How Spellers Tackle the 'Dreaded Schwa'
876. You'll never view spellers in the bee asking questions the same way again after you learn about the schwa from Brian Sietsema, an associate pronouncer for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Trans...
20 Maj 202217min
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 subju...
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...
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 LinkedI...
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 m...
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 di...
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...
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...
31 Mars 202224min
