A nuclear win at the Oscars. CamelCase. One clo.
973. "Oppenheimer" leads us to wonder about the "nucular" pronunciation of "nuclear." And why do people have that second capital letter in the middle of MySpace, OutKast, and PowerPoint (and is it gra...
19 Mars 202416min
From grunts to grammar. The Irish 'after doing.' The winning NGD poem!
972. How did humans evolve from grunting ancestors to masters of language and poetry? This week, we explore fascinating theories on the origins of human language, including the laugh-inducing Bow-Wow ...
12 Mars 202413min
Where did our language start?
971. Linguists have traced modern languages like English and Sanskrit back thousands of years to a single Proto-Indo-European source. This week, we explore their detective work and the debates around ...
5 Mars 202421min
'Addictive' or 'addicting'? Types of nouns. Folley
970. We answer a listener question about the difference between "addictive" and "addicting," and then we look at how to write compound nouns: did you visit a coffeehouse or a coffee house?| Edited tra...
27 Feb 202414min
Tracing the origins of Miami's new English. Why it's not a 'gumballs' machine. Embassy Sweets.
969. From "wolkenkratzer" in German to "flea market" in English, direct translations called calques show how languages borrow from each other. This week, we look at how these translations are changing...
20 Feb 202419min
Taylor Swift Doesn't Need Your Grammatical Approval. In Love. Foil Lump Surprise.
968. This week, I expand on my comments for the New York Times about Taylor Swift's grammatically sound but apostrophe-free new album title: "The Tortured Poets Department." Plus, we dive deep into th...
13 Feb 202413min
'A' versus 'an.' 'Larruping' rides again. Euonyms. Flavoring.
967. Should you say "a honor" or "an honor"? It's trickier than you think! We explore why articles depend on sounds and regional variations, the difference between "thee" and "thuh," and your stories ...
6 Feb 202412min
From 'hwhat' to 'what': Tracing a letter's disappearing act. Barkhouse.
966. We explore the rise and fall of the letter H: Debates over its name ("haitch" or "aitch"?) and why a once-prestigious pronunciation like "hwhat" now seems old-fashioned. The "haitch" segment was ...
30 Jan 202417min
