Just in time for Halloween, we're talking about some of the creepy parts of the language world, including ghost words and some horrifying hyphens.
Oct 26, 2024•29 min
We're looking at the differences between what people in Italy call their food and what they call it in one very specific place in the world (here's a hint: Tony Soprano has a lot to say about this).
Oct 19, 2024•29 min
We return to one of our favorite topics: mistakes that aren't really mistakes, even though a whole lot of people will tell you they're mistakes.
Oct 12, 2024•29 min
A Merriam-Webster poll sets off our conversation today as we make our picks for the most overrated word, the most underrated word, the most pleasant word to say, and a number of other mosts, bests, and worsts.
Oct 05, 2024•29 min
There are a whole lot of things you can say when someone thanks you for something... But what do they all really mean?
Sep 28, 2024•29 min
We continue our fascination with rules we don't know we know with a look at the importance of where we put the stress when we say words out loud.
Sep 21, 2024•29 min
Jump in your estate car and head to the chemist, this week we're looking at some British equivalents of American English words.
Sep 14, 2024•29 min
The letter of the day is "A"! We're getting you (or your kids) ready for the SATs with some tricky vocabulary from the beginning of the alphabet.
Sep 07, 2024•29 min
Must, could, should, shall, might, may... We dig into the weird, wiggly, weaselly world of modal verbs.
Aug 31, 2024•29 min
Grab your swimsuit! Or your bathing suit. That's up to you. We're heading to the beach for a look at the language of tides, waves, and other things beachy.
Aug 24, 2024•29 min
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
