Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchThe Right Stuff
Episode 257
Like the French word 'droit,' English’s 'right' has taken on a number of useful metaphorical meanings.
Visit Lexicon Valley…
3 years ago
Age, Color, Origin, Material
Episode 95
In this favorite from the archives, John discusses some unwritten rules of English that can be remarkably difficult for a learner of English to maste…
3 years ago
One for the Record Books
Episode 256
The word “record” can be broken down into two parts, the '-re' and the '-cord.' But what do those parts even mean?
Visit Lexic…
3 years, 1 month ago
Why Do People in Old Movies Talk Like That?
Episode 96
An encore presentation of a much loved episode about the speech patterns of Bette Davis, George Gershwin, Louis Armstrong and countless other America…
3 years, 1 month ago
Past Master
Episode 255
So many of our words have ugly associations that are particular to a historical time or event. Should we expunge them entirely from our vocabulary? C…
3 years, 2 months ago
Are You Tryna Hear This?
Episode 254
Words that come to mean “want” often start out meaning something else. Take “want,” for example.
Visit Lexicon Valley…
3 years, 2 months ago
The Ambassadors
Episode 253
Henry James wrote his final novels just over a century ago — and yet somehow they are far less accessible than works written much earlier.
Visit …
3 years, 3 months ago
Apostrophe S
Episode 252
Possession is more or less about ownership, and we denote that in English by adding ’s to the end of a word. But of course there’s far more to the st…
3 years, 3 months ago
Is "Knocked Up" Racist?
Episode 251
There’s a rumor going around social networks that “knocked up” traces back to American slave trading. Is there any evidence for that etymology?
Visi…
3 years, 3 months ago
What a Young Brain Can Do
Episode 250
It’s tempting to imagine that a sentence will translate rather neatly, word by word, from one language to another. It’s also naive.
Visit …
3 years, 4 months ago