Buckle Down - 15 December 2014

<p>This week on "A Way with Words": It's time for book recommendations! Martha's enjoying an armchair tour of important places in the history of our language, and Grant recommends relaxing with books that make great reading for both children and adults. Plus, are you the type of shopper who gets in and out of a store quickly? Or would you rather research that purchase in advance and then try before you buy? No matter where you fall on the shopping scale, psychologists have a name for you. And here's a wintry question: if you're panking something, just what are you doing? Plus, how to pronounce short-lived, a slang term for flirting, ass over teakettle, and an amusing 19th-century rant about young people's slang.<br /><br />FULL DETAILS<br /><br />We've talked before about those abbreviated baths that one listener refers to as a Georgia bath. Listeners showered us with calls about more names for those abbreviated cleanups, including birdbaths and kitty baths.<br /><br />Before you turn up your nose at the expression ass over teakettle, know that our first evidence for this phrase is in William Carlos Williams' story "White Mule." A great idiom from a great writer. Other topsy-turvy phrases suggesting the same idea: head over heels and head over tin cup. <br /><br />Complaining about young people's slang is nothing new. Browsing Google Books, Grant stumbled upon an amusing example from the 19th century called "The Age of Slang." Oh, my stars and garters!<br /><br />If you pronounce short-lived with a long i, you're saying it correctly--at least by the standards of the 1600's. Today it's far more commonly pronounced with a short i, though both pronunciations are acceptable.<br /><br />An ailurophile from Dallas, Texas, wrote us to say her cat has a hobby of poking around in the closet and finding hidden nooks to nap in, or as she calls it, closeteering. That's also a great term for generally digging around in the closet for stuff you haven’t seen in years.<br /><br />Quiz Guy John Chaneski tests our knowledge of Lat