Podcast Episodes

Oversleeping at the Sleepover

Episode 277

'Over' isn’t just the opposite of 'under' and 'off' is not necessarily the opposite of 'on.'

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10 months, 2 weeks ago

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The Story of Us

Episode 276

John talks about the subject of his new book from Avery Publishing — ⁠Pronoun Trouble⁠: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words.

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11 months, 2 weeks ago

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Fire, Die, Rim

Episode 275

The Thai words for fire, die and rim sound an awful lot like the English words fire, die and rim. How could that be?

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1 year ago

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Hither and Yon

Episode 274

Words like thence and thither are all but obsolete in English, but they were actually quite useful!The Thai words for fire, die and rim sound an awfu…

1 year, 3 months ago

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Down the Rabbit Hole

Episode 273

Do you know the difference between a rabbit and a hare? And what then is a bunny? Follow John through the etymological warrens of these furry creatur…

1 year, 4 months ago

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Giving You the Business

Episode 272

It may seem apparent how we got from busyness to business, but the origins of the word “busy” itself are shrouded in mystery.

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1 year, 5 months ago

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When Is Code-Switching Inappropriate?

Episode 271

As a daily listener to WNYC Public Radio in New York City, John has noticed that a certain announcer frequently mispronounces words on air. He has th…

1 year, 6 months ago

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The World's Largest Family

Episode 270

Working backwards from existing languages, linguists have had great success reconstructing Proto-Indo-European. Does that mean we can do the same for…

1 year, 8 months ago

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English Is Practically Naked

Episode 269

A cyclone came through and blew off most of English’s clothes, says John, in Part II of his discussion of Indo-European.

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1 year, 8 months ago

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Family Ties

Episode 268

There are at least five defining features among hundreds of related languages from English to Hindi to Russian. And what does any of that have to do …

1 year, 9 months ago

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