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'Friends with Words' explores the origin of everyday language

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom
Published August 5, 2025 at 8:55 AM PDT
The cover of "Friends with Words" and author Martha Barnette. (Courtesy of Abrams Press and Esther Leeflang)
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The cover of "Friends with Words" and author Martha Barnette. (Courtesy of Abrams Press and Esther Leeflang)

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.

Copyright 2025 WBUR

Here & Now Newsroom