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to A Way With Words:
Irreverent
Insults 3:14 A Way With Words Language
is essential in selling a product, particularly when targeting an
international market. General Motors learned this the hard way.
When the auto giant introduced the Chevy Nova in South America,
GM apparently was unaware that no va means "it won't go"
in Spanish. After the company figured out why the cars weren't selling
in Spanish-speaking markets, it changed the name to Caribe, meaning
Caribbean. "A Way With Words" is a KPBS Radio production hosted by Richard Lederer and Charles Harrington Elster. Richard Lederer is the author of more than 3,000 books and articles about language and humor, including his best-selling Anguished English series. Dr. Lederer's syndicated column, "Looking at Language," appears in newspapers and magazines throughout the United States. He
has been elected International Punster of the Year and been profiled
in magazines as diverse as The New Yorker, People, and the National
Enquirer. He is language columnist for The Toastmaster, Pages and
the Farmers' Almanac. Charles Harrington Elster is the author of several books about language such as "There’s a Word for It!", "The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations", and "Tooth and Nail." Elster was pronunciation editor for
the acclaimed seventh edition of Black’s Law Dictionary ,
and a consulting editor for Bryan A. Garner’s Dictionary of
Modern American Usage. Elster is an occasional guest contributor
to The New York Times Magazine ’s "On Language"
column, and his articles have appeared in The Wall Street Journal
, the Los Angeles Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and other
publications. He has been interviewed on NPR’s Talk of the
Nation ,Weekend Edition , and All Things Considered and been a guest
on hundreds of radio shows around the country. |