Episode Details
Back to Episodes
Mesmerize to ’s: Tracing English’s Name‑to‑Verb and Possessive Shifts
Episode 134
Published 1 week, 2 days ago
Description
This episode explores how 18th‑century physician Franz Mesmer gave English a verb that endures today, traces the apostrophe‑s from Old English case endings through Shakespearean usage to modern digital handles, and follows theater terms like box office as they entered film vocabulary. We’ll examine key moments—from Mesmer’s London demonstrations and Benjamin Franklin’s skepticism, through early dictionaries and legal texts, to contemporary social media slang—and see how language absorbs ideas across time.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices