© 2025 Texas Public Radio
Real. Reliable. Texas Public Radio.
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
KCTI-AM/FM is off-air due to damage from a lightning strike. We are working to restore service as quickly as possible.

'Friends with Words' explores the origin of everyday language

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom
Published August 5, 2025 at 10:55 AM CDT
The cover of "Friends with Words" and author Martha Barnette. (Courtesy of Abrams Press and Esther Leeflang)
/
The cover of "Friends with Words" and author Martha Barnette. (Courtesy of Abrams Press and Esther Leeflang)

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd speaks with radio show co-host and podcaster Martha Barnette. In her show “A Way with Words” and her new book “Friends with Words: Adventures in Languageland,” Barnette explores the origins of words like “boycott” and “mellifluous” as well as her own love of language.

Book excerpt: ‘Friends with Words’

By Martha Barnette

Excerpted from “Friends With Words: Adventures in Languageland” by Martha Barnette. Copyright © 2025 by Martha Barnette. Published and reprinted by permission of Abrams Press. All rights reserved.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2025 WBUR

Tags
Here & Now
Here & Now Newsroom