Lexicon Valley

Society EN ↓ 325 episodes

A podcast about language, with hosts Mike Vuolo, Bob Garfield and John McWhorter.

Be sure to visit the podcast's website and support the creator: booksmartstudios.com

Author

Lexicon Valley

Episodes

What "The Wizard of Oz" Can Tell Us About "Arrival" 13.12.2016 30:15

In Arrival, Amy Adams plays a linguist who discovers that language can radically alter a person’s sense of reality. Can it actually? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Black Like Us 30.11.2016 33:55

Are the slang, sounds and syntax of Black English a kind of universal patois for America’s youth? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Language Lessons of Past Presidents 15.11.2016 32:17

Some unwitting English instruction from previous U.S. presidents. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How You Vanquished Ye, Thee and Thou 01.11.2016 36:17

How our rich and complex system of second-person pronouns got whittled down to just you. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Do People in Old Movies Talk Like That? 18.10.2016 33:29

On the peculiar speech patterns of early 20th century Americans. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Billy and Me Went to the Store 04.10.2016 28:09

On the unwritten rules of pronouns. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Is a Dictionary, Really? 20.09.2016 26:32

A conversation with John Simpson, former editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Invisible Language of Nursery Rhymes 06.09.2016 25:50

What does Hickory Dickory Dock really mean? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Word Sex 23.08.2016 37:53

Where do new words come from? Often old words. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Should Shakespeare Get a Modern English Makeover? 08.08.2016 46:51

A conversation with Jack Lynch, author of Becoming Shakespeare: The Unlikely Afterlife That Turned a Provincial Playwright into the Bard. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are Emoji a Language? 26.07.2016 40:45

A conversation with Gretchen McCulloch on the big meaning behind our favorite little pictograms. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Finding Life in a Dead Language 12.07.2016 28:37

A conversation with Ann Patty, author of Living With a Dead Language, about her transformative experience learning Latin. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rules Are Made to Be Spoken 29.06.2016 32:13

A conversation with Sali Tagliamonte, author of Making Waves: The Story of Variationist Sociolinguistics. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Should We Make English Spelling Easier? 14.06.2016 28:22

A conversation with etymologist Anatoly Liberman, author of Word Origins and How We Know Them. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your Brain on Profanity 31.05.2016 31:26

Benjamin K. Bergen, author of What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves, discusses the science of cursing. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LinguaFile XXIV | Roshambo 17.05.2016 26:11

Why some people call rock-paper-scissors roshambo, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Blaccent 03.05.2016 27:27

Linguist John McWhorter says the so-called blaccent is largely about vowel sounds. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LinguaFile XXIII | Red Herring 19.04.2016 22:22

How Clupea harengus — a.k.a. Atlantic herring — came to signify a diversionary tactic, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Defecation Presentation 04.04.2016 27:14

The earliest known example of "sh-t show" is from an English-language translation of a 1970s criminal trial in Germany. But what was the word or phrase being translated? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LinguaFile XXII | Grain of Salt 08.03.2016 28:45

On the origin of a skeptical phrase, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Full, Firm, Valiant and Heavy-Hearted Trump 22.02.2016 26:58

When exactly did sad become an insult? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LinguaFile XXI | Wazzock 08.02.2016 31:32

A peculiar insult from the north of England has the Oxford English Dictionary stumped, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Fall and Rise of the Singular They 27.01.2016 33:45

A pronoun that English borrowed from its Scandinavian neighbors gets new life as an alternative to he and she. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LinguaFile XX | In Cahoots 11.01.2016 35:39

The curious case of a conspiratorial coinage, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tears of Joy, Identity and a Prism of Isms 28.12.2015 32:11

Editors at Merriam-Webster, Oxford University Press and Dictionary.com discuss the one word they believe best represents 2015. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices