A Way with Words

A lively hour-long public radio show and podcast about language examined through history, culture, and family. Each week, author/journalist Martha Barnette and lexicographer/linguist Grant Barrett talk with callers about slang, old sayings, new words, grammar, word origins, regional dialects, family expressions, and speaking and writing well.

Co-host/co-producer Martha Barnette is the author of reader-friendly books on word origins. She has a background in ancient Greek and Latin, studied Spanish in Costa Rica, and worked as a newspaper reporter for major metropolitan dailies. Raised in the South, she now lives in San Diego, where she’s often found hiking mountain trails and performing with an improv comedy troupe.

Co-host/co-producer Grant Barrett (he/him) is a US lexicographer and linguist specializing in slang and new words. He has helped produce dozens of dictionaries for Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and most recently as the head of lexicography for Dictionary.com, and has authored three books of his own. He’s a voracious reader, knows a fair amount of French and Spanish, and spent years working in the jargon-rich jungles of information technology and journalism. Though born and raised in Missouri, and having been a long-time resident of New York City, Grant now lives in San Diego, California, with his wife, also an editor, linguist, and lexicographer, and their son.