Lexicon Valley

Society EN ↓ 326 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

LinguaFile VII | Cockamamie 16.01.2015 34:59

On the Yiddish-inflected origin of a crazy word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exposure to Vape Culture 29.12.2014 51:49

Editors at Merriam-Webster, Oxford University Press, Dictionary.com and Wordnik discuss their rationale for choosing the one word that best represents 2014. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LinguaFile VI | Grog 15.12.2014 28:33

On the etymology of a potent word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What Does It Mean to Sound Gay? 01.12.2014 38:47

Can you tell if a man is gay by the way he speaks? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LinguaFile V | Get One's Goat 17.11.2014 34:22

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

Number Theory 03.11.2014 28:14

How many blackbirds were baked in that pie? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LinguaFile IV | Snark 20.10.2014 42:51

On the etymology of a sarcastic word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Man on the Street 06.10.2014 39:22

Jonathon Green's decades-long quest to document slang throughout the English-speaking world. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LinguaFile III | Orange 23.09.2014 31:49

On the etymology of a well-traveled and colorful word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Demonstratively Speaking 08.09.2014 33:13

On the rhetorical effect of this, that, these and those. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LinguaFile II | Lagniappe 25.08.2014 27:01

On the etymology of a gratuitous word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Manic Pixie and the Magical Negro 12.08.2014 33:33

Journalists Nathan Rabin and Christopher John Farley on the pitfalls of coining a viral term. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

LinguaFile I | Discombobulate 28.07.2014 21:40

On the etymology of a bewildering word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fisherman's Whorf 15.07.2014 37:16

On The Language Hoax, in which author and linguist John McWhorter pushes back against the idea that language affects culture. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Legislating Language 14.03.2014 34:56

Our next witness, Your Honor, is the dictionary — court cases in which lexicography played a starring role. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Dude Abides 28.01.2014 38:46

The early history of dudery, starring swells and fops and with a cameo by Mark Twain. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learning to Say No 20.12.2013 27:12

The surprisingly complex taxonomy of simple negation. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ask Not Who Wrote "Ask Not" 17.12.2013 30:51

The crowdsourcing of JFK’s most iconic speech: Crafting President Kennedy’s inaugural address. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The End of Ambiguity 10.12.2013 25:45

On an invented language that forces you to choose your words carefully. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Burden of Being Right 06.08.2013 37:06

Embracing the hand-slapping, prescriptivist schoolmarm in all of us. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Name That Tone 15.07.2013 30:20

How tonal languages such as Cantonese might give would-be musicians a leg up. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eject at High Altitude 01.07.2013 21:23

The uncanny correlation between altitude and language development with Caleb Everett. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 Million By Four 25.06.2013 31:26

How to raise verbal children: Why talking to your kids is one of the most important investments you can make in their future. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Brief History of Swearing 17.06.2013 26:38

On profanity and obscenity with author Melissa Mohr. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Accentuate the Positive 10.06.2013 27:30

Yeah, no: On the seemingly paradoxical phrase and its hidden logic. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices