After we talk a bit about some British/American English pronunciation differences, we'll take a look at a few words that listeners think are simply too fancy to be used as often as they are.
Oct 11, 2025•37 min
We continue sifting through the language complaints that drive our listeners up the wall.
Oct 04, 2025•34 min
We've been asking, you've delivered! It's time to tackle our pile of listener pet peeves. Get ready to be annoyed! (In a good way.)
Sep 27, 2025•35 min
We look at word-for-word translations from other languages that become common phrases in English.
Sep 20, 2025•30 min
No, this time the F isn't for for Fail, it's for Fun! And Fantastic! And Fabulous! We return to our series looking at the hardest words ever found on the SAT with a dive into the English alphabet's sixth letter.
Sep 13, 2025•33 min
Hey everyone, a little bit of bad news this week. We weren’t able to record a new show due to some unforeseen circumstances. But you can always dive back into our podcast feed and catch up on past episodes. We'll be back with a new episode next week.
Sep 06, 2025•3 min
A listener email prompts us to try to get a handle on Irish spellings and pronunciations. It doesn't go well!
Aug 30, 2025•32 min
What happens when you remove an entire verb from the English language? Chaos! Well, not quite. But it used to cause Kathy quite a bit of consternation. Also: we try to nail down the correct spellings of various grunts and murmurs.
Aug 23, 2025•34 min
We tackle a few listener emails about some unusual pet peeves, including people tacking an extra sound on the end of the word "height," and another wondering why people say they want to "try and" do something.
Aug 16, 2025•33 min
We'll dive into some common mistakes and pet peeves we have regarding the literary world, and then Kathy and Ross challenge Fletcher to another round of "Related... Or NOT??"
Aug 09, 2025•32 min
Pet peeves, grammar groaners, and other language catastrophes are on the agenda this week, as we come up with a rock-solid rule grammatical rule that no one will ever question or disagree with.
Aug 02, 2025•29 min
Homonyms, synonyms, antonyms... we'll look at some "wordly" similarities and differences, and explore the vague space in between.
Jul 26, 2025•35 min
We'll look at the surprising origins of some common summer-related words, phrases, and idioms.
Jul 19, 2025•29 min
We'll look at some questionable language decisions the American Founding Fathers made when writing some of the country's most important documents.
Jul 12, 2025•29 min
Collectable or collectible? Why is it a computer and not a computor? Or is it? We look at the confusing and sometimes (seemingly) chaotic world of suffixes.
Jul 05, 2025•35 min
When we disagree about what a word means or how to pronounce it, how do we know who's right and who's wrong? And what if we're both right?
Jun 28, 2025•29 min
After entertaining a few more listener pet peeves, we jump into a discussion on right and left dislocation in syntax, and then touch on the always entertaining world of nominative determinism (wait till you hear about the guy who invented the toilet!).
Jun 21, 2025•29 min
We tackle a range of topics this week, including a brief quiz on winning spelling bee words, a common pet peeve, and some origins of fancy words.
Jun 14, 2025•33 min
We wade into the conversation about AI with a look at the effects it's having on our language. Expect some grumbling!
Jun 07, 2025•23 min
Get ready for some (barely) controlled chaos as we look at phrases that seem to contradict themselves, and others that just get under our skin.
May 31, 2025•29 min
We dip back into the mailbag to answer some listener questions, including one about a famous nonsense phrase.
May 24, 2025•35 min
This week: The thrilling conclusion of one of the most deceptively difficult spelling tests you're ever likely to come across.
May 17, 2025•29 min
Kathy and Ross give Fletcher one of the most deceptively difficult spelling tests you're ever likely to see.
May 10, 2025•33 min
This week, we're looking at words with literary origins. You may not know this, but sometimes writers just make words up.
May 03, 2025•32 min
1985 may not seem like a long time ago, but people back then had some pretty different ideas about how to speak "properly."
Apr 26, 2025•35 min
What does the stock market have to do with piracy in the West Indies? The Dutch, of course! (Really!)
Apr 19, 2025•36 min
The plural of thief is thieves, so why isn't the plural of chief chieves? And as the old woman once said, where are the beeves??? On today's show, we tackle the tricky nuance of plurals and synonyms that aren't actually synonyms.
Apr 12, 2025•32 min
We return to our series looking at the most enigmatic, evil words ever found on the SAT.
Apr 05, 2025•33 min
We're talking about some words of the season as the temperatures have fortunately turned for the better and allergies unfortunately have not.
Mar 29, 2025•34 min
Today we're taking a trip back into the past — past tense, past participles... When we try to tell someone about something that already happened, it can be trickier than we might think.
Mar 22, 2025•29 min
