You're Saying It Wrong

Do you like to enjoy a soda... or a pop? Do you put on your sneakers... or your tennis shoes? This time out, we talk about how we talk about the same things in different ways. And you'll never guess what they call a milkshake in Rhode Island (no, seriously, you'll never guess it).

The thrilling conclusion of our Place Name Showdown — will Fletcher hang on to his early lead and emerge victorious? What kind of devious traps have Kathy and Ross set? And we'll circle all the way back around to Peking duck...and another dish with a name we may need to rethink.

Kathy, Ross, and Fletcher face off to see who's tops at pronouncing unusually named cities, countries, and regions from around the world. Who will emerge as the champion pronouncer? Grab a pen and paper and play along to see if you can beat the experts!

"Abate the edge of traitors...That would reduce these bloudy daies again."

What do we do with Shakespeare and other works that use words with definitions we just can't recognize anymore?

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen

God Rest, Ye Merry Gentlemen

God, Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Punctuation matters.

Also... Merry Christmas? Happy Holidays? Season's Greetings? And wait — how in the world do bras and pretzels come in to this whole thing? Plus, a question on many listeners' minds: What's with this whole "malarkey" thing?

We're talking politics! (Sort of.) Mayoral, electoral, gubernatorial (where the heck does that one come from?)... and Ross pulls a word from waaaaay out in left field.

We're back to German this episode, but we've got some serious language wanderlust. We'll start with realpolitik, hop over to doppelganger, try to rank weltschmerz vs. ennui vs. angst, take a whole lot of detours and try to talk our way through some questions we have, and also chat a bit about... spare ribs?

Schadenfreude, weltschmerz, zeitgeist, sturm und drang... whatever it is, German's probably got a word for it.

In this episode of You're Saying It Wrong, we're talking about "fossil words," words that aren't used anymore except in idioms or very specific contexts, like "ado," "dudgeon," and "petard." And we broaden into words that are dying or might be dying in the future.

Can we be combobulated? Or gruntled? Not Fletcher. He's been disgruntled and discombobulated thinking about this subject for a long time.

He's turning the tables in this episode and asking Kathy and Ross about prefixes on words that might not be words without said prefixes. (And the Petrases remained nonplussed.)