With Charli XCX sparking a summer phenomenon, we take a look at the nature of slang: who uses it, why we use it, and how we need to be very careful with it.
Aug 17, 2024•29 min
Today we look at words that came from other words even though we think the second word should have come first.
Aug 10, 2024•29 min
Today, we look at language rules that are rules sometimes, and rules that don't make sense. Well, they make some sense. Whatever. They're rules, anyway.
Aug 03, 2024•29 min
With the world's greatest sporting event upon us, we look at the origins of some sports-related words.
Jul 27, 2024•29 min
A listener question prompts us to think about words like rehabilitate, revamp, and nonplussed, and whether we can be plussed about habilitating and vamping, or if we're just talking nonsense.
Jul 20, 2024•29 min
This week, we're talking ambiguous words and ambiguous phrases– sometimes we think we know what we're saying and sometimes we're really wrong.
Jul 13, 2024•29 min
Latin may be dead, but we still use it every day. This week we look at some common Latin phrases and what they actually mean.
Jul 06, 2024•29 min
We know what a berry is, we know what a cranberry is, but what the heck is a "cran?" We enter the sometimes murky world of the cranberry morpheme...
Jun 29, 2024•29 min
As we head into summer, we'll take a look back to see if we can remember what we've learned over the past year.
Jun 22, 2024•29 min
After this year's thrilling spell-off in the National Spelling Bee, we try to tease out the definitions of some of the words that won the contest.
Jun 15, 2024•29 min
This week, we're talking about some of the very oldest words in the English language, and how little some of them have changed over thousands of years.
Jun 08, 2024•29 min
We're looking at words that were made by smooshing together other words, but it all happened so long ago that we completely forgot about it.
Jun 01, 2024•29 min
We're dipping back into common rhetorical devices today, and talking about how they can be used to win people to your side... or at least make them laugh a little bit.
May 25, 2024•29 min
We look at some very old words that used to mean something, but that we now only see in very specific instances.
May 18, 2024•29 min
Some of us (Fletcher) can never keep straight what, exactly, the subjunctive is, so fortunately Kathy and Ross are here to remind us!
May 11, 2024•29 min
We have fun with rhetoric and some commonly used rhetorical devices, including how we might be using them even when we don't realize it.
May 04, 2024•29 min
We look at some names of famous people that, when you pronounce them correctly, can let people know you're an expert... or a snob.
Apr 27, 2024•29 min
This week, Kathy and Ross quiz Fletcher on a list of words that may or may not have been coined by Shakespeare. You might be surprised by which ones we still use today.
Apr 20, 2024•29 min
We look at why Americans love to talk like our friends from across the pond— or like to think that's what we're doing.
Apr 13, 2024•29 min
Today we're looking at sentence stress and how the meaning of a sentence can completely change depending on which words you emphasize.
Apr 06, 2024•29 min
Ouch! Unfortunately, we won't have an episode this week, because even more unfortunately, one of us had an accident and sustained a not-insignificant personal injury. Everything's basically ok, but, you know, it hurts, so we need a week off. Sorry about that, and we'll see you next week!
Mar 30, 2024•2 min
We get back to one of our favorite topics: Words that sound a lot like other words but have totally different meanings.
Mar 23, 2024•29 min
We look at some words that we think are related to other words, but actually aren't. Except sometimes they are.
Mar 16, 2024•29 min
We look at some "rules" of the language that were mostly just made up so people could feel like they were speaking proper English.
Mar 09, 2024•29 min
We run through some particularly confusing grammar mistakes and how sometimes we might think we’re saying one thing when we’re really saying another.
Mar 02, 2024•29 min
We run through a few of the many, many English words that contain silent letters and some of the baffling reasons we pronounce those words the way we do.
Feb 24, 2024•29 min
We dig into why certain words are spelled ridiculously thanks to a bunch of scholars a few hundred years ago who got a little too nutso about making everything look Latin.
Feb 17, 2024•29 min
Some of us like to be rule breakers, but here are a few rules of the English language we can’t help but follow. And we probably don’t even know they exist.
Feb 10, 2024•29 min
We look at what happens when we approach non-English words with a little too much gusto, and how exactly we should be saying foreign words so that we don’t sound silly (a tall order for some of us!).
Feb 03, 2024•29 min
We look at unconscious ways we follow the rules of English by doubling sounds and words, and how meanings of words can change when we say them twice. Now: are you confused? Or are you confused confused?
Jan 27, 2024•30 min
