A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over - Podcast Rankings and reviews

Excellent podcast! Martha and Grant are so warm and welcoming. Their approach puts me in the perfect head space to simultaneously relax and learn. I love how accepting they are of different pronunciations and usages while still clarifying accepted rules and conventions; I am now far less harsh in my criticism of other people. I believe I have listened to every episode available via podcast, and I will continue listening as long as it keeps coming out!

We listen to this every time we take a trip. It is so interesting, before we know it we are at our destination - smarter than when we started.

My first love of the show came from NPR, but these days I mostly listen to podcasts and had gotten away from the radio version. I heard Grant and Martha on a food broadcast and was reminded of how great they are, so one quick search and they’re back in my world! Such a fun, unique, smart way to learn more about our endlessly fascinating use of language.

What I like about this podcast is it goes into the enthusiasm of learning about the meaning or different language means of English words, English phrases and their history but also to understand how certain words that you think mean the same thing may actually have different meanings and how sometimes some things might not be understood the same way in different cultures so it takes peoples phone calls and itdoes research and it does some findings on their questions.

This also goes into local dialect, and it also brings up words that somehow might refer to an injustice. For example, the term “wigging” or the term “painting down.” Of course, there is a good amount of whimsy with their conversations between the hosts and also their call-in guests, which is thoroughly delightful.

This is one of the few podcasts that I listen to regularly, being a language-lover and social wordsmith that I am. I hope to follow in their path with my own podcast about making up your own words for fun connections. :-)