Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchIt's Summertime, and the Etymology is... Questionable [ENCORE]
We'll look at the surprising origins of some common summer-related words, phrases, and idioms.
2 months, 1 week ago
Heading Down South
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)!
2 months, 2 weeks ago
Technically Speaking
We take another shot at figuring out what's good and bad about the technical uses of common words.
2 months, 3 weeks ago
Getting Your House in Order
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 w…
3 months ago
Technical Difficulties
This week, we look at the (sometimes huge) differences between the technical, specialized definitions of words, and what they mean to everybody else.
3 months, 1 week ago
Congrats, Grads!
School's out, so we're celebrating all the new graduates by looking at the backgrounds of some graduation-related words.
3 months, 2 weeks ago
More Unknown Knowns
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.
3 months, 3 weeks ago
Meh, Duh, D'oh, and Other Communicative Grunts
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.
3 months, 4 weeks ago
Common Grammar Controversies
To split infinitives or to not split them? (Ir)regardless, we'll dive into some everyday language arguments that get people all worked up.
4 months ago
How Tiny Differences Can Make a Huge... Difference
Oh, so you think those two words mean exactly the same thing? Not. Even. Close.
4 months, 1 week ago