Lexicon Valley

From Ukraine to Maori to Emilian, a conversation with author Sophia Smith Galer about language suppression, revitalization and death. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 316: "How to Kill a Language, Part I." With Bob Garfield. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adcho...

An investigation into the nuclear origins of "bang for the buck." Plus, we get buck-naked! Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 315: "Bang for the Buck." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An interview with science-fiction author S.L. Huang, whose experience learning languages informed their most recent novella, ⁠⁠The Language of Liars⁠⁠. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 314: "The Language of Liars." With Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.f...

Was Perry Como the original Mr. Nice Guy? And who again was Perry Como? Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield explain. Visit ⁠⁠Lexicon Valley⁠⁠. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 313: "No More Mr. Nice Guy." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does a cement mixer and a 1948 Cosmopolitan magazine article have to do with the phrase Nice Guys Finish Last? Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield explain. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 312: "Nice Guys Finish Last." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices....

In a bonus segment for all listeners, John McWhorter talks about "arter," a word from Jim's dialect in Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 311: "Happily Ever Arter." With John McWhorter. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoi...

John McWhorter on the truth behind "am" in Black English. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 310: "Grand Am." With John McWhorter. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John McWhorter asks: What did Black New Yorkers sound like in the 1800s? Find out in this first of a two-part episode. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 309: "Haut Corn!" With John McWhorter. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A buck is a male deer. Or a dollar bill. Or a strapping lad. Or an old poker term. Are they related? Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 308: "A Quick Buck." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does a Jane Austen novel have in common with a George Carlin routine? Biting commentary on the word nice! Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 307: "Nice of You to Join Us." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Play along and guess the correct chronological order of the following phrases: Great White Hope, Great White Shark and Great White Way. And check out our other *great* episodes: The Amazing Great: Good is no longer good enough. Everyone is awesome, superlative or great. The G.O.A.T.: An aggrandizing acronym that was seeded in the 1960s and born decades later. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Stud...

Legend has it that Samuel Maverick was a 19th-century rancher who refused to brand his cattle — but was he really such a maverick? Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 305: "The Original Maverick." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad...

On the possible origins of a provocative — and thoroughly caprine — phrase, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 47: "Get One's Goat." With Bob Garfield, Mike Vuolo and Ben Zimmer. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The aggrandizing acronym that was seeded in the 1960s and born decades later. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 304: "The G.O.A.T." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good is no longer good enough. Everyone is awesome, superlative or great. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 280: "The Amazing Great." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A double dose of beautiful words, including the pleasant-sounding mellifluous — which happens to mean pleasant-sounding! Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 303: "The Ethereal Omelet." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Poetry Society of America members have chosen the most beautiful word in the English language. Any guesses? Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 302: "The Most Beautiful Word." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guess the chronological order of these early 20th-century words: paramilitary, paranormal and (drug-related) paraphernalia. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 301: "The Dating Game, Paranormal Edition." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon...

In our age of AI, the word "parasocial" has gained new relevance. Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield trace its rise and discuss other "para" words like paragraph and parachute. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 300: "Parasocial Climbing." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about y...

John McWhorter on the hidden logic of "lowkey." Plus, where did all those terms of venery come from? A flamboyance of flamingos? Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 299: "The Lowdown on Lowkey." With John McWhorter. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Play along with our new game and guess the correct chronological order of the following phrases: perfect crime, perfect fit, perfect storm and perfect stranger. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 298: "The Dating Game, Perfect Edition." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more abo...

"Perfect!" is everywhere. On the evolution and ubiquity of a flawless word. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 297: "A Perfect Episode." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listener Steven wrote: "I’ve been hornswoggled! So, what exactly has happened to me and when did people start getting hornswoggled? Is it painful?" We have answers. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 296: "I've Been Hornswoggled!" With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about you...

Is there anything particularly loose about a goose — or does that idiom exist only because it rhymes? Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo investigate. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 295: "Loose as a Goose." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon...

John McWhorter on language change — from the meaning of wit to the pronunciation of automobile. Plus, a defense of redundancy! Visit ⁠⁠Lexicon Valley⁠⁠. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 294: "The Sound of a Car Backshifting." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices