Word Up! - 17 Jan. 2011

<p>SUMMARY<br /><br />What would you serve a plumber who comes over for dinner? How about ... leeks? The hosts play a word game called "What Would You Serve?" Also, how can you correct someone's grammar without ruining a new relationship? And is there an easy way to remember the difference between who and whom?<br /><br />FULL DETAILS<br /><br />What would you serve a plumber for dinner? How about leeks? (We didn't say it had to be appetizing.) What would you serve a jeweler? Carats. Martha and Grant play the "What Would You Serve?" game.<br /><br />A Little Rock, Ark., caller has been going out with a Chinese woman. Her English is pretty good, but he wonders about the most polite way to correct a minor grammar mistake without ruining a new relationship.<br /><br />What's the origin of the expressions "Word!" and "Word up!"? Grant shares a theory from the book "Black Talk" by Geneva Smitherman.<br /><br />http://bit.ly/gLhqdo<br /><br />By the way, here's that 1980's-era song "Word Up."<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZjAantupsA<br /><br />What would you serve a chronic procrastinator? Ketchup. What would you serve a fertility specialist? Eggplant. Martha serves up those and others.<br /><br />Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a quiz based on news events of the last several months, all in limerick form.<br /><br />A woman in Gainesville, Fla., says her father and his partner have an ongoing Scrabble feud over rebeheaded. Is it a word?<br /><br />"Anymore, I play golf instead of tennis." Grant explains that this grammatical construction is known as the "positive anymore."<br /><br />What would you serve to people separated by six degrees? Bacon!<br /><br />A sign-language interpreter found herself translating the word doldrums. She wonders if it has to do the area of the ocean known by that name.<br /><br />What would you serve a group of musicians and cardiologists? How about beets?<br /><br />Martha shares some collective nouns sent in by listeners in response to a recent show on the topic.<br /><br />http:/