Dust Bunnies - 24 March 2014

<p>This week on "A Way with Words": Is it cheating to say you've read a book if you only listened to it on tape? Over the centuries, the way we think about reading has changed a lot.There was a time, for example, when reading silently was considered strange. Plus, what do you call those soft rolls of dust that accumulate under the bed? Dust bunnies? Dust kitties? How about house moss? And the surprising backstory to every man's favorite accessory—the cummerbund. Also: saucered and blowed, skinflint, sporty peppers, tips for proofreading, and the Great Chai Tea Debate.<br /><br /> FULL DETAILS<br /><br />Is it cheating to say you've read a book when you've really just listened to the audiobook?<br /><br />Chai tea is not redundant—just tasty. But that doesn't stop people from debating the question. <br /><br />Long live Southern names! Classics like Henry Ritter Emma Ritter Dema Ritter Sweet Potatoe Creamatartar Caroline Bostick go way back, but the tradition is still alive and well.<br /><br />Our Quiz Master John Chaneski could make a fortune with some of the Apps he's created for this game.<br /><br />If you thought cummerbunds served no purpose today, wait until you hear of their original use.<br /><br />Don't be that kid who grows so frustrated with a neighborhood game that he takes the ball and storms home—you know, a rage-quitter.<br /><br />Considering that the first alphabet goes back as far as 1600 BC, it's pretty remarkable how little has changed. Robert Fradkin, a classics professor at the University of Maryland's Robert Fradkin illustrates this point with helpful animations on his Evolution of Alphabets page.<br /><br />Oh, adjectives. Sometimes you are indeed the banana peel of the parts of speech.<br /><br />Skinflint, meaning stingy or tight-fisted, comes from the idea that someone's so frugal they would try to skin a piece of the extremely hard rock called flint.<br /><br />You might refer to those soft rolls of dust that collect under your bed as dust bunnies, dust kitties, or woolies, but in the