Why 'forte' has three pronunciations. What is 'playing the dozens'? Ornish

Why 'forte' has three pronunciations. What is 'playing the dozens'? Ornish

1156. This week, we look at the pronunciation chaos surrounding "forte" and "pianoforte," from the French fencing term meaning "strong point" to the Italian musical direction meaning "loud." Then, we look at "playing the dozens" — the African American insult game with a mysterious origin.

🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.

🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)

🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.

🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.

🔗 Take our advertising survey.

🔗 Get the edited transcript.

🔗 Get Grammar Girl books.

| HOST: Mignon Fogarty

| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.

  • Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend
  • Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
  • Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
  • Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
  • Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb

| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.

| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episoder(1012)

381 GG Prepositions

381 GG Prepositions

The fascinating history of English prepositions (yes, really). If you are trying to learn about prepositions, try Grammar Girl's new iPad game called Grammar Pop. You match words with their part of sp...

30 Aug 20137min

380 GG Participles and Gerunds

380 GG Participles and Gerunds

Prove you know your parts of speech with the new iPad game Grammar Pop. You don't have to know the difference between participles and gerunds to play, but if you're up to the challenge, it's there wai...

22 Aug 20138min

379 GG Apostrophes in Science Fiction and Fantasy Names

379 GG Apostrophes in Science Fiction and Fantasy Names

Who started it and why? Get Grammar Girl's books at http://j.mp/allGGbooks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

15 Aug 20136min

378 GG Apostrophes and Plurals

378 GG Apostrophes and Plurals

Learn how to use apostrophes by pondering a Victoria's Secret ad. Buy Grammar Girl's books: http://j.mp/allGGbooks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

9 Aug 20137min

377 GG Royal "We"

377 GG Royal "We"

In honor of the new royal baby, more formally known as Prince George Alexander Louis, we're pondering a pompous pronoun choice known as the "royal we." Buy Grammar Girl's books at http://j.mp/allGGboo...

2 Aug 20136min

376 GG Why Do We Have Both A and An?

376 GG Why Do We Have Both A and An?

How English evolved to give us two indefinite articles (a and an), and the odd mix of possessive pronouns that don't quite match. Buy Grammar Girl's books: http://j.mp/allGGbooks Hosted on Acast. See ...

19 Jul 20137min

375 GG What Is It Called When You Mishear Song Lyrics?

375 GG What Is It Called When You Mishear Song Lyrics?

Spoonerisms, Mondegreens, Malapropisms, and Eggcorns. Like the podcast? See Grammar Girl's books: http://j.mp/allGGbooks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

11 Jul 201310min

374 GG Rebracketing

374 GG Rebracketing

How to Make Weird Product Names Plural Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

5 Jul 20136min

Populært innen Fakta

mikkels-paskenotter
fastlegen
dine-penger-pengeradet
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
foreldreradet
treningspodden
jakt-og-fiskepodden
sinnsyn
rss-kull
rss-bisarr-historie
rss-kunsten-a-leve
fryktlos
gravid-uke-for-uke
hverdagspsyken
level-up-med-anniken-binz
hagespiren-podcast
rss-var-forste-kaffe
uroskolen
takk-og-lov-med-anine-kierulf