You're Saying It Wrong

We all like to feel a bit fancy from time to time, but when we turn to French, it can get us in trouble.

We continue our annual tradition of looking back at the words that defined the year, as chosen by dictionaries, listeners... and us!

As we reach the end of the year, we get some grab-bag whiplash with English questions and conundrums from all over the language spectrum.

This week, we look at some words that have come unstuck in time.

What could be more fun for the holidays than digging into the bizarre world of Latin and Greek plurals? Nothing! That's what! (This episode originally aired on 12/14/24.)

We extend our quiz about abbreviated words into a second episode, and Kathy learns that people don't always do things just to look fancy (a lot of the time they do, though!).

We answer a few listener questions, including one about a changing pronunciation that drives one person nuts, and another about abbreviations that leads us to some surprising (and confusing) places.

In celebration of Thanksgiving and all the food that comes with it, we’ll take an etymological trip around the dinner plate.

After an extended discussion about plurals, Kathy and Ross give Fletcher a wide-ranging quiz on grammar, pronunciation, etymology, and whatever else they decide to throw at him.

We return to our series looking at the hardest words ever found on the SAT by exploring the letter "G."

We mark Día de los Muertos with some words about the dead, some of which have been brought back to life, and some that should have remained dead.

We celebrate the season by taking a look at the origins of some Halloween-related words, and we introduce two of the most horrifying words we've ever had on the show. Boo!

We return to one of our favorite topics: the surprising and strange origins of everyday words.

After we talk a bit about some British/American English pronunciation differences, we'll take a look at a few words that listeners think are simply too fancy to be used as often as they are.

We continue sifting through the language complaints that drive our listeners up the wall.

We've been asking, you've delivered! It's time to tackle our pile of listener pet peeves. Get ready to be annoyed! (In a good way.)

We look at word-for-word translations from other languages that become common phrases in English.

No, this time the F isn't for for Fail, it's for Fun! And Fantastic! And Fabulous! We return to our series looking at the hardest words ever found on the SAT with a dive into the English alphabet's sixth letter.

Hey everyone, a little bit of bad news this week. We weren’t able to record a new show due to some unforeseen circumstances. But you can always dive back into our podcast feed and catch up on past episodes. We'll be back with a new episode next week.

A listener email prompts us to try to get a handle on Irish spellings and pronunciations. It doesn't go well!

What happens when you remove an entire verb from the English language? Chaos! Well, not quite. But it used to cause Kathy quite a bit of consternation. Also: we try to nail down the correct spellings of various grunts and murmurs.

We tackle a few listener emails about some unusual pet peeves, including people tacking an extra sound on the end of the word "height," and another wondering why people say they want to "try and" do something.

We'll dive into some common mistakes and pet peeves we have regarding the literary world, and then Kathy and Ross challenge Fletcher to another round of "Related... Or NOT??"

Pet peeves, grammar groaners, and other language catastrophes are on the agenda this week, as we come up with a rock-solid rule grammatical rule that no one will ever question or disagree with.

Homonyms, synonyms, antonyms... we'll look at some "wordly" similarities and differences, and explore the vague space in between.