the memory palace
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A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett. Produced by Stefanie Levine.
Fun conversation with callers from all over about new words, old sayings, slang, family expressions, word histories, linguistics, dialects, word games, books, literature, writing, and more. Be on the show with author/journalist Martha Barnette and linguist/lexicographer Grant Barrett. Share your thoughts, questions, and stories: https://waywordradio.org/contact or [email protected]. In the US and Canada, call or text 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free 24/7. Send a voice note or message via What ...
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Your source for public radio from every possible reality.
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Peculiar stories from real life. Hosted by Christopher Beale & Josh Taylor
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Public radio's game show of bluff and bluster, words and whimsy. The warmest, wittiest cocktail party - it's spirited and civil, brainy and boisterous, peppered with musical interludes. Fast paced and playful, it's the most fun you can have with language without getting your mouth washed out with soap. Our motto: It's not important to know the answers, it's important to like the answers!
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From The Memory Palace Audiobook: Fine New England Granite
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17:53Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Buy the audiobook wherever you get audiobooks (like libro.fm!) The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a …
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Deep Fried Air (Rebroadcast) - 24 November 2025
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53:45Eels, orts, and Wordle! Sweden awarded its most prestigious literary award to a book about . . . eels. The Book of Eels reveals the mysterious life cycle of this sea creature and its significance for famous figures from Aristotle to Sigmund Freud. Plus, what's an ort? It's the last bit of food left on a dinner plate -- and whether or not you finish…
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Whippoorwills, bob whites, and chickadees. How do we decide the names of birds and what to call their calls? Plus, the last syllables of Arkansas and Kansas are pronounced differently, but they come from the same etymological root. And: What’s the best word to describe your relationship with someone who’s less than a friend but closer than an acqua…
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East Overshoe (Rebroadcast) - 10 November 2025
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53:45Some people work hard to lose their accent in order to fit in when they move somewhere else. But others may be homesick for the sounds they grew up with and want to try to reclaim them. How can you regain your old accent? Also, a compelling book about scientific taxonomy shows how humans use language to try to divide up and impose order on the word…
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Episode 238: The Crypt of Thornwell Jacobs
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21:00Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm. The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit …
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Herd of Turtles (Rebroadcast) - 3 November 2025
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53:45Some college students are using the word loyalty as a synonym for monogamy. Are the meanings of these words now shifting? Plus, a biologist discovers a new species of bat, then names it after a poet he admires. The poet? Nikki Giovanni. Also, warm memories of how a childhood library card becomes a passport to new worlds. And: for a spell vs. cast a…
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Does language acquisition correspond with being ambidextrous? A woman notices her polyglot husband takes notes with his right hand for certain languages, then switches to his left for other ones. And: What’s the difference between an orchard and a grove? Is it correct to speak of an apple grove or an orange orchard? Also, some fun slang from Newfou…
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On Sunday, October 26th, 2025, Nate DiMeo of this here show, The Memory Palace, and his friends and colleagues at his fellow Radiotopia show, This Day, will be holding a good, old-fashioned teach-in in defense of history and museums currently targeted by the Trump Administration. Readings and lectures from sun-up to sundown on the National Mall in …
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The Hawaiian word aloha is both a greeting and a goodbye, as well as a profound acknowledgement of the oneness with all living things. Plus, what’s a lemur ball? A new book will leave you marveling over the mysteries of lemurs, wombats, and other creatures. And: If you’re exhausted after a long day, and you get tired of saying you’re tired, you can…
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Mittens in Moonlight (Rebroadcast) - 13 October 2025
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53:45Need a slang term that can replace just about any noun? Try chumpie. If you’re from Philadelphia, you may already know this handy placeholder word. And there’s Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan, and … The Bronx — why do we add the definite article to the name of that New York borough? The answer lies in the area’s geography and local famil…
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Diamond Dust (Rebroadcast) - 6 October 2025
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53:45Diamond dust, tapioca snow, and sugar icebergs — a 1955 glossary of arctic and subarctic terms describes the environment in ways that sound poetic. And a mom says her son is dating someone who’s non-binary. She supports their relationship, but still struggles to use their preferred pronouns in a way that feels natural to her. Plus, A Way with Words…
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Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm. The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit …
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Why would some Spanish speakers use adaptations of certain English words when perfectly good Spanish words for the same thing already exist? Plus, handy terms in a dictionary of the Sussex dialect from 150 years ago: Back then, a dezzick was “a day’s work” and January butter was another term for “mud.” And: you can’t judge a book by its cover, but …
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Sleepy Winks (Rebroadcast) - 22 September 2025
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53:45It 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 t…
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Episode 133: Antidisestablishmentarianism
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14:14Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm. The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit …
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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
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53:45Enthusiastic 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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Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm. The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit …
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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 in the US, you may jokingly call yourself a “geezer.” In the UK, though, the term is more derogatory. Also, why …
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Salad Days (Rebroadcast) - 25 August 2025
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53:45A 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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Summer Reading: Two Transcendent Poems About Public Transportation
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18:00Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm. The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit …
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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
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53:45We 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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Episode 235: The Girls, their Teachers, their Parents
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14:18Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm. The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that’s a part of PRX, a not-for-profit …
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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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