Singing Sand (Rebroadcast) - 30 August 2021

<p>Cat hair may be something you brush off, but cat hair is also a slang term that means "money." In the same way, cat beer isn't alcoholic -- some people use cat beer as a joking term for "milk." And imagine walking on a beach with a long stretch of shoreline. With each step, the ground makes a squeaking sound under your feet. There's a term for the kind of sand that makes this yip-yip-yip sound. It's called barking sand. Plus, a listener describes some of the English she heard in a small Alaskan coastal town. It's a rich mixture of fishermen's slang, along with the speech of native people, and the Norwegians who settled there. All that, and a triple-threat puzzle, paternoster lakes, barely vs. nearly, comprised of vs. composed of, cark, kittenball, the pokey, happy as a boardinghouse pup, and close, but no tomato.</p> <p>Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thoughts and questions, and learn more on the <em>A Way with Words</em> website: <a href= "https://waywordradio.org/contact">https://waywordradio.org/contact</a>. Be a part of the show: call <a href="tel:+18779299673">1 (877) 929-9673</a> toll-free in the United States and Canada; worldwide, call or text/SMS <a href="tel:+16198004443">+1 (619) 800-4443</a>. Email <a href= "mailto:words@waywordradio.org">words@waywordradio.org</a>. Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/wayword">@wayword</a>. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation.</p>