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Fall or Autumn? The Battle of Two Seasons in English
Episode 160
Explore how the Latin‑derived "autumn" and the colloquial "fall" entered English, why one prevailed in Britain and the other in America, and what thi…
2 weeks, 2 days ago
Colon Evolution: From Greek Rhetoric to Modern Code
Episode 159
This episode traces the colon’s journey from a pair of dots in Hellenistic rhetoric, through medieval Latin manuscripts and the printing press, into …
2 weeks, 2 days ago
The Vanishing Dual: How Old English Lost Its Two‑Person Pronouns
Episode 158
Explore how the once‑common dual pronouns of Old English disappeared through contact with Norse, printing pressures, and digital shorthand. This epis…
2 weeks, 2 days ago
World Englishes: From Colonial Footnotes to Global Voices
Episode 157
In this episode we trace the birth of "World Englishes" and examine how colonial rule left a legacy that now manifests in vibrant local varieties acr…
2 weeks, 2 days ago
Old Alliteration, Indo‑European Roots, and the Evolution of the Letter W: A Complete History of English
Episode 156
This episode unpacks how Old English alliteration in poems like Beowulf forged a shared oral tradition, traces English’s place within the Indo‑Europe…
2 weeks, 2 days ago
From I to J: The Quiet Revolution of an Alphabet Letter
Episode 155
This episode traces the evolution of the letter J from a decorative long i in medieval manuscripts to its modern status as a separate grapheme. We ex…
2 weeks, 2 days ago
The Etymology of Parliament: From French Speech to World Governance
Episode 154
We trace the word ‘parliament’ from its Old French roots through Latin and Greek, through the Norman Conquest’s bilingual court, to its institutional…
2 weeks, 2 days ago
Why English Uses Hyphens So Inconsistently – From Printing Press to Digital Slang
Episode 153
Explore how the humble hyphen evolved from a printer’s line‑breaker into a linguistic signifier of compound words, shaped by dictionaries, technology…
2 weeks, 2 days ago
James Murray and the Paper‑Based Dictionary That Shaped Modern English
Episode 152
Explore how 19th‑century lexicographer James Murray built the Oxford English Dictionary using a network of paper slips, community contributions, and …
2 weeks, 2 days ago
When Starving Meant Dying: The Unexpected Journey of an English Word
Episode 151
Explore how the Old English verb steorfan, meaning simply ‘to die’, evolved into modern 'starve'—a word now tied to hunger. We trace semantic narrowi…
2 weeks, 2 days ago