KPBS Hosts Have a Way With Words, and Other Meeting News

By Jeff Freeman

At November's meeting, we were both informed and entertained by Richard Lederer and Martha Barnette, the co-hosts of the KPBS radio show titled "A Way with Words."

Both Richard and Martha are dedicated "verbivores" who are real-life "Conan the Grammarians."

Martha Barnette Loves to Study Word Origins

Martha Barnette, who is passionate about word origins, spoke first about how she became so interested in language. She was inspired at a young age by an ethics professor who taught her the origins of words in the Greek story "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles. It took the two of them seven years to finish the book! Martha learned many things about word origins from the book. For example, the word "podiatrist"(a foot doctor) comes from the Greek word "podis," which means "foot."

After studying Greek with the professor, Martha obtained her undergraduate degree in English from Vassar College and studied ancient Greece at the University of Kentucky. After school, she first worked as a reporter for Washington Post and then as a medical reporter for Louisville Times in Kentucky.

About a year ago, Martha became a co-host of the "A Way with Words" radio show. In addition, she is the author of three books on word origins. A Garden of Words explores the history of flower names. Dog Days and Dandelions reveals the images of animals that often lie hidden inside a word's history. Her most recent book, Ladyfingers & Nun's Tummies: A Lighthearted Look at How Foods Got Their Names, was selected by the Los Angeles Times for its list of the "100 Best Books of the Year."

Martha has a tremendous respect for technical writers because they "translate esoteric information into language" we can all understand.

Richard Lederer Talks Comma Sense

Richard's newest book titled Comma Sense provides a fundamental and fun guide to punctuation. Two of the most common punctuation mistakes are incorrect use of apostrophes and hyphens.

Placing an apostrophe where one does not belong or omitting an apostrophe where one belongs is not only grammatically wrong, but it can change the entire meaning of a sentence. For instance, Richard told us that the meaning of the phrase "the butler stood in the doorway and called the guests names" has a completely different meaning than the phrase "the butler stood in the doorway and called the guests' names." In the first sentence (guests), the butler is mocking the guests by calling them bad names. In the second sentence (guests'), the butler is diligently doing his job by introducing the guests.

The meanings of sentences can also be drastically changed if one forgets to use a hyphen when it is needed. For example, the sentence "I saw a man eating lobster" has an entirely different meaning from the sentence "I saw a man-eating lobster." In the first sentence, we picture a man eating peacefully at a restaurant. In the second sentence, we think about people running away from a man-eating monster lobster.

In addition to Comma Sense, Richard has written over 30 other books about language and humor, including Anguished English, Word Play Crosswords, and Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay.

Time for Questions

One half of each presentation is usually devoted to audience questions. The STC audience had many questions that helped us enhance our knowledge of language history. For example, we found out that it was Daniel Webster who was responsible for changing the spelling of several words from their original English spelling to the new American spelling. For example, he changed the spelling of "colour" to "color," and the spelling of "grey" to "gray."

Furthermore, we found out that the word "lasagna" comes from the Roman word for "chamber pot."

Ralph Waldo Emerson came up with the term "fossil poetry" to refer to words that were once full of warmth and are now cold and mundane.

Until Next Time

I hope that a visit from Richard Lederer and Martha Barnette will become an annual tradition for our San Diego STC chapter. Until their next visit, you can hear Richard and Martha on KPBS radio every Saturday at noon and each Sunday at 10 a.m. In addition, you can find more information on words, as well as order books, at the following Web site: www.verbivore.com.

Upcoming Professional Development Workshop

Professional Development VP Deborah Gill-Hesselgrave has scheduled a highly interactive workshop led by Ann Coil, a life/career consultant. At the beginning of each New Year many of us vow to take better control of our lives. In addition to promises of improving our health, many folks resolve to do something, anything, about their careers. Ann Coil will give attendees an opportunity to proactively take the first steps to gaining increased satisfaction with their current jobs, evaluate methods for successfully identifying and winning better jobs, and will generally guide attendees through several exercises designed to help improve overall life and career awareness and satisfaction.

Time: Saturday, January 21. Tentatively scheduled for 10 AM until 2 PM. Light refreshments for the morning and a nice lunch will be offered.

Place: Evening Creek Apartments
10918 Evening Creek Drive
San Diego, CA 92128

Cost: $25 to members and $30 to non-members.(Remember, the price includes a good meal and snacks.)

More details will follow through posts to members and others via our new Yahoo! Groups announcements.