Qi, Qat, and Za: Great Scrabble Words - 14 March 2011

<p>SUMMARY<br /><br />Need a good Scrabble word? Grant shares some of his favorites, and invites listeners to challenge him on "Words with Friends." Also, why do we call those classic screwball films madcap comedies? And what does it mean to walk in a crocodile? Plus, mondegreens, naval slang, learned versus learnt, and no way, Jose. And what do you call that flourish at the bottom of John Hancock's John Hancock?<br /><br />FULL DETAILS<br /><br />Need a Scrabble word with q or z? Grant shares some of his favorite legal Scrabble words: qi (the circulating life force in Chinese philosophy), qat (a leaf chewed in some cultures for stimulating effects), and za (a shortening of the word "pizza"). He's inviting listeners to challenge him on the game Words with Friends on the iPhone or Android: search the username grantbarrett. What good is a smartphone without smart friends?<br /><br />Where do we get the phrase belly up? The expression has made its way to the bar, but the original belly up belonged to a dead fish. <br /><br />A listener wonders why his girlfriend remarks "hubba-hubba" when he's dressing up for the night. The flirty call had its heyday in the 1940s, when World War II soldiers would see a pretty lady walking down the street. Although no one's sure of the origin of "hubba hubba," new research suggests it might have evolved from a catchphrase used by the "Ki Ki, the Haba Haba Man," an employee of P.T. Barnum.<br /><br />There's nothing like some joe with cow and sand in the morning. That would be "coffee with milk and sugar" in World War II naval slang.<br /><br />http://www.jstor.org/pss/1495930<br /><br />Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a game of rhyming headlines based on the 1937 Variety issue, "Sticks Nix Hick Pix," claiming that rural folks avoid movies about rural folks. <br /><br />http://bit.ly/fgtLlM<br /><br />What is a madcap comedy? A fan of classics like Bringing up Baby wonders about the origin of the term. Martha explains that years ago, the word cap sometimes referred to one's "head." So if s