439 GG Texting, Coffins, and Death
Today, with Halloween in mind, I have a Quick and Dirty tip about the difference between a casket and a coffin; and an excerpt from David Crystal’s new book, Words in Time and Place, that goes through the many words we have for death and dying. Finally, I saw something shocking in a formal document a few weeks ago, so I have a tidbit about text messaging and language. Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1sXJDC5 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
23 Okt 201412min
438 GG Why Do People Say Punctuation Out Loud?
"Vaccine" Versus "Vaccination." Syelle Graves explains why people say things such as "We never leave any soldier behind. Period," and more generally, the relationship between speech and writing. A doozy of an eighteenth-century grammar rule: Don't use "who" to refer to children. Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1Fc7Lrk Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
16 Okt 201421min
437 GG What’s the difference between England, Great Britain, and the UK?
I know all you European listeners think it’s ridiculous that Americans don’t know the difference between England and Britain, but a British friend told me that many of you don’t know the difference between Britain and the United Kingdom, and that this would be a good topic for a podcast even though people should already know. Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1D7rupV Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
9 Okt 20147min
436 GG Why People Have Always Been Confused About Apostrophes
An interview with Ammon Shea about the confusing history of apostrophes. Hanged Versus Hung. The story of the Victorian Great Exhibition, where Adolphe Sax displayed his invention: the saxophone. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
2 Okt 201413min
435 GG We Might Could Harvest the Corn
Yes, you can start a sentence with "because." Here's how to do it. What are helping verbs (also called auxiliary verbs), and why do people in some regions say things such as "might could" and "might should"? English writers didn't always use a dot over the letter "i." We'll talk about when and why they started. Visit the website: http://bit.ly/1phbhWH Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
25 Sep 201413min
434 GG Ya Shank: The Made-Up Swear Words of 'The Maze Runner'
Insults, swear words, and world-building for young adults: In an interview with James Dashner, I got the inside scoop on the language of "The Maze Runner." Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1poctaV Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
18 Sep 201410min
433 GG Why People Mix Up the Pronouns "Me" and "I"
I can tell you which pronouns to use, but it takes a linguist to explain WHY people get confused. Here, Gretchen McCulloch reveals the fascinating reason that people struggle with sentences such as "Billy and me went to the store." Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1vrTG2g Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
11 Sep 201413min
431 GG Words That Aren't Words
In this podcast, you get a Quick and Dirty Tip about where to put periods and commas relative to quotation marks, an excerpt from Ammon Shea's book "Bad English," and a tidbit about a 1921 poem called "Alphabet of Errors." Read the transcript: http://bit.ly/1v0iNsF Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
28 Aug 201412min
