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'Friends with Words' explores the origin of everyday language

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom
Published August 5, 2025 at 11:55 AM EDT
The cover of "Friends with Words" and author Martha Barnette. (Courtesy of Abrams Press and Esther Leeflang)
Courtesy of Abrams Press and Esther Leeflang
The cover of "Friends with Words" and author Martha Barnette. (Courtesy of Abrams Press and Esther Leeflang)

Editor’s note: This segment was rebroadcast on Jan. 14, 2026. Click here for that audio.

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.

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Here & Now Newsroom