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Still Germanic? The Core of English Amid a Sea of Borrowings
Episode 30
Explore why modern English retains its Germanic grammatical bones even as a third of its vocabulary comes from French, Latin and other languages. Thi…
5 days, 22 hours ago
Silent 'W', Calico, and the Hundred Years' War: Tracing English Through Sound, Fabric, and Conflict
Episode 29
In this episode we unpack how a silent letter in ‘two’ survived centuries of sound change, follow the word calico from its Indian origins to modern f…
5 days, 22 hours ago
Double Comparatives in Early Modern English: How Shakespeare’s ‘More Better’ Shaped Standardization
Episode 28
Explore how the once‑common double comparatives of early modern English—like “more better” and “most cruelest”—reflect a period of fluid morphology, …
5 days, 22 hours ago
From Monteverdi to Modern Jingles: How Italian Loanwords Shaped English Music and Art
Episode 27
Explore how Italian musical terminology like “forte,” “adagio,” and “allegro” entered English, tracing their journey from Renaissance scores to moder…
5 days, 23 hours ago
Guilds and the Vocabulary That Shaped Modern English
Episode 26
From medieval trade halls to corporate boardrooms, this episode traces how English guilds introduced enduring terms like master, apprentice, and comp…
5 days, 23 hours ago
The Inkhorn Wars: How 16th‑Century Word‑Bashing Shaped Modern English
Episode 25
Explore the fierce debate over borrowed words that erupted in early modern England, featuring humanist scholars, Puritan critics, and Shakespeare him…
5 days, 23 hours ago
The Future of English Vocabulary: How New Words Shape Our Language
Episode 24
Explore how migration, technology, AI, and crowdsourced lexicography are driving the birth of new English words. Learn how informal slang jumps into …
5 days, 23 hours ago
Nice, Future Tense, & Hashtags: Tracing English’s Evolution
Episode 23
In this episode we follow three pivotal moments in English history—how the adjective ‘nice’ shed its pejorative bite to become a universal compliment…
6 days ago
Longbows, Colonies, and Proverbs: The Hidden Forces That Shaped Modern English
Episode 22
From medieval archery to colonial India and Renaissance proverbs, this episode uncovers the unexpected channels that pushed English from battlefield …
6 days ago
Neapolitan to New York: How Italian Food Words Became American English
Episode 21
From the bustling streets of Naples to the diners of New York and Chicago, this episode traces how waves of southern Italian immigrants brought Neapo…
6 days ago