You're Saying It Wrong

After we puzzle over some words Kathy and Ross recently found in the news, we'll tackle a list of the English language's most misspelled words. Two billion tweets can't be wrong, can they? (Yes, they can, and are.)

Turns out agentive suffixes are popular! We tackle a number of listener questions we got after our first episode on the topic, and Kathy gets VERY excited about a couple of the words that come up.

It's the spoooookiest episode we've ever had, as we dive into the roots of the scary words we hear each Halloween. Vampires! Werewolves! Witches and Warlocks! Press play... if you dare...

A listener asks why some words end in -er, while other similar words end in -or, like "seller" vs. "vendor," or "supervisor" vs. "manager." My friend, you may be sorry you asked!

WARNING: There is some very heated sibling rivalry in this episode, about some things we never would have expected (that title is a hint).

OK, kids! The SATs are coming up, and we've got your perfect study guide right here! We look at some words that tend to trip people up, or maybe that you've never even heard before at all. Disclaimer: We don't actually know how the SAT even works anymore.

Our discussion of spelling differences between American English and British English continues.

On one side, you have people spelling it "realise," on the other, it's "realize." And the poor Canadians are caught right in the middle.

After we take another (brief) run at the lie/lay problem, we continue our discussion of words we often use interchangeably that might actually have different meanings.

A listener question has us talking about words we often use interchangeably that actually might mean different things.

We celebrate our 100th episode with a bunch of listener questions, including some age-old language controversies and even a question from someone we've driven to drink...

We had such a great response to the call for listener questions for the 100th episode of You're Saying It Wrong that we decided to take a little extra time to sift through them. It will be a few more days before that episode comes out, but it'll be worth the wait!

Listen up! After we learn not to take investing advice from Kathy, we move on to a discussion of phrasal verbs. What are phrasal verbs, you ask? Stick around to find out...

You're Saying It Wrong's 100th episode is on the horizon, and we have a special request.

In honor of the National Spelling Bee, we return to our trip through the list of most commonly misspelled words in the English language. Wait... misspelled? Mispelled? Mis-spelled? These darn double letters... Also, we start out with a brief discussion that is *chef's kiss*.

Jumping off from some recent Twitter confusion, we look at how much trouble there can be when we misplace our modifiers, or just let them dangle in the wind. Recording this podcast, no animals were harmed.

We set aside our usual games and quizzes for a wide-ranging discussion about the necessity of grammar rules, when we need them and when we don't, who gets to decide what's "right" and what's "wrong," and whether we need to rethink that.

We continue on with our discussion of trademarks by looking at words that were once trademarked, but have become so widely used that they've actually lost that trademark. Also, Kathy sings! And Ross explains why he never sings.

Hey, can we trademark this? No, I mean, can we trademark the word, "this"? We may not be lawyers, but that's never stopped us from having opinions, especially when it comes to trademarking every word under the sun. I'm sure we can trademark "digression" though, we've cornered the market on that one...

Which came first, the chicken or the chickening out? The egg or the egging on? The noun or the verb? Today we're looking at verbing nouns and nouning verbs, and maybe even a little adjectiving while we're at it. Trust us, this episode is NOT cringe!

Have you ever wondered who Jimi Hendrix was talking about when he sang, "'Scuse me, while I kiss this guy"? We don't know! Because that's not what he said. Today we look at mondegreens, those times we mishear lyrics or phrases in ways that completely change their meaning.

Horrors! As a result of some unforeseen circumstances, we're without a new episode this week. We're disappointed, too! But this does give us a chance to listen back to one of our favorite episodes (actually two of them, combined), from early 2020, which also contains some information that's very relevant to current global events. We really do apologize, and we'll be back in two weeks with a shiny...

First we take a look at a survey of words that people think make other people sound smart, and then we tackle the most difficult word quiz we've ever had on the show. No, really, this is sorta nuts. Plus, some investing advice you should definitely NOT take.

If I were you, I'd hold on to my hat, because in this week's episode we're going to try to tackle the subjunctive mood! We're doing a lot of this under protest.

Some listener emails prompted Kathy and Ross to take a look at the idea that women are the real drivers of innovation in language.