词汇大师-- 'How Are Yinz Doin?' Pittsburghers Ask

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: we discuss a local dialect spoken in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the host city for this week's Group of 20 economic summit. That's Rosanne's hometown, and she went back in 2000 to t

词汇大师-- To Make a Long Story Short

AA: I'm Avi Arditti and this week on WORDMASTER: our guest is Emily Kissner, a schoolteacher in Pennsylvania and author of a book called Summarizing, Paraphrasing and Retelling. EMILY KISSNER: When you summarize, you need to first choose what's impor

词汇大师-- A Classic Children's Story

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. So we're dusting off a vintage WORDMASTER: a segment we did with our old friend, David Burke, better known as S

词汇大师-- Health Advice for Couples

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: how the words that couples use when they fight could affect their health. RS: In a new study, forty-two married couples made two overnight visits to a laboratory to discuss their

词汇大师-- Advice Not 'Advices'

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: A listener, Akbar Gandi in Iran, is asking for an explanation of countable and uncountable nouns and the difference between a name and a noun. RS: English teacher Lida Baker has t

词汇大师-- Forget the Gunplay

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: palindromes aplenty! RS: A palindrome is something that reads the same backwards or forwards. Palindromes make us think of Janus, the Roman god with one face looking forward, anot

词汇大师-- How to Help Your Baby Learn to Talk?

AA: I'm Avi Arditti, Rosanne Skirble is away. This week on WORDMASTER: baby talk. (MOVIE SOUND) The movie Babies is now showing in theaters in the United States. It's a documentary that follows four infants through their first year. Two of the famili

词汇大师-- Our Brains Don't Always Know

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: Pronouns and why they're harder for your brain to understand than you might think. Pronouns are words like he, she, it, we, you, they and lots more. RS: They act as shortcuts so w

词汇大师-- Teaching Students the Words to ...

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: Helping young people learn to talk, and think, about science. RS: Catherine Snow is an education professor at Harvard University and also works with a group called the Strategic E

词汇大师-- An Editorialist's Opinion

AA: I'm Avi Arditti and this week on WORDMASTER: Another voice from the recent Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages convention in Boston. Patricia Kelvin has a doctorate in the teaching of writing. She was an award-winning editorial wri

词汇大师-- English Teaching Is Music

AA: I'm Avi Arditti and this week on WORDMASTER: we meet a newly trained English language teacher from Los Angeles. Curt Burich [BYUR-ick] was at the recent Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages convention in Boston to interview for jobs

词汇大师-- Seeking to Rebuild Lives and Schools in Haiti

AA: I'm Avi Arditti and this week on WORDMASTER: we meet two English teachers from Haiti. But first, an update on how schools are trying to reopen following the earthquake in January. VOA's Jeff Swicord was there as some students returned to classes

词汇大师-- Top Banana Run Around Like a Chicken

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: English teacher Nina Weinstein explains some common idioms in American English. She likes teaching idioms in categories to help her students remember them. NINA WEINSTEIN: Often w

词汇大师-- Feeling Burned Out

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: The Olympic flame may be out in Vancouver, but we're just getting fired up over terms related to fire. RS: We lit on the idea after our friend and fellow master of words Grant Bar

词汇大师--A Valentine's Day Test

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: With Valentine's Day coming up this Sunday, we have a subject to set the mood. It's an interview we did a few years ago with the author of The Joy of Text. RS: Kristina Grish base

词汇大师--If 'the' Dictionary Doesn't List a Word

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: We continue our conversation with Rutgers University English professor Jack Lynch. RS: His latest book is The Lexicographer's Dilemma. In it he challenges the idea of treating dic

词汇大师--Have the Rules of English Changed

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: Our guest is English professor Jack Lynch, author of the new book The Lexicographer's Dilemma. RS: Why did you write this book? JACK LYNCH: Well, because I have a number of guides

词汇大师--Now We're Past the, Uh, First Decade

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: We're back with Ben Zimmer from the American Dialect Society. RS: We talked last week about the society's choice for 2009's Word of the Year -- the Twitter-inspired Tweet -- and W

词汇大师--Some Online Words to Help Remember a Year

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: some words to help us remember 2009. RS: The American Dialect Society, a small scholarly group, just chose its Word of the Year as well as a Word of the Decade. Wordsmith Ben Zimm

词汇大师-- Five New Year's Resolutions for Learners

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: English teacher Lida Baker suggests five resolutions for people who want to improve their English in the New Year. LIDA BAKER: My first resolution that I would recommend people ma