Why does the U.S. have so many regional accents?
1208. This week, linguist Valerie Fridland explains why the U.S. has so many regional accents — tracing New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southern, and Western speech back to where their first settlers came ...
4 Aug 10min
Why "golly" and "gosh" are going the way of the dinosaur, with Sali Tagliamonte
1207. This week, we look at the hidden linguistic history of Ontario with Sali Tagliamonte. We look at why euphemisms like "golly" and "gosh" are going the way of the dinosaur, the surprising connecti...
30 Jul 28min
The secret language of gamers. Plus, why ducks don't ‘duck’ from danger
1206. This week, we look at the secret language of video gamers — including why getting "nerfed" is a bad thing and what it means to "rage quit" — and we answer a listener's question about whether the...
28 Jul 12min
'Writing for AI' and the flaws of AI detectors, with Sean Goedecke
1205. In the bonus discussion this week, we continue discussing AI em dashes with Sean Goedecke, software engineer for GitHub. We talk about why AI detectors are often unreliable and how they can disp...
23 Jul 26min
Shark Week: 6 sayings from pop culture
1204. This week, in honor of Shark Week, we look at six fun shark sayings from pop culture, including "jumping the shark," "voodoo shark," and more. The shark segment was written by Samantha Enslen, w...
21 Jul 8min
Decoding the Chinese character paradox, with Dr. Charles Kemp
1203. In this bonus discussion with Dr. Charles Kemp, we look at why the Chinese writing system has actually become visually more complex over thousands of years. Dr. Kemp explains how his team used "...
16 Jul 12min
Isn't it ironic? Plus, the man behind the guillotine
1202. This week, we look at the tricky question of what makes something ironic, including situational irony, verbal irony, and "skunked" words, with help from psychologist and author Roger Kreuz. Then...
14 Jul 11min
Saving Canadian lexicography, with John Chew
1201. In this bonus discussion from January, we look at why Canada has been without a current homegrown dictionary for twenty years and how John Chew is leading the charge to fix it. We look at how Jo...
9 Jul 37min
