Words to the Wise

Go witness the 1,000th episode of the locally broadcast and longest-running radio program about words and language in the country

By Al Parker | June 26, 2021

It could be the setup for a corny joke: A former monk, English professor, and advocate for senior citizens walks into a radio station.

It’s a joke that only word geeks — local word geeks, in particular — might understand.

“Words to the Wise,” the locally broadcast and longest-running radio program about words and language in the country, focuses on the foibles of the English language. It is co-hosted by former monk Michael J. Sheehan, who is also an English professor and former member of the state Commission on Services to the Aging.

Affectionately known as “The Professor,” Sheehan has co-hosted the show with NewsTalk 580 WTCM morning host Ron Jolly at 9am Tuesdays for 20 years.

On Tuesday, July 6, the pair will broadcast their 1,000th episode. To celebrate the milestone, they’re broadcasting live from the City Opera House stage in Traverse City, and word geeks/language-lovers/argot aficionados/linguaphiles — well, you get the picture — are invited to hear and see the show. 

ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE
“Words to the Wise” is believed to be the only word-oriented show on commercial AM radio in the country, though there are similar shows on public radio, according to Sheehan. 

Nevertheless, each Tuesday, for just less than an hour, callers light up the local radio station’s switchboard to ask questions about quirks in the English language.

“Why do I park on a driveway, but drive on a parkway?”

“Where did the phrase ‘the whole nine yards’ come from?

“Why is there a p in pneumonia?”

And the most common question he gets: “Do I use affect or effect?”

These questions and more are usually answered on the spot by Sheehan, who taught English for 26 years in the City Colleges of Chicago.

Sometimes he’ll have to do some research and bring the answer back to listeners the following week.

“Tuesday from 9am to 10am is the highlight of my week on the radio,” says Jolly, who has been on air in the 7am–10am time slot since 1995.

“I become a listener and understand why so many people look forward to the prof’s program. He has a terrific sense of humor, a vast knowledge of English, Latin and language history, and a photographic memory,” he says, then adds, “His golf game could use some help.”

So what makes the show so popular?

“Insecurity,” says Sheehan, who lives in Cedar with his wife, Dona. “People want to know if they’re saying the word right; using it right.”

The radio show draws phone calls from listeners all over the WTCM broadcast area, who sometimes recognize him when he talks.

“I was walking through Munson [Medical Center] recently and talking with my wife,” Sheehan says. “All the sudden a nurse stopped me. ‘I recognize your voice,’ she says. ‘I love your show.’”

PROLOGUE
Sheehan is the author of several books on language and is working on the third edition of his dictionary, The Word Parts Dictionary, first published in 2000. He also maintained a language-related blog — verbmall.blogspot.com — until 2020. But his passion for words goes back decades further.

The 82-year-old grew up in Chicago reading the city’s vibrant newspapers of the 1950s and ‘60s. It was the glory days of such Chicago-based writers as Mike Royko and Studs Terkel. At the age of 14, Sheehan joined the Order of St. Augustine. After 13 years as a monk, he was ordained as a priest in 1965.

Chicago in the 1960s was a turbulent cauldron of social change. In 1966, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led a group of marchers into the all-white housing areas near Marquette Park, Sheehan was one of the marchers.

A crowd of some 4,000 Marquette Park residents gathered to watch the march and jeer, some throwing bottle, bricks, and rocks at the marchers.

“I didn’t walk alongside Dr. King, but I was part of the march,” Sheehan says.

Church officials did not look kindly on Sheehan’s social activism and assigned him to a mostly black parish. After serving for another year or so he made a career shift.

“I left the order in 1967 because of the racism and sexism I had to deal with,” he says.

A NEW CALLING
Sheehan soon landed a job teaching English at the City Colleges of Chicago’s Olive-Harvey College on the city’s south side.

“It’s a blue-collar community with a Sherwin-Williams paint plant, the Ford plant, other factories,” says Sheehan, who taught grammar and Shakespeare along with basic English classes.

Sheehan retired in 1994, but early on in his retirement, Sheehan found he required something besides his dog, Boo, and his golf game to keep him busy. He soon got involved in myriad issues important to senior citizens. Recognizing his service on the local level, Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed him to the state commission on services to the aging. He was reappointed by Gov. Rick Snyder.

Sheehan’s work ethic and energy might not be visible to his listeners, but they’ve certainly made an impact on his longtime co-host.

“He’s been a great friend and radio partner,” says Jolly, who adds he’s learned a lot from listening to Sheehan himself.

“Like the ‘T’ in often should not be pronounced, and you ‘take’ something with you, but you ‘bring’ something home,” Jolly says. “There are a lot of awful puns out there.”

Exemplifying how much language means to him, Sheehan signs off each show with this nugget of wordy wisdom for listeners: “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.”

Interested in catching the live broadcast? Tickets ($10 each) for the 1,000th Episode of WTCM’s “Words to the Wise,” broadcasting from 9am to 10am Tuesday, July 6, at the City Opera House can be purchased at www.cityoperahouse.org or at the box office at 106 E. Front St.

FALL FORWARD
May Erlewine at COH in September
Local favorite May Erlewine, one of the Midwest’s most prolific and passionate songwriters, will take the City Opera House stage for a single night’s performance on Thursday, September 16. Erlewine’s broad and devoted fan base extends well beyond her deep-set Michigan roots, so an early ticket purchase is recommended. Tickets — $50 VIP or $20 Reserved — are available at www.cityoperahouse.org. Doors open at 6:30pm; the show begins at 7:30pm.