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Lexicon Valley

Lexicon Valleybooksmartstudios.com
A podcast about language, with hosts Mike Vuolo, Bob Garfield and John McWhorter.
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Episodes

And Infinitum

On a quirk of grammar that Henry Fowler felt “should not be discountenanced.” X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 23, 201538 minEp. 56

LinguaFile IX | Carnival

On the contested origin of a gluttonous word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 09, 201528 minEp. 55

Sex Workers

The rise and fall of the feminine ending. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 23, 201536 minEp. 54

LinguaFile VIII | Quiz

On the etymology of a puzzling word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 09, 201527 minEp. 53

The Many Lives of Anna Karenina

Just how faithful should a translator be to the original? X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 26, 201540 minEp. 52

LinguaFile VII | Cockamamie

On the Yiddish-inflected origin of a crazy word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 16, 201535 minEp. 51

Exposure to Vape Culture

Editors at Merriam-Webster, Oxford University Press, Dictionary.com and Wordnik discuss their rationale for choosing the one word that best represents 2014. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

Dec 29, 201452 minEp. 50

LinguaFile VI | Grog

On the etymology of a potent word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 15, 201429 minEp. 49

What Does It Mean to Sound Gay?

Can you tell if a man is gay by the way he speaks? X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 01, 201439 minEp. 48

LinguaFile V | Get One's Goat

On the etymology of a provocative phrase, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 17, 201434 minEp. 47

Number Theory

How many blackbirds were baked in that pie? X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 03, 201428 minEp. 46

LinguaFile IV | Snark

On the etymology of a sarcastic word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 20, 201443 minEp. 45

Man on the Street

Jonathon Green's decades-long quest to document slang throughout the English-speaking world. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 06, 201439 minEp. 44

LinguaFile III | Orange

On the etymology of a well-traveled and colorful word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 23, 201432 minEp. 43

Demonstratively Speaking

On the rhetorical effect of this, that, these and those. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 08, 201433 minEp. 42

LinguaFile II | Lagniappe

On the etymology of a gratuitous word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 25, 201427 minEp. 41

The Manic Pixie and the Magical Negro

Journalists Nathan Rabin and Christopher John Farley on the pitfalls of coining a viral term. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 12, 201434 minEp. 40

LinguaFile I | Discombobulate

On the etymology of a bewildering word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 28, 201422 minEp. 39

Fisherman's Whorf

On The Language Hoax , in which author and linguist John McWhorter pushes back against the idea that language affects culture. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 15, 201437 minEp. 38

Legislating Language

Our next witness, Your Honor, is the dictionary — court cases in which lexicography played a starring role. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 14, 201435 minEp. 37

The Dude Abides

The early history of dudery, starring swells and fops and with a cameo by Mark Twain. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 28, 201439 minEp. 36

Learning to Say No

The surprisingly complex taxonomy of simple negation. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 20, 201327 minEp. 35

Ask Not Who Wrote "Ask Not"

The crowdsourcing of JFK’s most iconic speech: Crafting President Kennedy’s inaugural address. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 17, 201331 minEp. 34

The End of Ambiguity

On an invented language that forces you to choose your words carefully. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dec 10, 201326 minEp. 33

The Burden of Being Right

Embracing the hand-slapping, prescriptivist schoolmarm in all of us. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aug 06, 201337 minEp. 32

Name That Tone

How tonal languages such as Cantonese might give would-be musicians a leg up. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 15, 201330 minEp. 31

Eject at High Altitude

The uncanny correlation between altitude and language development with Caleb Everett. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jul 01, 201321 minEp. 30

30 Million By Four

How to raise verbal children: Why talking to your kids is one of the most important investments you can make in their future. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 25, 201331 minEp. 29

A Brief History of Swearing

On profanity and obscenity with author Melissa Mohr. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 17, 201327 minEp. 28

Accentuate the Positive

Yeah, no: On the seemingly paradoxical phrase and its hidden logic. X: @lexiconvalley Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 10, 201328 minEp. 27
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