Fig. 1. Still from A Way with Words website.   This podcast episode of A Way With Words begins with a discussion about a fascinating group of compound words. Normally, compound words consist of two words that make up one idea or thing, such as houseboat and steamboat which are both a type of boat. However, there are some compound words whose definition comes from describing what they do, not by what the two words mean together.  For example, scarecrow is not a type of crow, nor is pickpocket a type of pocket.   enturies ago, it was in fashion to create a word by combining two words and making up a whole new word, and around 1200 new words were created. They are called Cutthroat Compounds, but some of the created words have fallen out of common use. These compound words are aptly named for the word cutthroat as it is not a type of throat. Some examples of Cutthroat Compounds are: saddle-goose – silly person scrapegut – violinist tanglelegs – a ...

Fig. 1. Still from A Way With Words. I am new to A Way With Words’ YouTube channel, and while I often go to the beginning of a channel to get a better idea of its content, this time I watched/listened to the most recent uploaded entry titled, “Care Package.” Narrated in podcast style, its creators, author/journalist Martha Barnette and linguist/lexicographer Grant Barrett, talk about everything language, including questions and sharing stories.     CARE PACKAGE: In this particular episode, they explore the origins of the several words and phrases, one of them being Care Package. The hosts explain that it was actually an acronym for an organization formed in 1946 called Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe. This organization formed to fight poverty and hunger during WWII. In essence, they sent food and items overseas to people who were in need, but within time, the organization sent food and items all over the world. ...