Him and I or Him and Me (Rebroadcast) - 2 April 2012

<p>If someone offered you a croaker with an old man's face, would you accept? You should! Croaker is a slang term for "hundred dollar bill." And did you ever wonder why we turn UP the A.C. to bring the temperature down? Grant and Martha ponder that question. Plus, the tricky debate over me vs. I, the byzantine story behind the word byzantine, whether paper toweling is a real noun, and a couple of name games. Also, Grant recommends some dictionaries and teaching guides for the new school year.<br /><br />FULL DETAILS<br /><br />Ever know somebody whose name makes you do a double-take, like a family physician named Dr. Hurt? An Albany, N.Y. listener shares a game of more positive aptronyms. For example, what do you name your daughter if you want her to be a lawyer? How about "Sue"? <br /><br />Do you use paper towels or paper towelling? While a listener insists her husband's wrong for his use of paper towelling, Grant explains how certain nouns take a gerund ending. For example, clothes derive from clothing, and the side of a house adorns siding. In the same way, why not tear a paper towel off a roll of paper towelling?<br /><br />A veteran broadcaster recalls a brilliant example of sesquipedalian language. Fifty years ago, he stubbed his foot on the beach and a group of college boys told him to go to his parents and get an anatomical juxtaposition of the orbicular ors muscles in the state of contraction on the unilateral calcification of the carbuncular metatarsal. Go get, in other words, "a kiss on the foot."<br /><br />Quiz Guy Greg Pliska has a Grant and Martha version of The Odd Man Out Game, wherein one term doesn't belong in the list of four. Take Martha, Irving, Denzel, and Booker. Which one doesn't fit? It's Irving, because "Washington" is his first name, not his last.<br /><br />Does turning up the A.C. make a room cooler or warmer? A listener grapples with multiple meanings of the word "up." Martha suggests saying, "Turn up the air conditioning," not "turn up the air conditioner," just as you say "turn u