From WikiPedia:

"Factoid was coined by Norman Mailer in his 1973 biography of Marilyn Monroe. Mailer described a factoid as "facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper"[2], and created the word by combining the word fact and the ending -oid to mean "like a fact". The Washington Times described Mailer's new word as referring to "something that looks like a fact, could be a fact, but in fact is not a fact".[3]"

ms oconnor know that hooha now also means vagina perhaps hoopla would be a better term to use for commmotion/uproar

Kick the Bucket, discussed on today's program.

Listed as slang, but was very commonly used when I lived in the UK from 1936 to 1968.

My Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (1973) lists as follows: Bucket, sb,2 1570 (year listed). [perhaps - Old French. buquet 'balance'.] A beam or yoke on which anything may be hung, as in Norfolk, a pig by its heels. Hence ( ?) To kick the bucket: (slang) to die.

I just googled "Patricia T. O’Conner", and Google responded with "Did you mean: Patricia T. O’Connor" with an "o-r" rather than an "e-r". Why is that?

Regarding the men's store, the answer Ms O'Connor referred to mens or mans (without aporstrophe) as an adjectival usage. How, then, does she explain the "s" at the end of this adjective?

My pet peeve is: When a radio interviewer ends his segment with the words...'see you tomorrow.'

Leonard, I love you. I listen to you everyday, but you have never seen me, and I doubt that you will really ever 'see' me tomorrow.

You usually keep your words on your toes; I'd think that you'd have a more accurate way of signing off.

I'll listen to you again tomorrow, with my pet peeves and all.

liz

While standing in a line, I hate to hear "Can I help who's next?"! Please say "May I help the next person?" or even "Next"!

"Gin up" (Rich Schmedel above) - I thought this was "Chin up" - lift your head, be positive, don't mope.

That's it, I can never fully trust Pat O'Connor again. This so-called language maven uttered the term "hoo-ha" (shiver), instead of "hoopla," not once, but twice! What the heck is "hoo-ha" anyway? Isn't that slang for a female body part ("Scent of a Woman")? Very disappointed. What is the word coming to?

Thanks for responding to the "kick the bucket" question–how sinister!

Alba - your comment about dilemna made me laugh. I can remember telling my fifth grade teacher that that was the way to spell it. I was adamant, and KNEW that I was right. I had her completely rattled that day, and I was shocked when I went home and saw it spelled "dilemma" in the dictionary.
I have always been a voracious reader, so I suppose I may have seen it in a book or something. Maybe it was some kind of optical illusion, reading the word quickly? What I do know, is that I know how to spell that word now.

1. Why so dismissive of the term "free radicals"? It has a very concise meaning in chemistry (Wikipedia definition below). I think it's unfortunate when very concise scientific terms enter common usage and lose their meaning.

Wikipedia: "In chemistry, radicals (often referred to as free radicals) are atoms, molecules or ions with unpaired electrons on an otherwise open shell configuration. These unpaired electrons are usually highly reactive, so radicals are likely to take part in chemical reactions.)

2. What is the fascination with "incentivise". Isn't "incent" enough?

It irks me to hear car ads which state that financing is available to "well-qualified buyers" instead of simply "qualified buyers"!

I beg to differ on Men's Store. Men is plural and is therefore very different to girl which is singular. There is nothing correct about mens and therefore the caller was correct when he stated that correct usage must be Men's store. Mens store, or mens' store is incorrect.

From: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/218800.html

The wooden frame that was used to hang animals up by their feet for slaughter was called a bucket. Not unnaturally they were likely to struggle or to spasm after death and hence 'kick the bucket'.

"check my email," why it's not plural...I think it refers to checking your email account.

Kick the Bucket...I just googled this and it says that it refers to someone committing suicide, to kick the bucket before hanging yourself on a noose! Interesting.

I hear many people say "concerning me" these days, versus "concerns me". My son's grades concern me - I worry about the downward slide. My son may to a friend when looking at his report card "This is concerning me" About me. I hear people say things like "Troop reduction is concerning me." If you are in the military, it concerns you. Otherwise, it doesn't. Shouldn't they say it concerns me or it bothers or worries me ?

Whenever I here the hesitation "you know", and I hear it frequently even on NPR, I want to scream, "NO I DON'T KNOW! THAT IS WHY I AM ASKING YOU!"

Leonard --

Kick the Bucket Origin:

Years ago, when people were put to death by hanging, to reach the noose, they'd step up onto a bucket.

They were officially DEAD their limbs swung loosely....and kicked the bucket!

I thought the expression "kick the bucket" was tied to executions by hanging. A person to be hanged would stand on a bucket, step, etc. and then it would be moved/kicked from beneath them.

Not sure where I got this from or if it's true!

I enjoy listening to this segment and wish that Patricia had more time to spend with us.

My question is about the phrase "Gin Up". My understanding is that it is a pejorative phrase implying that the purpose of the action is to mislead or distract the observer's attention from something wrong or incorrect. Now I hear it used to suggest drumming up business or interest.

Which is correct?

from Bartleby:

A bucket is a pulley, and in Norfolk a beam. When pigs are killed, they are hung by their hind-legs on a bucket or beam, with their heads downwards, and oxen are hauled up by a pulley. To kick the bucket is to be hung on the balk or bucket by the heels

where did the expression "one off" come from . I started seeing it afew years ago and first thought it was a typo for "one of" as in 'one of a kind" because that is often its meaning. I even heard a reporter say it describing an actresses gown. Did the invention of this phrase just escape me.

re: kick the bucket

Etymology There are many theories as to where this idiom comes from, but the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) discusses the following:

A person standing on a pail or bucket with their head in a slip noose would kick the bucket so as to commit suicide. The OED, however, says this is mainly speculative;
The OED describes as more plausible the archaic use of "bucket" as a beam from which a pig is hung by its feet prior to being slaughtered. To kick the bucket, then, originally signified the pig's death throes;
Another explanation is given by a Roman Catholic Bishop, The Right Reverend Abbot Horne, F.S.A. He records on page 6 of his booklet "Relics of Popery" Catholic Truth Society London, 1949, the following:

"After death, when a body had been laid out, … and … the holy-water bucket was brought from the church and put at the feet of the corpse. When friend came to pray… they would sprinkle the body with holy water .. it is easy to see how such a saying as " kicking the bucket " came about. Many other explanations of this saying have been given by persons who are unacquainted with Catholic custom"

What are the origins of the expressions
"Mexican stand off" and "Chinese fire drill" and why is there always an expletive before Chinese?

Always curious about the usage of bring/ take.

For example, I'll take you you home/ I'll bring you home.
Or I'll take this package to him/ I'll bring this package to him.

Thanks!!

Shawn

what is the correct pronunciation of the word "biopic"? i've noticed WNYC hosts prefer 'buy-OH-pik' but i've always said 'buy-AH-pik'. can you clarify?

I know this is horrible, but could"kick the bucket" come from hangings (kicking the bucket out from under someone)?

I though it was about hanging and kicking the bucket underneath.

Origin

We all know what a bucket is - and so this phrase appears rather odd. Why should kicking one be associated with dying?

The link between buckets and death was made by at least 1785, when the phrase was defined in Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue:

"To kick the bucket, to die."

One theory as to why, albeit with little evidence to support it, is that the phrase originates from the notion that people hanged themselves by standing on a bucket with a noose around their neck and then kicking the bucket away. There are no citations that relate the phrase to suicide and, in any case, why a bucket? Whenever I've needed something to stand on I can't recall ever opting for a bucket. This theory doesn't stand up any better than the supposed buckets did.

The mist begins to clear with the fact that in 16th century England bucket had an additional meaning (and in some parts it still has), i.e. a beam or yoke used to hang or carry items. The term may have been introduced into English from the French trébuchet - meaning a balance, or buque - meaning a yoke. That meaning of bucket was referred to in Peter Levins' Manipulus vocabulorum. A dictionarie of English and Latine wordes, 1570:

"A Bucket, beame, tollo."

and was used by Shakespeare in Henry IV Part II, 1597:

"Swifter then he that gibbets on the Brewers Bucket." [to gibbet meant to hang]

The wooden frame that was used to hang animals up by their feet for slaughter was called a bucket. Not unnaturally they were likely to struggle or to spasm after death and hence 'kick the bucket'.

Kick the bucket: people were sometimes hanged by having them stand on an overurned bucket...which was then kicked away.

As an architect, it annoys me to hear such phrases as "the architect of the Iraq war surge"

Meaning

To die.

Origin

We all know what a bucket is - and so this phrase appears rather odd. Why should kicking one be associated with dying?

The link between buckets and death was made by at least 1785, when the phrase was defined in Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue:

"To kick the bucket, to die."

One theory as to why, albeit with little evidence to support it, is that the phrase originates from the notion that people hanged themselves by standing on a bucket with a noose around their neck and then kicking the bucket away. There are no citations that relate the phrase to suicide and, in any case, why a bucket? Whenever I've needed something to stand on I can't recall ever opting for a bucket. This theory doesn't stand up any better than the supposed buckets did.

The mist begins to clear with the fact that in 16th century England bucket had an additional meaning (and in some parts it still has), i.e. a beam or yoke used to hang or carry items. The term may have been introduced into English from the French trébuchet - meaning a balance, or buque - meaning a yoke. That meaning of bucket was referred to in Peter Levins' Manipulus vocabulorum. A dictionarie of English and Latine wordes, 1570:

"A Bucket, beame, tollo."

and was used by Shakespeare in Henry IV Part II, 1597:

"Swifter then he that gibbets on the Brewers Bucket." [to gibbet meant to hang]

The wooden frame that was used to hang animals up by their feet for slaughter was called a bucket. Not unnaturally they were likely to struggle or to spasm after death and hence 'kick the bucket'.

See other phrases and sayings from Shakespeare.

I figure that starting a sentence with "So" is a bit like starting with "Anyway"(or--gag--"anyways") as if the speaker had been interrupted (perhaps by ME!) and he had more, and more important, things to say. Perhaps it's an attempt to put the listener at ease, as if he/she had been in on the previous conversation. It seems to be a Facebook/IM/young person affectation, too.

I have noticed the word, "impacted," being used frequently in interviews, in the workplace, etc. As in, "I was impacted by ...." Isn't the proper word effected? All I can think of when the word "impacted" is used is constipation, which is not a nice image. Impacted drives me crazy!

My pet peeve is hearing people say mischievous as "mischievious"... why do they do that?

Al Gore danced the Macarena, the group dance craze that appeared circa 1996, not the Lambada.

Also, I work with a lot of British people who use "firstly," "secondly," ... "lastly" very often.

Why has "At the end of the day..." come into such popular use in recent times as a way to wrap up a point? Even Journalists use it. It is such a literary and conversational cop out in my opinion.

pet peeve: when people use the word 'anxious' to mean 'eager.' i rarely ever hear someone use the word 'anxious' properly anymore.

I have been corrected when saying "Anyways" when trying to change the topic and am told that that word does not exist and that I should be using "Anyway". Which is correct? Both or neither?

Hey David Kaplan from New Jersey who wrote "I was criticized for using too many hyphens, which I thought appropriately used to denote a pause longer than a comma." If you were using hyphens, you were correctly criticized. They should never be used in that way. Maybe you meant em-dashes, which are often ok.

I heard it through the Grapevide.

There is a restaurant in New York that has an article on the wall that says it was called "the Grapevine" and it was a favorite hang out or artists and the like. So when people would say that they heard it through the grapevine They were referring to that pub. Everything I read says that the term came from Telegraph from civil war.

Your guests often call in and say "what i wanted to say was" or "my question was"... which seems a silly way to introduce a question that still is...

A speaker -- an English teacher -- said "We are Acme Company, and Acme Company is we.” Shouldn't that have been "Acme Company is us?"

Or is the use of "we" in this example actually correct? Is so, why? And is there a way to construct a sentence like this so that the use of the word "we" would be correct?

Thanks!

Who gets to set the rules for American English useage?

The Staples Catalog in my office has the section of mouses labeled 'mice'

Whoops, apparently CH had the same idea as I did.

Here's another thing: why do people combine "a lot" into one word, "alot"? This is incorrect in every instance, right?

OK, here's my peeve: general consensus or consensus of opinion are rearing their ugly heads even among very educated people. I hear it often on NPR. Consensus means general opinion, and its misuse used to be about as unacceptable as irregardless.
I know it's hopeless to fight these things, but I hate seeing a really useful concise word get ravaged. (Look whar happened to momentarily. )

mouse vs MICE

In 25 years in the computer industry I have OFTEN upgraded the MICE in my user's computers.

I have NEVER replaced the mouses in their computers.

Does anyone know where the phrase "kicking the bucket" came from?

Hi,

I've heard at least two different pronunciations for the word banal -bahnal, bey-nal...

Which is correct? Thanks!

I meant to say where did we break from Brits (and Canadians) who say "different to" instead of "different from"

When I was younger, I can recall being taught to spell 'dilemna' not 'dilemma'. Am I remembering incorrectly? The spelling I find prevalent is the latter and I always find myself silently correcting what I believe to be typos. Please end my confusion. Thank you.

P.S. You are one the most enjoyable guests on WNYC.

Re: jingo -- EtymOnline.com has this to say:

"As an asseveration, it was in colloquial use since 1694, and is apparently yet another euphemism for Jesus, influenced by conjurer's gibberish presto-jingo (1670). The suggestion that it somehow derives from Basque Jinko "god" is "not impossible," but "as yet unsupported by evidence" [OED]."

Why do NYC'ers say "a pizza pie" while elsewhere the whole pie is simply referred to as a "pizza"?

My wife sometimes uses the phrase "any more" in a way that always sounds funny to me. I'm used to hearing it used in a "negative" context i.e., "we don't go to that store any more", while she uses it a "positive" context, "I always forget my car keys any more". Seems to a kind of be positive vs. negative use, but the positive use sounds very strange to me. What is the correct use? Is it just a regional thing?

"Jingo" etymology possibilities:
(http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=jingo&searchmode=none,)

jingo
"mindless, gung-ho patriot," 1878, picked up from the refrain of a music hall song written by G.W. Hunt supporting aggressive British policy toward Russia at a time of international tension. ("We don't want to fight, But by Jingo! if we do, We've got the ships, we've got the men, We've got the money too.") As an asseveration, it was in colloquial use since 1694, and is apparently yet another euphemism for Jesus, influenced by conjurer's gibberish presto-jingo (1670). The suggestion that it somehow derives from Basque Jinko "god" is "not impossible," but "as yet unsupported by evidence" [OED].

"Soft soaping" Have you heard this one before. My grandfather would use it to characterize someone who is trying to pursuade with slippery B.S. As in, "he was soft-soaping me with all that jargon"

"Different than" (rather than "different from") followed by a noun rather than a clause is now an epidemic, spreading rapidly. I wish Patricia would be more prescriptive rather than just saying, "Change happens."

That "r" on the end of words ending in "a" is a Boston accent, I believe. I think it is also common in some British English. As a child I had a Bostonian friend named Donna whose mother would yell, "Donner, come in for dinner."

"Online" versus "In line..."

When I'm waiting to be served at the bank or at Starbucks, I'm one of the minority who believes that I'm in line as opposed to "online." There is a line of people in which I'm standing. There is not a line painted on the floor "on which" I'm standing.

Am I correct?

Please ask about LAY vs. LIE. Everybody says "I'm going to lay down" but that ain't correct, right?

Along the lines of a couple of: I also remember my parents and grandparents saying "a dozen of eggs," whish seems to have been universally replaced by "a dozen eggs."

When will people find the pronounciation of "ask" as "axe" as being unacceptable? Why is it that I am hearing " axe you , axe you "

I always hear "vulnerable" pronounced "vunnerable". Is this correct pronounciation?

"Factoid"! This one drives me crazy! Her new book is of "factoids," in the correct sense: facts that are generally considered true but are not. It is NOT a small fact. Consider "humanoid" v. "human." Patricia then used the word both correctly and incorrectly in the next sentence.

Or maybe I'm wrong and my use of factoid is my use of factoid.

Why have people started saying "ahead of" instead of "before?"

How about "supposedly" often pronounced with a "b" instead of a "d" thus being pronounce - "supposably"

not wanting to "be hating",
but do I ever hate the phrase :
"...having said that..."

"Absolutely!" isn't so odd, it's just our current version of "Indeed!", "Certainly!", etc.

Im curious about the use of " an" as in "an historic event" I always thought it was "a historic event " I thought an was only used before a vowel.

one of my pet peeves is the all-too-common mispronounciation of the word "realtor." most of the time, you hear it pronounced "re-LA-tor"

Which is correct: "bored of" or "bored with"?

What's the difference between "a" and "per"? (E.g. 5 miles _per_ hour, a dime _a_ dozen.)

But then teh Brits say "different to"!!!

The way to remember this is:

There is a "jewel" in jewelry

My high school biology teacher always pronounced words ending in "a" with an "er" pronounciation. for instance, she called ameobas 'ameebers.' she would also reverse this, by pronouncing words ending in 'er' with an 'a' for example: she is my fitness trainuh.

whats up with that?

Why do so many people pronounce "idea" IDEA-R, with an "r" at the end?
it sounds horrible, even to an Italian!

Patricia made the allegation that the grade level ratings were political, but politicians in fact construct their speeches for as low a grade level as possible, so as to appeal to as large a section of the population as possible. The 10nth grade level rating achieved by Palin is actually an undesirable thing, as it lends itself to misunderstanding by many people. Thanks.

I'm in a writing group. After submitting a story, I was criticized for using too many hyphens, which I thought appropriately used to denote a pause longer than a comma.

Reading essays by Willaim Styron I found eleven hyphens on two consecutive pages.

What is appropriate?

I saw a commercial last night and the following was said "you can send e-mail from Spain." Is it email or emails? Mail is singular and plural (right?) but is it different for email?

Patricia-

Can we please please call for the demise of "oftentimes."
It's not a word. Or, at least, it wasn't a word.
"often" works just fine.
People say it constantly.. Save some of that breath!

When did the word "veteran" become "vetrin"? I hear if all the time including NPR journalists.

Can you recommend a book that will help me understand Shakespearean English?

Thanks.

Have you discussed this before? The "reason why" seems to be commonly used, but surely it should either be "the reason" or "why". Example: That was the reason I did it. or That was why I did it.

Thanks for the great show.

I went to "the" prom in high school and now it seems to me that people simply go to prom. What happened to "the"?

I've been wondering what happened to "a" when referring to conditions like heart attacks and strokes. Pharmaceutical advertising frequently uses phrases like "If you suffer from heart attack or if you suffer from stroke as if those words are conditions like cancer. It sounds strange to me with out the "a" as in suffered a heart attack or from a stroke.

I've always wondered why New Yorkers stand "on line" while everyone else stands "in line."
thanks!

Hi,

This is one of my favorite segments.

Where does bye-bye come from? Where does the word Ooops come from?

Why are words like mom and dad similar in multiple languages?

Thanks,
-jg.