&lt;p&gt;[This episode first aired April 10, 2010.]&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SUMMARY&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A few pickles short of a jar, a few peas short of a casserole, two French fries short of a Happy Meal -- this week, Martha and Grant discuss these and other full-deckisms, those clever ways to describe someone who falls short in some way. Also, what&#039;s the story behind the old phrase &quot;fish or cut bait&quot;? When does the word &quot;it&#039;s&quot; have an apostrophe? And is &quot;That&#039;s a good question&quot; really a good response?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;FULL DISCRIPTION&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&quot;Not the brightest bulb in the Christmas tree lights,&quot; &quot;The wind is blowing but nothing&#039;s moving,&quot; &quot;A few tacos short of a combo platter.&quot; After Grant tells a story on himself, the hosts discuss euphemistic ways of saying someone&#039;s not playing with a full deck.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Is it ever okay to write the word it&#039;s to indicate the possessive? Is the correct sentence &quot;The dog is chewing its bone,&quot; or &quot;The dog is chewing it&#039;s bone&quot;?&amp;nbsp; It&#039;s easy to figure out once you know the formula: It&#039;s = it is. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;By the way, Grant mentions that there&#039;s an ice cream called &quot;It&#039;s It.&quot; Here &quot;it&quot; is:&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;http://www.itsiticecream.com/media.cfm&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Fish or cut bait. What does it mean, exactly? Stop fishing and cut your line, or stop fishing and do something else useful, like cutting bait?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In an earlier episode, we discussed linguistic false friends, those words in foreign languages that look like familiar English words, but mean something quite different.&lt;br /&gt;Martha reads an email response from a listener who learned the hard way that in Norway &quot;Tann Paste&quot; is not the same as &quot;tanning cream.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;http://www.waywordradio.org/a-gazelle-on-the-lawn/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Quiz Guy Greg Pliska has a puzzle called &quot;Categorical Allies.&quot; After he says a word, you must come up with second word that&#039;s in the same category, and begins with the last two letters of the original word. For example, if he says &quot;Sampras,&quot; then the category is tennis, and the second word is &quot;Ashe.&quot; Now try this first clue: &quot;Sacramento.&quot; The second word would be . . . ?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If someone says, &quot;That&#039;s a good question,&quot; do you find it annoying or insincere?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A Texas caller wonders about the origin and meaning of the term ultra-crepidarian.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Grant shares an entomological--not etymological--riddle.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The expression It&#039;ll never be seen on a galloping horse means &quot;Don&#039;t be such a perfectionist.&quot; But why? A caller remembers an even odder version: It&#039;ll never be seen on a galloping goose.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In an earlier episode, a caller named Todd said that people are forever calling him Scott. He wondered if there was some linguistic reason that people so often confused these names. Grant does a follow-up on why people sometimes mix up names.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;http://www.waywordradio.org/sailors-delight/&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You&#039;re struggling to live on a budget. Are you trying to make ends meet, or make ends meat?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The hosts offer some more full-deckisms, such as &quot;He doesn&#039;t have all his cornflakes in one box&quot; and &quot;She thought she couldn&#039;t use her AM radio in the evening.&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A San Francisco man confesses he routinely pronounces the word &quot;both&quot; as &quot;bolth.&quot; Grant gives him the results of an informal online survey that shows the caller he&#039;s not alone -- some 10 percent of respondents said they do the same thing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Is there a single word that sums up the idea of morbid fascination?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;--&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donate&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Get your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Email: words@waywordradio.org&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Phone: &lt;br /&gt;United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673&lt;br /&gt;London +44 20 7193 2113&lt;br /&gt;Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donate&lt;br /&gt;Site: http://waywordradio.org/&lt;br /&gt;Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/&lt;br /&gt;Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/&lt;br /&gt;Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/&lt;br /&gt;Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/&lt;br /&gt;Skype: skype://waywordradio &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Copyright 2011, Wayword LLC.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;feedflare&quot;&gt;
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