You Know. Doppelganger. Trademarks. Funnily. Chicken Milk.
871. It's "listener question extravaganza" time, so I have some quick hits on discourse markers such as "you know," where we get the word "doppelganger," how to punctuate around trademarks, and the di...
14 Apr 202214min
I Cannot Tell a Lie (but I Can Mislead)! And Sometimes People Do It With Percentages.
870. We look at the linguistic difference between lying and misleading, and then because people often lie with numbers, we look at the difference between "percent" and "percentage" and how to use them...
8 Apr 202216min
How Aphasia Causes Difficulty Speaking. Chairdrobe.
869. Prodded by Bruce Willis's family's announcement that he is leaving acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, we revisited language disorders, and the kinds of things we can learn from them.Today...
31 Mar 202224min
Why Tired People Talk About Being 'Out of Spoons.' Why Nouns Are More Complicated Than You May Think.
A few months ago, I started to notice people talking about spoons in a weird way, so I investigated and found that people are using an interesting concept called "spoon theory." Also this week, we loo...
24 Mar 202210min
Barracking, Sheilas and Shouts: How the Irish Influenced Australian English
"Barracking," "sheilas" and "shouts": How the Irish influenced Australian English. Plus, what makes "NASA" different from "FBI."| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.| Watch my LinkedIn Le...
17 Mar 202213min
The Oxford Comma. And Should You Start a Sentence with 'And'?
Have you ever wondered why it's called the "Oxford comma"? We have the answer to that and many more questions you may have about this controversial punctuation mark. Plus, we'll also talk about why it...
10 Mar 202216min
Is 'Materiel' Just a Fancy Pronunciation of 'Material'? Are Binomials the Same Across Languages?
A listener wondered about the word "materiel." What's its deal (and is it related to "personnel")? Plus, "pepper and salt." "Groom and bride." "White and black." Are binomials the same across language...
3 Mar 202210min
Why Do We Cringe at 'Pepper and Salt'? Why 'Square' Is Uncool. Quickquish.
"Sticks and stones." "Bride and groom." "Heads or tails." Some word pairs almost always appear in a specific order, and linguists have been investigating why for decades. Plus, after last week's segme...
24 Feb 202216min
