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*Whom* Endures: The Final Case Marker in Modern English
Episode 180
This episode traces the journey of the pronoun *whom*, from its Old English roots through Middle and Early Modern English to its survival in formal w…
1 week, 2 days ago
English in the Philippines: From Colonial Tool to Vibrant Code‑Switching Dialect
Episode 179
This episode traces how English was introduced to the Philippines by American colonists and the Thomasites, became an official language and media lin…
1 week, 2 days ago
From Nice to Awesome: The Semantic Journey of English Words
Episode 178
This episode traces how words like "nice" and "awesome" have shifted meaning over centuries, illustrating the broader processes of lexical change in …
1 week, 2 days ago
Danelaw's Linguistic Legacy: How Viking Settlement Shaped Modern English
Episode 177
Explore how the late‑seventh‑century Danelaw carved a linguistic map that still echoes in today’s place‑names, vocabulary, and accents across Norther…
1 week, 2 days ago
From Arabic Bench to Living Room: The Sofa’s Global Linguistic Journey
Episode 176
Explore how the word sofa traveled from an Arabic raised bench through Moorish Spain and French commerce into English, shaping furniture design and e…
1 week, 2 days ago
Eggcorns and Modern Folk Etymology: How Misheard Phrases Shape English
Episode 175
In this episode we explore the world of eggcorns—creative mishearings that stick because they sound right—and how they reveal the living, shifting na…
1 week, 2 days ago
Punctuation in Medieval Manuscripts: From Punctus to Periods
Episode 174
Explore how medieval scribes carved dots and dashes into vellum—known as punctus—to guide readers before modern punctuation evolved, and why that ear…
1 week, 2 days ago
From Sterling to Yachts: How Dutch Maritime Trade Shaped Modern English
Episode 173
Explore how Dutch maritime commerce introduced words like "yacht", "skipper" and even "cookie" into English, while the mysterious term "sterling" ref…
1 week, 2 days ago
Fuller, Weaver & Dyer: Tracing Medieval Trade Names Through Surnames and Place‑Names
Episode 172
Explore how the everyday work of fulling, weaving, and dyeing gave rise to some of England’s most common surnames—Fuller, Weaver, Dyer—and how these …
1 week, 2 days ago
From Oaths to Memes: Tracing the Evolution of English Profanity
Episode 171
Explore how English swear words have journeyed from sacred oaths in medieval courts, through Shakespearean stages and Victorian censorship, into toda…
1 week, 2 days ago