Hell's Bells - 20 October 2014

<p>This week on A Way with Words: The language of restaurant menus. Need a dictionary to get through a dinner menu? Research shows the longer the description of a particular dish, the more expensive it will be. Plus: What's the best way to use a thesaurus? DON'T -- unless, that is, you already know the definition of the word in question. From careless plagiarists to a former president, a look at the embarrassing results when people try using a big word they don't quite understand. Plus, the story behind "Hell's Bells," and what your clothes look like if they're "swarpy." Also, wake vs. awaken, this weekend vs. next weekend, rat-finking, balderdash, Hell's bells!, and widdershins.<br /><br />FULL DETAILS<br /><br />Whatever Roget's Thesaurus may have you believe, sinister buttocks is not a synonym for "left behind." But a growing number of students are blindly using the thesaurus, or Rogeting, trying mask plagiarism. And it's not working.<br /><br />Next Thursday could mean this coming Thursday or the Thursday after. And despite the push to make oxt weekend a term for the weekend after next, even grammarians haven't settled on what next refers to, so it's always important to clarify with the person you're talking to.<br /><br />Among Grant's candidates for his 2014 Words of the Year list are the phrases I can't even and Can you not. <br /><br />The origin of the exclamation Balderdash!, meaning "nonsense," isn't entirely known. It is clear, however, that back in the 17th century balderdash could refer to a frothy mix of liquids, such as beer and buttermilk, or brandy and ale, and later to a jumbled mix of words.<br /><br />The Irish writer Roddy Doyle has some good advice about using a thesaurus: "Do keep a thesaurus, but in the shed at the back of the garden or behind the fridge, somewhere that demands travel or effort."<br /><br />Our quiz guy John Chaneski is back with a game of wedding puns. For example, if Ella Fitzgerald married Darth Vader, she'd be, well, a kind of shoe, or something that might convey you