Noon Balloon to Rangoon - 9 February 2015

<p>This week on "A Way with Words," tricks and tips for writers: Is there a word you keep having to look up in the dictionary, no matter how many times you've looked it up before? Maybe it's time for a mnemonic device. And: a listener shares a letter from Kurt Vonnegut himself, with some reassuring advice about what to do when the words just won't come. Plus, what does it mean when someone asks if you came in on the noon balloon? Also: bog standard, brumate, Ricky Rescue, Ned in the primer, a horse apiece, Blackacre vs. Whiteacre, childish vs. childlike, do the needful, and Do what?.<br /><br /><br />FULL DETAILS<br /><br />If you think back on all the words you've looked up in the past year, only to turn around and forget their definitions immediately, Martha’s New Year's resolution sounds like a no-brainer: be a little more mindful, and take care to actually remember the meanings of words like enervate (it's "to drain someone or something of vitality"). <br /><br />In place of pardon or excuse me, it's common to hear a Texan or a Southerner say, Do what? Variations include What now?, Do how?, and Do which?<br /><br />To brumate, meaning "to hibernate during the winter," comes from the wintry word brumal. So if you're tired of using the same old wintry adjectives, try describing the weather as brumal.<br /><br />Hark your racket, meaning, "shush," is a variant of hark your noise, which pops up in Michigan, Wisconsin and Maine as far back as the 1940's.<br /><br />Columnist Lucy Kellaway wrote in the Financial Times about feeling less anxious and fearful in the workplace as she gets older. She concluded that such feelings are bog standard, a British expression meaning "common" or "widespread."<br /><br />Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a word game based on the preferences of Mookie the Cow, whose favorite things have names that feature moo sounds. That loose Hawaiian garment, for example.<br /><br />To be like Ned in the primer, meaning "troublesome" or "rambunctious," refers to an old series of children’s books—also