100: Spicy Mailbag
A hundred episodes already? To celebrate, we’re doing our favourite kind of episode: a Mailbag. Why is it a BLOW JOB when there’s no blowing? Why JOB? And why is OFF often used in sexual expressions? Why do we say NO SIRREE? Is there an equivalent expression for women? Why does English have rare TH sounds like /θ/ and /ð/? Why doesn’t everyone? HIS’N — is it related to IF’N? Timestamps Intros: 1:00 Questions (sexual): 8:46 Questions (non-sexual): 26:24 Related or Not: 42:12 More questions: 36:36 The Reads: 1:15:48 Outtakes: 1:20:11
19 Juni 20241h 27min
99: Gender in Germany (with Rob Tegethoff and Ciarán from Corner Späti)
What's going on in Germany? How are people talking about gender in the German language, and how is freedom of expression being handled? We have a couple of German experts — linguist Rob Tegethoff and Ciarán of the podcast Corner Späti — to tell us why other languages were banned at protests in Berlin, and what right-wing activists get from involving language in their plans. Timestamps Intros: 0:34 News: 5:16 Related or Not: 26:29 Interview with Rob and Ciarán: 44:37 Words of the Week: 1:46:42 The Reads: 2:02:50 Outtakes: 2:06:23
11 Juni 20242h 8min
98: Origin Uncertain (with Anatoly Liberman)
How much can we really know about the words we use? What are the facts behind some of the most tangled etymologies in English? And is our "Related or Not" game a good way of approaching word history? We're talking to Dr Anatoly Liberman, perhaps the world's preëminent living etymologist and the author of Origin Uncertain: Unraveling the Mysteries of Etymology.
20 Maj 20241h 43min
97: The Dictionary of Fine Distinctions (with Eli Burnstein)
What's the difference between a KINK and a FETISH? Does it matter if you ASSUME or PRESUME? English is full of these close groups of words, and author Eli Burnstein has untangled many of them in his delightful book The Dictionary of Fine Distinctions. Eli joins us for this episode. Timestamps Intros: 0:42 News: 9:54 Related or Not: 24:11 Interview with Eli Burnstein: 37:33 Words of the Week: 1:10:13 The Reads: 1:33:45
28 Apr 20241h 38min
96: Language City (with Ross Perlin)
New York City is home to a lot of languages! Sometimes a sizeable language community can live on just a couple of floors of an apartment building. Dr Ross Perlin is working to find and promote minority languages in NYC. He's the co-founder of the Endangered Language Alliance, and author of Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York. Ross joins us for this episode. Intro: 0:36 News: 8:13 Related or Not: 32:52 Interview with Ross Perlin: 43:12 Words of the Week: 1:24:13 The Reads: 1:39:54 Show notes: http://becauselanguage.com/96-language-city/ Support the show: http://patreon.com/join/becauselangpod/
19 Apr 20241h 45min
95: Why the Far-Right Demagogues Language (with Caitlin Green and Maureen Kosse)
Language authorities. Right-wing politicians. White supremacists and feminists. What do they have in common? They're all working together to fight gender-inclusive language. But why bring language into this fight? What extra does this give them? Dr Caitlin Green and Maureen Kosse join us to explain on this big episode.
1 Apr 20241h 44min
94: Mailbag of Sextillion and Three
Dr Kelly Wright is helping us understand the link between public health and language maintenance. And she’s helping us with our voluminous Mailbag! Why can you have a TRIFECTA, but not any other number -FECTA? Why does a SEXTILLION (with a prefix meaning six) have seven chunks of zeros? What do CHOPSTICKS have to do with chopping? And what’s the -ER in words like RUBBER, AFTER, and TEMPER?
18 Mars 20241h 16min
93: Stop! Grammar Time (live with Ellen Jovin and friends)
In honour of Grammar Day (4 March), we are joined live by special guest Ellen Jovin, who regularly dispenses grammar advice and wisdom from the Grammar Table. Now she's testing our grammatical mettle and answering our questions. YouTube video of this episode: https://youtu.be/C1l8Alk3Ptc?si=7pnGnuKcy9YY-mhR
2 Mars 20241h 28min
