Hard Words Are Hard - 5 May 2014

<p>This week on "A Way with Words": The SAT is changing things up, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Just because words like membranous are no longer in the verbal section doesn't mean kids aren't learning important vocabulary. And speaking of useful terms, shouldn't we have an English word for "the parents of your child's spouse"? Actually, there is one. And if your daughter gets divorced, should she call her former husband her . . .  wasband? Plus, Sheboyganisms like fry out and hot tamales, please find attached and other e-mail language, the two meanings of inertia, Z-plurals, and mispronounced words.<br /><br />FULL DETAILS<br /><br />Precocious readers need not be ashamed of mispronouncing words like misled or epitome—it's never too late to actually hear it pronounced properly for the first time, although it can be a little embarrassing.<br /><br />When the term ex-husband sounds too prickly of a descriptor, try wasband. <br /><br />Nothing's hungrier than a woodpecker with a headache. Think about it for a second—it does makes sense.<br /><br />In the scientific sense, inertia is the tendency for things to continue doing what they're doing, like staying in motion. But the common meaning of inertia almost always refers to the tendency to do nothing, making inertia something that must be overcome in order to get things done. <br /><br />If you want to check the weather without leaving the sofa, just call in the dogs and see if they're wet.<br /><br />Quiz Guy John Chaneski is back with his classic License Plate Game. He'll give you three letters, and you have to come up with the shortest possible word that contains them in that order.<br /><br />To some, the phrase please find attached might sound like musty old language for the e-mail age. It's always smart to be formal when the context is all business, but there are other phrases that convey the same meaning, such as I've attached and Here is the document you requested.<br /><br />Why shouldn't it be a term of endearment to call someone a cherry Lifesa