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Podcast: A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Episode: Coast Is Clear (Rebroadcast) - 27 November 2017
Description: In the military, if you’ve lost the bubble, then you can’t find your bearings. The term first referred to calibrating the position of aircraft and submarines. • The phrase the coast is clear may originate in watching for invaders arriving by sea. • A dispute over how to pronounce the name of a savory avocado dip. • One more place where people are starting sentences with the word so — during prayers at church. • Also: elbow clerk, smitten, Tennyson’s brook, fussbudget vs. fussbucket, clinomania, and 50 k’s south of Woop Woop. Read full show notes, hear hundreds of free episodes, send your thought...