Guess What (rebroadcast) - 25 July 2011

<p>SUMMARY<br /><br />English is full of unusual terms, both old (eleemosynary, favonian) and new (flyway, catio). Also, the Swahili term that means "sleep like a log," the multiple meanings of the word joint, what it means to play gooseberry, cowpies and horse biscuits, and how to punctuate the expression "Guess what."<br /><br />FULL DETAILS<br /><br />Thinking about a flyaway, or will you spend the weekend gazing out at the catio? Grant explains these new terms.<br /><br />Is subscribing just for magazines and podcasts, or can you subscribe to an idea? A husband and wife disagree over whether the latter is grammatically correct.<br /><br />The Swahili phrase nililala fofofo means "to sleep really well." Literally, though, it translates as "to sleep like a log." Are the English and Swahili idioms related?<br /><br />In French, tenir la chandelle means "to act as a chaperone," though literally it's "to hold the candle." Another expression that means "to chaperone" is the antiquated English phrase "to play gooseberry."<br /><br />License-plate bingo, anyone? Quiz Guy John Chaneski offers a radio version.<br /><br />"Who is 'she'? The cat's mother?" A Davis, Ca., man remembers his mother's indignant use of this expression, and he's curious about the origin.<br /><br />Should you pronounce the word coyote with two syllables or three? <br /><br />A Northern California caller that discovers that in Britain, an invitation to share a joint doesn't mean what it does back home.<br /><br />Eleemosynary is the title of a play by Lee Blessing. The play celebrates this and other unusual words, including sortilege, charivari, ungulate, favonian, and logodaedaly. Martha saw a production at San Diego's Moxie Theater, and takes the opportunity to discuss those words, plus the fizzy roots of moxie.<br /><br />Guess what! Or would that be Guess what? A Honolulu listener asks about the right way to punctuate this interjection. Should you use an exclamation mark or a question mark? How about an interrobang or a pronequark? <br /><br