Hang a Salami - 12 May 2014

<p>This week on "A Way with Words":  What's so special about the phrase Sit on a pan, Otis!? It's an example of a palindrome -- a word or phrase that's spelled the same backwards as it is forwards. This year's contest known as the Oscars of the palindrome world inspires some clever, even poetic, surprises. Plus, tips for raising a child to be bilingual.  And what was the search engine Google called BEFORE it was called Google? Also, spelunking slang, hissy fits, language vs. dialect, persons vs. people, French folds, phthalates, and I don't care if it harelips the governor! <br /><br />FULL DETAILS<br /><br />A palindrome is a word or phrase that reads the same both backwards and forwards, like the title of the book Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog! The SymmyS Awards, bestowed by The Palindromist Magazine are the Oscars of the palindrome world. Recent winners included one called "Espresso Rescue": Had a tonic? Cuppa cappuccino, ta-dah!<br /><br />Bilingual schools can be great for helping children become bilingual, but the best way to fully get there is through complete immersion over a long period of time.<br /><br />Hissy fits, or frivolous tantrums often associated with girls, particularly in the Southern United States, probably derive from the word hysterical. An Alabama caller started thinking about the origin of this word after learning of the opening of a nearby store called Hissy Fit Boutique.<br /><br />Word-unit palindromes are palindromes where all the words read the same back and forth, like this SymmyS winner, titled "Cold Feet at the Altar": Say I do? What do I do? What do I say?!<br /><br />Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski serenades us with a game of rewritten lyrics for Disney's Frozen.<br /><br />Before the search engine Google, there was the word googol. As mathematician Edward Kasner recounts in his book Mathematics and the Imagination, he asked his 9-year-old nephew Milton to coin a word for a huge number, specifically 10 to the 100th power, and that's what the youngster came up with. A googly, o