Metafilter mentioned on A Way With Words again.

December 18, 2010 1:44 PM

Looks like the public radio show A Way With Words really loves AskMe. Previously.
posted by kmz to MetaFilter-Related at 1:44 PM (19 comments total)

Uh, yes, I do love Metafilter. I've been here since 1999... :)
posted by Mo Nickels at 4:41 PM on December 18, 2010 [20 favorites]

No! Now you've got his attention!

HAVEN'T YOU READ THE FAQ?
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 5:00 PM on December 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh my goodness, I didn't know Mo Nickels was Grant Barrett! That's fantastic. A Way With Words got me through many a cold, lonely morning in my apartment this year. Thank you, Mo Nickels!
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 6:10 PM on December 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Love the show, and I'm thrilled to learn that Grant Barrett is MeFi's Own™ Grant Barrett. What is the proper term for a member of MetaFilter with a user number below 1000? 0Ker? Three-digiter (well, for 100-999 at least)?
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:25 PM on December 18, 2010

I'd like to suggest '99er. (Well, for mathowie through mcollum, anyway)
posted by box at 8:33 PM on December 18, 2010

Huh. I've lived in Portland my whole life, and had no idea that "spendy" was not a universally common term. How weird.

I hadn't heard this show before, but I just listened to a few episodes, and it's pretty great. Now I have to do an archive binge. Thanks for making it, Grant.
posted by maqsarian at 9:03 PM on December 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Heh, the minute I moved to Oregon--the first stop after crossing the border, in fact--back in 96, I heard "spendy" used in a convenience store. First time. Still use it. Live in Seoul now.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 1:04 AM on December 19, 2010

Huh, yeah. I had no idea "spendy" was a regionalism.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:49 AM on December 19, 2010

Weird, I thought "spendy" was a Minnesota thing.
posted by beandip at 8:51 AM on December 19, 2010

Yep, it wasn't until last year that I learned that "spendy" is not common outside of the Pacific Northwest. Weird indeed.
posted by D.C. at 10:43 AM on December 19, 2010

According to Merriam-Webster "spendy" is first attested in 1985, so it's not even that old (though it probably precedes its first appearance in print by a number of years). Searching on Google Books I find some uses of "spendy" meaning someone who spends a lot predating 1985, and some Canadian thing called a "spendy" that people organize (1, 2), but "spendy" meaning expensive seems to be a fairly recent Pacific-Northwestism.
posted by Kattullus at 11:25 AM on December 19, 2010

I'm cringing: I have used several of those expressions without having picked up the biting undertones.
posted by francesca too at 11:30 AM on December 19, 2010

I'm mildly confused. I use the term "spendy" to be mean expensive, and I'm from the UK, living in SoCal. Never even been to Oregon or Washington. Perhaps I have unwittingly been hanging around with some Pacific Northwesterners and picked it up!
posted by Joh at 2:18 PM on December 19, 2010

DevilsAdvocate: "What is the proper term for a member of MetaFilter with a user number below 1000?"
AWESOME. Thank you.
posted by maudlin at 2:50 PM on December 19, 2010

Spendy has always meant expensive to me (there is the optional rubbing of thumb and fingers when using it in person). I grew up in far Northern California. Lived in Austin for a while in the middle and now live in far Southern California. In my travels around the country I never remember anyone asking me what I meant when I said something was kinda spendy.
posted by birdherder at 3:34 PM on December 19, 2010

I grew up with "spendy" in ND.
posted by fake at 3:45 PM on December 19, 2010

Wasn't it: first you're spendy and then you get needy? Like, automatically?
posted by Namlit at 3:53 PM on December 19, 2010

Any user with a number less than 100 is probably a Cylon. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
posted by digitalprimate at 3:56 PM on December 19, 2010

I love that show!! Hooray Mo Nickels!
posted by snsranch at 9:37 AM on December 20, 2010 [1 favorite]