You're Saying It Wrong

We talk about one of the scariest of things: words that seem like they should mean the same thing but actually don't. Is a hobgoblin just a fancy goblin? What's the difference between a coffin and a casket? And why do people keep saying "autobiography" when they mean "memoir?"

We look at the origins of some fall-related and autumn-related words. Which, to be clear, are the same thing.

We're talking about how we understand each other even when we're using techniques we don't realize we're using, and how we work together to communicate. We'll dive into Grice's Maxims of Conversation and the importance of implicature in everyday conversation.

We continue our look into the etymologies of various (mild) insults, including the origins of rube, bum, schmuck, and dweeb. (You're none of these things, don't worry, we love you.)

We look at the etymologies of various insults throughout history, including the origins of barbarian, brat, dunce, and fool.

Be careful how you say these words! It could be a matter of life and death.

Hydronyms, dromonyms… toponyms! (Place names. We’re talking about place names.)

We gaze again into the ocean of difference between American English and British English.

Sometimes you read something that makes you throw the book against the wall, never to pick it up again.

We've tackled the differences between American and British English, but let's not forget Canadians also have a language of their own.

Kathy and Ross throw Fletcher a devil of a grammar quiz as we all get set for back-to-school season.

We answer some of your most burning questions as we take a dip into the ol' mailbag.

For no reason whatsoever, we look at some words that come from Homer's famous tale and Ancient Greek more generally.

We'll look at the surprising origins of some common summer-related words, phrases, and idioms.

We take a road trip to the U.S. South to look at some place names that have some pretty surprising pronunciations. Bless our hearts (in a good way)!

We take another shot at figuring out what's good and bad about the technical uses of common words.

We look at the confusing, but surprisingly intuitive, world of adjective and adverb order and how we can know what we're doing without knowing what we're doing.

This week, we look at the (sometimes huge) differences between the technical, specialized definitions of words, and what they mean to everybody else.

School's out, so we're celebrating all the new graduates by looking at the backgrounds of some graduation-related words.

We return to one of our favorite (and sometimes most confusing) topics: rules of English that we know instinctively, but that we have no idea we know.

Today we make a lot of noise by exploring nonverbal vocalizations: all those sounds that aren't words, exactly, but that still carry a lot of meaning.

To split infinitives or to not split them? (Ir)regardless, we'll dive into some everyday language arguments that get people all worked up.

Oh, so you think those two words mean exactly the same thing? Not. Even. Close.

Kathy and Ross did their darndest to stump Fletcher in last week's spelling quiz, to moderate success. How will things go this week? The thrilling conclusion...

Kathy and Ross pull out all the stops to try to trick Fletcher with a new spelling quiz. Fletcher does his best to upset them.