Word Matters

The ending of a word can tell you a lot. Just the slight difference between '-ity' and '-ness' can create a wide variety of distinctions and nuance. Today we're starting at the end. Plus, everything you'll ever need to know about the history of 'ditto.' Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . S...

Most of the time, there's nothing about an adjective that makes it refer only to any gender. And yet, there are some words that get subconsciously used by English speakers in very specific ways. Let's take a look at some of the surprising habits the language might not even know it has. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Med...

In English, there's a certain way adjectives tend to fall in line. It's natural to hear something like "brown leather wallet," but "leather brown wallet" would sound slightly off. So... why? We'll look into it. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/priv...

We all know that nouns have a specific job. So do verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and the like. But what happens when they start moonlighting in other roles? Meet the attributive noun. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Not...

We're back to the mailbag this week with some excellent questions, including: Is 'yeet' ready for the dictionary? What's the difference between a typeface and a font? Why do people say 'lo and behold'? Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and C...

English is often called a "Germanic" language, and yet huge parts of it come from Latin and Greek. So: what gives? Here's the story of English, in 17 minutes. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . Sponsored by University of California Irvine Division of Continuing Education. For more informat...

Usually, a word begins with a literal, concrete meaning. (Like concrete , for example.) Then, eventually, it starts being used metaphorically. (Hey again, concrete !) But with these words, that's not the case. These words began as metaphors and then went backwards. Then: what's the difference between ferment and foment ? Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in colla...

Our Springfield office holds a file of 16 million alphabetized scraps of paper, each containing a citation for a word. Some of them are from as far back as the 19th century. Many are written by hand. So... how did we create this bit of living history? It's a long story. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript a...

Should we only enter words everyone knows, or does the dictionary need to cover the obscure as well? The answer is, well, pretty philosophical. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-n...

We recently added a whole bunch of new words. Here are some of our favorites! Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . Our podcast is sponsored by University of California Irvine Division of Continuing Education. For more information, please visit:  ce.uci.edu/learnnow And we are sponsored...

Last week we told you about our Word of the Year. This week, we'll get into the rest of the words that made up 2021. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . Sponsored by University of California Irvine Division of Continuing Education. For more information, please visit:  ce.uci.edu/learnn...

The word 'vaccine' was about much more than just medicine this year. Here's what we looked at to make it our 2021 Word of the Year. Read up on 'vaccine' and the rest of the runners up here . Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California P...

This week we're joined by Wall Street Journal language columnist and Spectacular Vernacular podcast host Ben Zimmer! Learn all about Ben's research on the history of words like 'hella' and 'Ms.', plus how slang is studied and tracked through time. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . Our pod...

First: someone who owns or runs a restaurant is called a restaurateur. What? How did that happen? Is 'restauranteur' a valid word? We'll get into it. Then: why do people say 'meteoric rise' when meteors are famously things that fall? Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . See Privacy Policy at...

Few words in the English language get people as riled up as the supposed "incorrect" use of 'decimate.' Does it have to keep its Roman meaning of "reduce by one tenth" or can it generally mean "destroy," as it's been used by millions of speakers for hundreds of years? (Hint: see title.) Then we'll look at the language of invitations, and the rescinding thereof: yep, it's the difference between 'di...

How did 'audible' move from the football huddle to general conversation? And why do we have both 'inexplicable' and 'unexplainable'? Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-...

When is it 'sneaked' and when is it 'snuck'? And how about 'dreamed' vs. 'dreamt'? 'Creeped'/'crept'? It's Irregular Verbs Week here on Word Matters. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available  here . Our podcast is sponsored by Betterhelp. To receive 10% off your first month, visit  betterhelp...

How did 'snake-oil salesman' become a term for a swindler? It's a complex story. How was 'asshat' formed? It's about what you'd expect. Today we're getting into the intricacies of vulgarities. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California...

We talk all the time about how words are entered. But what about the ones that fall away? How are those decisions made? Let's get into it. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available  here . Sponsored by University of California Irvine Division of Continuing Education. For more information, please vi...

You know that old cliche, "When they look up X in the dictionary, they'll see your picture"? Well, for these folks, that saying is true. Today we're talking eponyms. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://...

Today we're looking at two of the English language's most persistent questions. First, is there an actual difference between 'ax' and 'axe'? What's up with that? Then, the great debate continues to rage over what can be called a 'podium' and what is a 'lectern.' Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available...

The English language 1) is not logical, and 2) loves to hold onto its mistakes. Enter folk etymology, or, attempts to apply logic to the language, and the mistakes that took root. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available  here . Our podcast is sponsored by Betterhelp. To receive 10% off your first...

This week we finally address it: the two spellings of everyone's favorite North American marsupial. Plus, we do a deep dive on 'staycation' and various other leisure-related portmanteaus! Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available here . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Priv...

We're back to the mailbag this week with two great user questions: What makes a compound word worthy of dictionary entry? Is there one correct way to spell 'yay'? Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available  here . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https...

We're joined this week by Mignon Fogarty, aka Grammar Girl, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of her show Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski. Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media. Transcript available  here . Today's sponsor is BetterHelp. Listeners get 10% off their first month by visiting  betterhelp.co...