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-- You Say LOLL, I say LOHL; Either Way

AA: I'm Avi Arditti and this week on WORDMASTER: we're back with linguistics professor Pamela Munro, editor of the latest edition of a dictionary of slang used at the University of California, Los Angeles. Some of the terms may be exclusive to the ca

词汇大师-- Hunting for the Snark

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER, we talk with David Denby. He's a film critic for the New Yorker magazine and author of a new book. In it, he attacks a form of expression used increasingly in public discourse in

词汇大师-- How 'Mavericks,' 'Earmarks' Made Their Way

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: we continue our discussion with dictionary editor Ben Zimmer about terms related to the presidential campaign. RS: One word that's being associated with John McCain -- or John McC

词汇大师-- Calling Young English Learners

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: we continue our discussion on an effort to improve writing in American schools. RS: Elyse Eidman-Aadahl is co-director of the federally-funded National Writing Project. ELYSE EIDM

词汇大师-- Writing Prompt for Teens

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: encouraging high school students to write about the issues they want the next U.S. president to address. RS: That is the aim right now of the National Writing Project, a federally

词汇大师-- Teaching English in Syria

AA: I'm Avi Arditti and this week on WORDMASTER: meet Safwan Abdulsalam Kadoora. He's the director of the English department at Karma. That's an English and French language center that opened in Damascus, Syria, in two thousand six. SAFWAN KADOORA: W

词汇大师-- To Master Rhythms of English

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: expanding on reductions. When speakers compress a phrase like going to into gonna, or what do you into whaddaya, that's a reduction. We mentioned their importance when we talked l

词汇大师-- Meet a Labor Lawyer

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: our guest is Tom Dalzell, senior editor of the New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English -- and, now, the Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconven

词汇大师-- Five New Year's Resolutions

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

词汇大师-- Between Hello and Goodbye

MUSIC: Hanging on the Telephone/Blondie AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: some tips on telephone etiquette. RS: One person you don't want to leave hanging on the phone is Nancy Friedman. She's been traveling the c

词汇大师-- What Is the Story of Your Life

Welcome to WORDMASTER. I'm Adam Phillips, sitting in for Avi Arditti and Rosanne Skirble. See if you can identify what these three sentences have in common: Found true love. Married someone else. Young, skinny: ridiculed. Old, skinny: envied. And one

词汇大师-- Meeting Some People

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: epic eponyms. RS: An eponym, as dictionaries tell us, is a real or mythical person for whom something is or is believed to be named. For example, George Washington is the eponym o

词汇大师-- How a Few Words Can Speak Volumes

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: our guest is James Geary, author of a new book called Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists. RS: It's his second book on aphorisms. He calls these sayings the shortest lite

词汇大师-- Why Some Speeches Just Float Away on the Air

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: from an interview on C-SPAN television, political pollster and strategist Frank Luntz talks about his book Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear. RS: At on

词汇大师-- No Need to Freak Out About Some Idioms

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble. This week on WORDMASTER: we're back with A. C. Kemp from slangcity.com. She calls it the online home of American slang. RS: We're talking about frequently used terms that her international students in her cla

词汇大师-- The Long and Short of Cornering the Market

I'm Adam Phillips for WORDMASTER, sitting in for Roseanne Skirble and Avi Arditti. Today we look at the jargon of international finance. With giant American corporations leading the drive toward the globalization of business, English has become the d

词汇大师-- Say What You Want on the Web

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: More about a legal strategy that critics call by the acronym SLAPP -- a strategic lawsuit against public participation. Let's say some community activists are trying to persuade t

词汇大师--A Website to Say What You Would Have Said

AA I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: We meet the 24-year-old creator of the website wouldhavesaid.com. RS: The premise is simple. People submit letters saying the things they would have said to a person if they had th

词汇大师(Wordmaster)--'Your Own Words' by Barbara Wallraf

Broadcast on COAST TO COAST: May 13, 2004 AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster -- we talk to language columnist and author Barbara Wallraff about her new book. It's called Your Own Words. In it, she explains, quote, h