Best Grant Barrett Produced By Stefanie Levine Podcasts (2025)

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Potatoes and Point - 15 December 2025 53:45

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17h ago53:45

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If there’s a logophile on your gift list, you have lots of choices—including a new trivia game for language lovers and a murder mystery for the word-obsessed. Plus, if someone calls you a schmoozer, should you be flattered or insulted? And if you’re on a road trip, there’s one place you definitely don’t want to get stuck, and that’s out where God l…

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Minicast Bonus: Down Bucket 3:35

4d ago3:35

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In this bonus A Way with Words minicast, Martha and Grant step into the historic streets of Marblehead, Massachusetts, where the simple cry of “Down bucket!” could serve as a kind of local password. After they ponder that and other language of “Headers,” you’ll cry “Up for air!” Hear hundreds of free episodes and learn more on the A Way with Words …

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Primary Colors (Rebroadcast) - 8 December 2025 53:45

8d ago53:45

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Centuries ago, monks who took a vow of silence developed their own hand signs, with hundreds of gestures, that are still in use today. Plus, how do speakers of different languages distinguish similar shades and tints of colors such as red, yellow, and blue? It’s complicated! And: you don’t really need those little rivets on your blue jeans, do you?…

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Minicast Bonus: Picketwire 5:11

11d ago5:11

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In this bonus A Way with Words minicast, Martha and Grant explore the ways foreign place names transform on official maps and in local slang. Discover the stories behind names like “Picketwire” and “Key West,” showing how history and mishearings reshape the names we give our world. Hear hundreds of free episodes and learn more on the A Way with Wor…

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Drop in the Bucket - 1 December 2025 53:45

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A sumptuous new collection of poems about specific photographs shows how the moment in time captured by camera can inspire a verbal work of art as well. Also, why do we say that a quarterback got sacked? Plus, If you’re planning to vacation at a textile-free resort, you probably don’t have to pack much. Non-textile means “clothing-optional”—or even…

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Deep Fried Air (Rebroadcast) - 24 November 2025 53:45

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Eels, 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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No Bones - 17 November 2025 53:45

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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 53:45

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Some 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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Herd of Turtles (Rebroadcast) - 3 November 2025 53:45

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Some 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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Chow Line - 27 October 2025 53:45

2M ago53:45

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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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Big as a Breadbox - 20 October 2025 53:45

2M ago53:45

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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 53:45

2M ago53:45

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Need 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 53:45

2M ago53:45

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Diamond 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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Brass Tacks - 29 September 2025 53:45

3M ago53:45

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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 53:45

3M ago53:45

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It 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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Cat Bristle - 15 September 2025 53:45

3M ago53:45

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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 53:45

3M ago53:45

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Enthusiastic 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 …

Grant Barrett Produced By Stefanie Levine 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.

1
Potatoes and Point - 15 December 2025 53:45

1
Minicast Bonus: Down Bucket 3:35

1
Primary Colors (Rebroadcast) - 8 December 2025 53:45

1
Minicast Bonus: Picketwire 5:11

1
Drop in the Bucket - 1 December 2025 53:45

1
Deep Fried Air (Rebroadcast) - 24 November 2025 53:45

1
No Bones - 17 November 2025 53:45

1
East Overshoe (Rebroadcast) - 10 November 2025 53:45

1
Herd of Turtles (Rebroadcast) - 3 November 2025 53:45

1
Chow Line - 27 October 2025 53:45

1
Big as a Breadbox - 20 October 2025 53:45

1
Mittens in Moonlight (Rebroadcast) - 13 October 2025 53:45

1
Diamond Dust (Rebroadcast) - 6 October 2025 53:45

1
Brass Tacks - 29 September 2025 53:45

1
Sleepy Winks (Rebroadcast) - 22 September 2025 53:45

1
Cat Bristle - 15 September 2025 53:45

1
Made from Scratch (Rebroadcast) - 8 September 2025 53:45