But how people picture it varies from culture to culture. In Sweden, that starry band goes by a name that means “Winter Street,” and in Hawaii, a term for the Milky Way translates as “fish jumping in shadows.” And: the history of naming rooms in a house. Some old houses have a room off …

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Mox Nix - 4 August 2025 53:45

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You might be surprised to learn that a “hoosier” isn’t necessarily from Indiana. Around the St. Louis, Missouri, area, the term hoosier has a whole other meaning. And: Scotland is the home of the Golden Spurtle world championship, but what exactly is a spurtle? Some of the finest kitchens are stocked with spurtles. Plus, a love poem from a now-exti…

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Beefed It (Rebroadcast) - 28 July 2025 53:45

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The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don’t they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a situation where a group makes a decision to do something, only to discover later that no one really wanted to do that thing in the first …

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Imaginary Friends - 21 July 2025 53:45

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Alright, alright, alright! How do some catchphrases become part of the larger vernacular—to the point where people don’t always know the original reference? And the island of Ocracoke off the coast of North Carolina has a distinctive dialect all its own. A new book shows how tourism is changing how the locals talk. Plus: Are you binge-watching or s…

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Forty Eleven Zillion (Rebroadcast) - 14 July 2025 53:45

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When there’s no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some people apply acronyms like YOYO — “you’re on your own” — or CORN, for “Clean Out your Refrigerator Night.” Plus, when a barista hands you hot coffee in a paper cup, you may get a zarf to put it in — but what is that? And, the ongoin…

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Mystery Date (Rebroadcast) - 7 July 2025 53:45

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A librarian opens a book and finds a mysterious invitation scribbled on the back of a business card. Another discovers a child’s letter to the Tooth Fairy, tucked into a book decades ago. What stories are left untold by these forgotten, makeshift bookmarks? Also: a “cumshaw artist” is the wily member of a military unit who knows the shortcuts of pr…

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Eat My Hat - 30 June 2025 53:45

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Have you lived in your home so long that you don’t notice its flaws? In Sweden, they have a name for this condition: It’s hemmablind—literally, “home blind.” A popular Swedish TV program shows what you can do about it. Plus, unlocking the mysterious word conclave. And: How did the expression “throw in the towel” come to mean “give up”? Also, pully,…

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Sour Pickle (Rebroadcast) - 23 June 2025 53:45

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You know that Yogi Berra quote about how Nobody ever comes here; it’s too crowded? Actually, the first person to use this was actress Suzanne Ridgeway, who appeared in several movies with The Three Stooges. A new book shows that many well-known quotes were first spoken by women, but misattributed to more famous men. Also: a handy scientific word th…

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Straight and Narrow - 16 June 2025 53:45

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English spelling is a hot mess, even for native speakers. But as a new book shows, would-be spelling reformers, including Benjamin Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, eventually just gave up. Also, what do you call your fellow parent in front of the children? Do you use the same word when the kids aren’t around? And: baseball announcers may refer to a…

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Not My Circus (Rebroadcast) - 9 June 2025 53:45

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Throwing cheese and shaky cheese are two very different things. In baseball, hard cheese refers to a powerful fastball, and probably comes from a similar-sounding word in Farsi, Urdu, and Hindi. Shaky cheese, on the other hand, is the grated Parmesan cheese you might dispense from can onto pasta. Also, why is a movie preview called a trailer when i…

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The Other Shoe - 2 June 2025 53:45

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So you think you can spell? Youngsters in modern spelling bees are expected to memorize a wide range of words, from chemical processes to names of rare animals. Also: In many languages, the word for “mother” begins with the letter M — but not in all of them. And where are you from, eh? If you phrase a question that way, it’s pretty clear where you’…

Grant Barrett Produced By Stefanie Levine Podcasts

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A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over

Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett. Produced by Stefanie Levine.

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Sleepy Winks (Rebroadcast) - 22 September 2025 53:45

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Cat Bristle - 15 September 2025 53:45

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Made from Scratch (Rebroadcast) - 8 September 2025 53:45

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Good Egg, Bad Apple - 1 September 2025 53:45

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Salad Days (Rebroadcast) - 25 August 2025 53:45

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Tall Drink of Water - 18 August 2025 53:45

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Your Imaginary Boyfriend (Rebroadcast) - 11 August 2025 53:45

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Mox Nix - 4 August 2025 53:45

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Beefed It (Rebroadcast) - 28 July 2025 53:45

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Imaginary Friends - 21 July 2025 53:45

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Forty Eleven Zillion (Rebroadcast) - 14 July 2025 53:45

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Mystery Date (Rebroadcast) - 7 July 2025 53:45

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Eat My Hat - 30 June 2025 53:45

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Sour Pickle (Rebroadcast) - 23 June 2025 53:45

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Straight and Narrow - 16 June 2025 53:45

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Not My Circus (Rebroadcast) - 9 June 2025 53:45

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The Other Shoe - 2 June 2025 53:45