Why "'Em" Isn't Short for "Them." The Subjunctive. Sussies.
875. When you say "Go get 'em!" you think that's short for "Go get them," but you're wrong! We look at the fascinating history of some English pronouns. Plus, we look at how Neil Gaiman uses the subjunctive mood in "American Gods" to underscore moments of uncertainty.WHY "'EM" ISN'T SHORT FOR "THEM"Written by Valerie Fridland, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno and the author of a forthcoming book on all the speech habits we love to hate. She is also a language expert for "Psychology Today" where she writes a monthly blog, Language in the Wild. You can find her at valeriefridland.com or on Twitter at @FridlandValerie.ReferencesLópez, Ignacio. 2007. The social status of /h/ in English. "Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses." 157-166. "em, pron." OED Online, Oxford University Press, March 2022, www.oed.com/view/Entry/85779. Accessed 11 April 2022.Algeo, J., Butcher, C. A., & Pyles, T. 2014. "The origins and development of the English language." Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.THE SUBJUNCTIVE IN FICTIONWritten by Edwin Battistella, a professor of linguistics and writing at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, where he has served as a dean and as interim provost. He is the author of "Dangerous Crooked Scoundrels: Insulting the President, from Washington to Trump" (OUP, 2020), "Do You Make These Mistakes in English?" (OUP, 2009), "Bad Language" (OUP, 2005), and "The Logic of Markedness" (OUP, 1996).| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing course.| Peeve Wars card game. | Grammar Girl books. | HOST: Mignon Fogarty| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.| Theme music by Catherine Rannus at beautifulmusic.co.uk.| Links:https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/podcastshttps://www.quickanddirtytips.com/subscribehttps://www.tiktok.com/@therealgrammargirlhttp://twitter.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://instagram.com/thegrammargirlhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
13 Maj 202215min
Tomi Adeyemi: The Writing Life and Her New Writing Course.
874. With her book "Children of Blood and Bone" spending 120 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, Tomi Adeyemi knows what it takes to write a great book. Listen in on my conversation with this charming writer about her thoughts on the writing life and what she has to offer in her new masterclass, The Writer's Roadmap.| Subscribe to the Grammar Girl newsletter for regular updates.| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing course.| Peeve Wars card game. | Grammar Girl books. | HOST: Mignon Fogarty| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.| Theme music by Catherine Rannus at beautifulmusic.co.uk.| Links:https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/podcastshttps://www.quickanddirtytips.com/subscribehttps://www.tiktok.com/@therealgrammargirlhttp://twitter.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://instagram.com/thegrammargirlhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
6 Maj 202241min
Scissors, Jeans, and Other Nouns That Are Always Plural. Flat Adverbs. Boteep.
873. Today, we'll talk about some weird nouns that are always plural, and then we'll go two-dimensional and talk about flat adverbs.| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing course.| Peeve Wars card game.| Grammar Girl books.| HOST: Mignon Fogarty| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.| Theme music by Catherine Rannus at beautifulmusic.co.uk.| Links:https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/podcastshttps://www.quickanddirtytips.com/subscribehttps://www.tiktok.com/@therealgrammargirlhttp://twitter.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://instagram.com/thegrammargirlhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
28 Apr 202218min
If Earth Looks Like a Blue Marble, Why Is Earth Day Associated with the Color Green? Also, 'Funnest.'
872. The famous NASA "blue marble" image could have influenced people to make blue the color of environmentalism and Earth Day, but green won the day. In honor of the special day, we look at how the meaning of "green" has changed over time. Plus, we investigate the "fun" continuum and whether it's OK to use the words "funner" and "funnest."| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing course.| Peeve Wars card game.| Grammar Girl books.| HOST: Mignon Fogarty| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.| Theme music by Catherine Rannus at beautifulmusic.co.uk.| Links:https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/podcastshttps://www.quickanddirtytips.com/subscribehttps://www.tiktok.com/@therealgrammargirlhttp://twitter.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://instagram.com/thegrammargirlhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girlReferences for the "funnest" segment1. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1994, pp. 469-70.2. Garner, B. Garner's Modern American Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016, p. 416.3. The American Heritage Guide to Contemporary Usage and Style. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005, p. 197.4. The Grammar Logs. #596, March 24, 2004, https://web.archive.org/web/20190427082852/http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/grammarlogs4/grammarlogs596.htm(accessed April 21, 2022).5. Wallraff, B. Word Court. 87 (2000).6. Garner, B. Garner's Modern American Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016, p. 416. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
21 Apr 202214min
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 difference between "funny" and "funnily." It's a good one!| SPONSORS: https://masterworks.io/about/disclosure and The Jordan Harbinger Show.| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing course.| Peeve Wars card game.| Grammar Girl books.| HOST: Mignon Fogarty| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.| Theme music by Catherine Rannus at beautifulmusic.co.uk.| Links:https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/podcastshttps://www.quickanddirtytips.com/subscribehttps://www.tiktok.com/@therealgrammargirlhttp://twitter.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://instagram.com/thegrammargirlhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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.| SPONSORS: https://masterworks.io/about/disclosure and https://bit.ly/ggondemand with the code MACMIL and https://bombas.com/grammar and https://monday.com/podcast.| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing course.| Peeve Wars card game.| Grammar Girl books.| HOST: Mignon Fogarty| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.| Theme music by Catherine Rannus at beautifulmusic.co.uk.| Links:https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/podcastshttps://www.quickanddirtytips.com/subscribehttps://www.tiktok.com/@therealgrammargirlhttp://twitter.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://instagram.com/thegrammargirlhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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's segment was written by Syelle Graves, who has a PhD in linguistics and is the assistant director of ILETC (Institute for Language Education in Transcultural Context). She was also a 40 under Forty alumni award honoree at SUNY New Paltz. You can find her at syellegraves.com.| SPONSORS: https://masterworks.io/about/disclosure and https://bit.ly/ggondemand with the code MACMIL and https://bombas.com/grammar and https://monday.com/podcast.| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing course.| Peeve Wars card game.| Grammar Girl books.| HOST: Mignon Fogarty| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.| Theme music by Catherine Rannus at beautifulmusic.co.uk.| Links:https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/podcastshttps://www.quickanddirtytips.com/subscribehttps://www.tiktok.com/@therealgrammargirlhttp://twitter.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://facebook.com/grammargirlhttp://instagram.com/thegrammargirlhttps://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
31 Mars 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 look at why nouns are more complicated than you may think, and we dig into concrete, abstract, collective, and compound nouns--how you can identify them, how you can tell them apart, and what makes them fun. | SPONSORS: https://masterworks.io/about/disclosure and https://bit.ly/ggondemand with the code MACMIL | Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates. | Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing course. | Peeve Wars card game. | Grammar Girl books. | HOST: Mignon Fogarty | VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475) | Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network. | Theme music by Catherine Rannus at beautifulmusic.co.uk. | Links: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/ https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/podcasts https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/subscribe https://www.tiktok.com/@therealgrammargirl http://twitter.com/grammargirl http://facebook.com/grammargirl http://facebook.com/grammargirl http://instagram.com/thegrammargirl https://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
24 Mars 202210min
