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.

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Episoder(1012)

388 GG Style Sheets

388 GG Style Sheets

Don't make the mistake of treating your style sheet like a style guide.The new grammar game, Grammar Pop, is now available for the iPhone. Look for it in the App Store and try it today! Hosted on Acas...

23 Okt 20135min

387 GG "Because" as a Preposition

387 GG "Because" as a Preposition

What's up with sentences such as I didn't do my homework because Skyrim?Try Grammar Girl's new iPad and iPhone game: Grammar Pop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

14 Okt 201310min

386 - Negation in Night Vale

386 - Negation in Night Vale

Welcome to Night Vale: Where even “not” isn’t what it seems. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

10 Okt 201310min

117 - Biweekly Versus Semiweekly

117 - Biweekly Versus Semiweekly

Why "biweekly" can have multiple legitimate meanings. Check out the new word game Grammar Pop in the App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/grammar-pop-hd/id666851934?mt=8&uo=4&at=11l7m5 Hosted on...

3 Okt 20133min

385 - Irony

385 - Irony

More than five different types of irony? No wonder it's confusing! Guest writer Keith Houston, author of "Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and other Typographical Marks" help...

27 Sep 20137min

384 - Homophones

384 - Homophones

Which English homophones came from polysemy and which came from spelling variation? Try our new iPad game, Grammar Pop. If you like the Grammar Girl podcast, you'll love the game. Hosted on Acast. See...

19 Sep 20136min

383 GG Could Care Less

383 GG Could Care Less

An excerpt from Bill Walsh's book "Yes, I Could Care Less." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

12 Sep 20139min

50 GG Like Versus As

50 GG Like Versus As

Find out which of these words is a preposition and which is a conjunction. Try Grammar Girl's new iPad game called Grammar Pop. You match words with their part of speech to pop clouds. You can also fi...

5 Sep 20136min

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