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SAYING THE WORLD

Program 10-05-30-A

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A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but you still need a word to describe that glorious smell. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, Saying the World. We'll try out new words from the online world with a New York Times language blogger - words like YakkaWow and suicide cuisine. Also, the rise of a new world language called Globish.

SEGMENT 1:

As the world gets smaller, cultural collisions are all around us, including the language that surrounds us. We're constantly searching for new and better ways to communicate. Blogger Ben Schott's job for the New York Times is to troll the internet for new and noteworthy words. He tells Steve Paulson these words tell us volumes about the times we live in.

SEGMENT 2:

When most of us are having trouble find the right words to make sense of the world, we turn to writers. They usually let their books do the talking, but occasionally we get to hear it straight from the authors themselves. Richard Fairmont recently produced a set of CDs for the BBC that include rare recordings of the prominent writers. They're called "The Spoken Word: British Writers" and "The Spoken Word: American Writers." Fairmont tells Steve Paulson all about it. Also, the search for a common tongue has moved us in many directions. To the surprise of many, English has filled in the gaps, or at least a version of English. Robert McCrum is the author of "Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language." He tells Jim Fleming how English became Globish.

SEGMENT 3:

In such a complex world, sometimes simple is best, and what could be simpler than a bumper sticker? Menlo School philosophy teacher Jack Bowen isn't fooled, however. In in book "If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers," he points out that restricting yourself to eight or nine words can be far more complex than you would expect. He tells Anne Strainchamps how he got interested in bumper stickers.

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 10-03-07-A.

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Books & CDs:

Jack Bowen, If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers (Random House)
Robert McCrum, Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language (Norton)
-CD: The Spoken Word: British Writers/ BBC/ The British Library Board
-CD: The Spoken Word: American Writers/ BBC/ The British Library Board

Websites:

• -Schott's Vocab Blog:
  http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/
  http://www.benschott.com/en/index2.html

Music:

• -Going the Distance/ Menahan Street Band/ Make the Road by Walking/ Menahan Street Band
  
• -Thriftstore Jewelry/ The Bad Plus/ Prog/ Do the Math Records
  
• -Alexander the Great/ Bond/Bond/Decca
  
• -Big Eater/The Bad Plus/These are the Vistas/ Sony

Distribution dates: week of 05/22/2011 - hour 2 week of 05/30/2010 - hour 1 click HERE for timings and cues

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: ttbook@wpr.org

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