词汇大师--What Do 'Refugee

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: closing the dictionary on some words of 2005. RS: Grant Barrett is project editor of the Historical Dictionary of American Slang at Oxford University Press. We talked to him last

词汇大师--No Gunplay, Just Wordplay

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--'Merry Christmas' vs. 'Happy Holidays'

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: the paradox of a social greeting designed not to offend anyone that, by its very design, offends some people. RS: Next Sunday, most Americans will celebrate Christmas. This year,

词汇大师--'You're Wearing That?

I'm Nancy Beardsley, filling in for Avi Arditti and Rosanne Skirble. This week on Wordmaster we'll talk about communication -- and miscommunication -- between mothers and daughters. Our guest is Deborah Tannen, a Georgetown University linguistics pro

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Don't Parrot Cliches

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: We continue our discussion with University of Delaware English Professor Ben Yagoda about his recent book called The Sound on the Page: Style and Voice in Writing. RS: He based th

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--What Does It Say

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: Anu Garg, creator of the A.Word.A.Day Web site and author of a new book called Another Word A Day: An All-New Romp Through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--A Guide to Writing

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: some new elements in The Elements of Style. RS: The Elements of Style is a little book that for decades has served countless writers and editors. The two authors have long since p

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Small Talk

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: a conversation about small talk. RS: Our guest is Debra Fine, author of a new book called The Fine Art of Small Talk. DEBRA FINE: It is not the business conversation, not the busi

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--'Heritage Speakers'

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster, Musa Nushi, a 27-year-old Iranian with a master's degree in English teaching from Tehran University. MUSA NUSHI: English is in high demand in Iran because lots of people are going

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--New TOEFL

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: the new TOEFL. RS: TOEFL is the Test of English as a Foreign Language. It's required by many colleges and universities in the United States and elsewhere as a measure of a student

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--'We're Americans, We're Not Refugee

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: What to call the homeless of Hurricane Katrina? RS: Some have called them refugees. We asked Oxford English Dictionary consultant Ben Zimmer for a history of this word. BEN ZIMMER

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--If You Could Care Less

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: Common Errors in English, from a professor who wrote the book. RS: Paul Brians began with a Web site. It got so popular, it led to a book called Common Errors in English Usage. No

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Gerunds vs. Infinitives, Part 2

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: more of our discussion of gerunds and infinitives with English teacher Lida Baker. RS: A gerund, remember, is a verb ending in -ing but used as a noun. An infinitive is a verb wit

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Hawaiian Language, Part 2

Today on Wordmaster, Rosanne Skirble takes us to a school in America鈥檚 Pacific island state, Hawaii, where students are immersed in the Hawaiian language and culture. RS: Students at Anuenue (ah-new-new) Hawaiian Immersion School in Honolulu stra

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Hawaiian Language, Part 1

Today on Wordmaster, Rosanne Skirble travels a long distance in the United States for a lesson in an endangered language. RS: Hawaii is far from home: A 12-hour plane ride from Washington, D.C., to Honolulu across six time zones. I was greeted at the

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--'Do You Speak American?'

I'm Avi Arditti. Rosanne Skirble is away. This week on Wordmaster: Do You Speak American? That's the name of a new book by journalist Robert MacNeil. Mr. MacNeil -- who was born and raised in Canada -- explores how immigration, technology and other f

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Audience Mail

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: we answer some of your mail. RS: Listener Benny Kusman is from Indonesia, but tells us he is staying in Malaysia. Here is the first of his two questions: AA: If I have two books,

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Meet Two More English Teachers

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: meet two more English teachers. RS: Qu Gang teaches in the world's biggest country, China. He is a member of the National Foreign Language Teaching and Research Association. Doug

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Pronunciation of North American Eng

AA: I'm Avi Arditti; Rosanne Skirble is away. This week on Wordmaster: pronunciation the North American way. Our guest is Colleen Meyers. She teaches English to international teaching assistants at the University of Minnesota. She's also a co-author

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Meet Two Young English Teachers

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: meet two young English teachers. One is from the United States, the other from Uzbekistan. RS: The American is a native English speaker who also speaks Arabic. He teaches a conver