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, 2015•38 min•Ep. 56
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, 2015•28 min•Ep. 55
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, 2015•36 min•Ep. 54
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, 2015•27 min•Ep. 53
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, 2015•40 min•Ep. 52
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, 2015•35 min•Ep. 51
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, 2014•52 min•Ep. 50
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, 2014•29 min•Ep. 49
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, 2014•39 min•Ep. 48
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, 2014•34 min•Ep. 47
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, 2014•28 min•Ep. 46
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, 2014•43 min•Ep. 45
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, 2014•39 min•Ep. 44
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, 2014•32 min•Ep. 43
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, 2014•33 min•Ep. 42
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, 2014•27 min•Ep. 41
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, 2014•34 min•Ep. 40
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, 2014•22 min•Ep. 39
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, 2014•37 min•Ep. 38
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, 2014•35 min•Ep. 37
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, 2014•39 min•Ep. 36
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, 2013•27 min•Ep. 35
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, 2013•31 min•Ep. 34
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, 2013•26 min•Ep. 33
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, 2013•37 min•Ep. 32
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, 2013•30 min•Ep. 31
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, 2013•21 min•Ep. 30
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, 2013•31 min•Ep. 29
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, 2013•27 min•Ep. 28
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, 2013•28 min•Ep. 27