the memory palace
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Publicradioalliance Podcasts
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A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett. Produced by Stefanie Levine.
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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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Tanis podcast host Nic Silver and regular contributor MK, explore the possible existence of "The Last Movie," an infamous underground feature film, reputed to drive you insane. Legend has it that every screening of this film was surrounded by bloodshed and controversy: one reviewer actually described slipping on blood in the aisle, as he ran through dozens of people trying to tear him apart.
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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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The words tough, through, and dough all end in O-U-G-H. So why don't they rhyme? A lively new book addresses the many quirks of English by explaining the history of words and phrases. And: have you ever been in a situation where a group makes a decision to do something, only to discover later that no one really wanted to do that thing in the first …
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Episode 234: Looking for Parking, Late Winter, 1996
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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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Introducing Charlie’s Place: A Cultural Haven That Brought People Together Through Music
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Here’s a preview from a new podcast, Charlie’s Place. How did a Black man in the 1940s Jim Crow South open a club where Black and white people danced together? Charlie’s Place was revolutionary, and that meant it was dangerous. Host Rhym Guissé explores the unbelievable true story of Charlie Fitzgerald, a mysterious Black businessman whose nightclu…
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Alright, alright, alright! How do some catchphrases become part of the larger vernacular—to the point where people don’t always know the original reference? And the island of Ocracoke off the coast of North Carolina has a distinctive dialect all its own. A new book shows how tourism is changing how the locals talk. Plus: Are you binge-watching or s…
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Forty Eleven Zillion (Rebroadcast) - 14 July 2025
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When there’s no evening meal planned at home, what do you call that scramble to cobble together your own dinner? Some people apply acronyms like YOYO — “you’re on your own” — or CORN, for “Clean Out your Refrigerator Night.” Plus, when a barista hands you hot coffee in a paper cup, you may get a zarf to put it in — but what is that? And, the ongoin…
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A librarian opens a book and finds a mysterious invitation scribbled on the back of a business card. Another discovers a child’s letter to the Tooth Fairy, tucked into a book decades ago. What stories are left untold by these forgotten, makeshift bookmarks? Also: a “cumshaw artist” is the wily member of a military unit who knows the shortcuts of pr…
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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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Have you lived in your home so long that you don’t notice its flaws? In Sweden, they have a name for this condition: It’s hemmablind—literally, “home blind.” A popular Swedish TV program shows what you can do about it. Plus, unlocking the mysterious word conclave. And: How did the expression “throw in the towel” come to mean “give up”? Also, pully,…
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You know that Yogi Berra quote about how Nobody ever comes here; it’s too crowded? Actually, the first person to use this was actress Suzanne Ridgeway, who appeared in several movies with The Three Stooges. A new book shows that many well-known quotes were first spoken by women, but misattributed to more famous men. Also: a handy scientific word th…
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English spelling is a hot mess, even for native speakers. But as a new book shows, would-be spelling reformers, including Benjamin Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, eventually just gave up. Also, what do you call your fellow parent in front of the children? Do you use the same word when the kids aren’t around? And: baseball announcers may refer to a…
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.The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. This episode was originally released in 2016 in the days after the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. It is re-released every year on the anniversary of the incident. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choicesBy Nate DiMeo
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Not My Circus (Rebroadcast) - 9 June 2025
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Throwing cheese and shaky cheese are two very different things. In baseball, hard cheese refers to a powerful fastball, and probably comes from a similar-sounding word in Farsi, Urdu, and Hindi. Shaky cheese, on the other hand, is the grated Parmesan cheese you might dispense from can onto pasta. Also, why is a movie preview called a trailer when i…
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So you think you can spell? Youngsters in modern spelling bees are expected to memorize a wide range of words, from chemical processes to names of rare animals. Also: In many languages, the word for “mother” begins with the letter M — but not in all of them. And where are you from, eh? If you phrase a question that way, it’s pretty clear where you’…
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Scooter Pooting (Rebroadcast) - 26 May 2025
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Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in life? An 82-year-old seeks a more positive term to describe how she feels about her age. And: a linguist helps solve a famous kidnapping case, using the vocabulary and spelling in a ransom note. Plus, old library books often contain inscriptions and oth…
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In the 1920’s, Americans were warned of a new danger sweeping across the country. This menace that harmed people’s health, ruined minds, and threatened marriages. The culprit? The national obsession with a new form of entertainment: crossword puzzles. Plus: why are accountants referred to as bean counters? And an old-fashioned way to describe a noi…
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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. On June 13th, 2025, I'll do a special, one-night-only live show at the Tribeca Audio Festival in New York City, joined by two of the audiobook's readers: Carrie Coon and L…
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People who hunt treasure with metal detectors have a lingo all their own. Canslaw means the shreds of aluminum cans left after a lawnmower ran over them. And gold dance? That's what you do if you turn up something far more valuable than parts of an old beer can. Plus, a splendid new dictionary offers an in-depth look at the rich language of Souther…
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A baby’s first word is often a cherished milestone, but some cultures pay more attention to other firsts, like a baby’s first laugh. A fascinating new book by a linguist examines language at the beginning and the end of life. Plus, the expression Murphy’s Law reflects the idea that “anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” But is the term a slur …
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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. During mid-May, 2025, I'm doing a Midwestern book tour, with stops in Minneapolis, Cincinatti, Indianapolis, and Chicago. Find out more at www.thememorypalace.us/events. T…
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By a Long Shot (Rebroadcast) - 28 April 2025
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Imagine telling someone how to get to your home, but without using the name of your street, or any other street within ten miles. Could you do it? We take street names for granted, but these words are useful for far more, like applying for a job or bank loan — and they’re a powerful record of who and what we value. Plus, a third-grader asks why the…
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Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital is a sensuous, exhilarating meditation about the strangeness of life on a space station, with its mix of tedious tasks and jaw-dropping views. And: a musician who rode the rails in his youth shares the slang he picked up along the way. For example, the word spanging is a blend of the words spare and changing, and mea…
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Episode 230: Helen Hulick Takes the Stand
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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. During mid-April, 2025, I'm doing a southern book tour, with stops in San Antonio, Houston, Gainesville, Montgomery, New Orleans, and Oxford. Find out more at www.thememor…
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When Pigs Fly (Rebroadcast) - 14 April 2025
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Don’t move my cheese! It’s a phrase middle managers use to talk about adapting to change in the workplace. Plus, the origin story of the name William, and why it’s Guillermo in Spanish. And a five-year-old poses a question that puzzles a lot of people: Why is the letter Q so often followed by a U? All that, and adynaton, an assonant quiz, do it up …
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If you speak a second or third language, you may remember the first time you dreamed in that new tongue. But does this milestone mean you’re actually fluent? And a couple’s dispute over the word regret: Say you wish you’d been able to meet Albert Einstein. Can you regret that the two of you never met, or is there a better word for a situation over …
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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. During mid-April, 2025, I'm doing a southern book tour, with stops in San Antonio, Houston, Gainesville, Montgomery, New Orleans, and Oxford. Find out more at www.thememor…
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