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Episode: ‘Friends with Words’ — A Deep Dive into Language with Martha Barnett

Date: September 3, 2025
Host: Peter O’Dowd (Here & Now, NPR)
Guest: Martha Barnett—Author of Friends with Words, Co-host of Away with Words

Episode Overview

This episode celebrates the quirky, fascinating, and deeply human side of language. Host Peter O'Dowd sits down with word expert Martha Barnett to discuss her new book, Friends with Words, which explores word origins, the evolution of language, and regional dialects. Rather than scolding over grammar, Barnett argues that curiosity and joy are the most enriching ways to engage with language.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Linguistic Curiosity over Grammar Policing

• The conversation begins with a listener’s complaint about the misuse of the word “unique.” O'Dowd asks Barnett if the show should issue a correction.
  • Martha Barnett [03:14]:

    "I give you all a dispensation saying unique that way. Most unique, very unique. It's just not a problem anymore. There are degrees, actually, of words like that. And we like to say on Away with Words that talking about your grammatical pet peeves is the least interesting part of talking about language."

• Barnett emphasizes that language is about much more than rules. She's interested in origins, regionalisms, and personal idiosyncrasies.

The Spark of Linguistic Passion

• Barnett traces her own fascination back to her formative years:
  • Martha Barnett [04:07]:

    "I inherited that from both of my parents who were educators. But when I was in Latin class in ninth grade, I had what I call a spark word...and that was the word cras, and it means tomorrow in Latin. And I thought, wait a minute, cras. Is that any relation to procrastinate? And so I ran to the dictionary, found out that indeed, procrastinate is literally to put something off until tomorrow."

• She likens this kind of discovery to finding a “spark bird”—something that forever opens your mind to a whole new world.

A Bird’s Eye View of Language Families

• Struggling with Ancient Greek in college led to insight rather than defeat:
  • Martha Barnett [05:14]:

    "I ended up finding a fabulous tutor...gave me a bird's eye view of languages that spring from proto Indo European, which accounts for nearly half of the languages spoken in the world...all these languages that are connected, like Greek and Russian and Italian and Irish and English."

Origins of Familiar Words

• “Broadcast”: The word originates in agriculture.
  • Barnett [06:05]:

    "Broadcasting literally...meant to scatter seeds...as opposed to just putting them in the ground individually...If you're broadcasting, you're casting it far and wide."

  • Other agricultural words: “aftermath” also comes up, referring to the grass left after the first mowing.
• “Sifuncified”: An American-ism for “I’m full.”
  • Barnett [06:45]:

    "So fonsified is sort of a fancy way of saying, I've had enough to eat. It's kind of an Americanism that came up at a time when people were...having fun with English and making up words that attempt to sound more like Latin...takes different forms because it's not written down. Usually it's something that's passed on mouth to ear."

Favorite Words and Their Stories

• Martha’s Favorite: “Mellifluous”
  • Barnett [07:53]:

    "My favorite word, I think, is mellifluous...the word mellifluous comes from Latin, words that literally mean flowing with honey...if somebody has a mellifluous voice in the picturesque original sense, it meant flowing with honey."

Words That People Love to Hate

• “Moist”—the word listeners can’t stand.
  • [08:54]: Listener dramatically spells out the word "M O I S T."
  • Barnett [09:22]:

    "Linguists have actually looked into this...they saw that it was associated with words that might make people a little bit uncomfortable. It has to do with the context in which that term is often found, and it just sort of skeeves some people."

The Detective Work of Historical Linguistics

• How we know word histories:
  • Barnett [10:11]:

    "It's in the same way that an archaeologist will see...the lip of a jar...Historical linguists have been able to trace so many of these words that we use every day back to this prehistoric language, Proto Indo European...For example, the word for three in so many different languages...Spanish, tres, and French, trois. And...there's Grimm's Law, which...tells you that certain letters tend to correspond with each other...you start to see these correspondences."

  • She likens etymology to being a linguistic detective—piecing together small clues for a fuller understanding.

The Story Behind “Boycott”

• Barnett [11:41]:

  • "Boycott ... comes from the name of someone, Charles Boycott, who was a British military officer who went to Ireland to enforce evicting poor tenant farmers...the Irish rose up and ... systematically shunning him and ostracizing him...he wrote a letter to a London newspaper complaining...this letter got published and as one Irish writer said, like a comet, the verb boycott appeared."

Memorable Quotes

• On language policing:
  • “Talking about your grammatical pet peeves is the least interesting part of talking about language.” — Martha Barnett [03:20]
• On word origins:
  • “I had a spark word, and that was the word cras, and it means tomorrow in Latin...procrastinate is literally to put something off until tomorrow.” — Martha Barnett [04:13]
• On mellifluous:
  • “In the picturesque original sense, it meant flowing with honey.” — Martha Barnett [08:15]
• On “moist”:
  • “It just sort of skeeves some people.” — Martha Barnett [09:29]
• On etymology:
  • “It's in the same way that an archaeologist will see, like, the lip of a jar, and they can discern how that jar must have looked.” — Martha Barnett [10:12]
• On “boycott”:
  • “...like a comet, the verb boycott appeared.” — Martha Barnett [12:34]

Notable Moments with Timestamps

• [03:14] — Martha Barnett’s rationale for not being a “grammar bully.”
• [04:07] — The origin of Barnett’s word-nerd obsession: discovering “procrastinate.”
• [05:49] — Surprising origins: “broadcast” and “aftermath.”
• [06:45] — On the invented American word “sifuncified.”
• [07:53] — Barnett shares her favorite word, “mellifluous.”
• [08:54] — A listener’s dramatic spelling and hatred of “moist,” plus Barnett’s analysis.
• [10:11] — How linguists trace the genealogy of words.
• [11:41] — The true story behind the word “boycott.”

Tone & Takeaways

Barnett’s style is warm, witty, and infectious. She delights in wordplay and encourages listeners to approach language with curiosity rather than rules. The episode is peppered with playful banter, etymological revelations, and cultural connections that will make both language lovers and everyday speakers see everyday words in a fascinating new light.

Final Thoughts

Friends with Words invites readers and listeners to step away from grammar nitpicking and instead look at the evolving, communal, and surprising journey of the words we use. For anyone who’s ever wondered, “where does that word come from?” or delighted in the peculiarities of dialect, this episode is a reminder to approach language not as a fixed set of rules, but as an ever-changing, shared adventure.