Podcasts Education Language Learning A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over Keep Your Powder Dry (Rebroadcast) - 28 September 2020

Keep Your Powder Dry (Rebroadcast) - 28 September 2020

Published: Sept. 28, 2020, 7:47 a.m.

Jacuzzi and silhouette are eponyms – that is, they derive from the names of people. An Italian immigrant to California invented the bubbly hot tub called a jacuzzi. And the word silhouette commemorates a penny-pinching treasury secretary who lasted only a few months in office and was associated with these shadow portraits. Also, if the words strubbly, briggling, and wabashing aren’t already in your vocabulary, they should be – if only because they’re so much fun to say. Only one of them refers to messy, tousled hair. Plus: wing it, versing, cock one’s strumples, keep your powder dry, and embeverage.

Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org/. Email words@waywordradio.org. Twitter @wayword. Our listener phone line 1 (877) 929-9673 is toll-free in the United States and Canada. Elsewhere in the world, call +1 (619) 800-4443; charges may apply. From anywhere, text/SMS +1 (619) 567-9673. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.