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The H‑Dropping Debate: From Pronunciation to Social Status
Episode 240
This episode unpacks the history of h-dropping in English, tracing its roots from Old English through the Norman Conquest and into modern dialects. W…
5 days ago
The Viking Legacy of Yorkshire English
Episode 239
This episode explores how the Norse settlers who arrived in northern England during the Viking Age left a lasting imprint on the Yorkshire dialect. W…
5 days, 1 hour ago
Ampersand: From Letter to Punctuation—The Surprising History of a Symbol in English
Episode 238
In this episode we trace the ampersand’s journey from its Latin roots as a ligature for "et" to its brief status as a 27th alphabet letter in Victori…
5 days, 1 hour ago
How Back‑Formations Like ‘Edit’ Rewrote Modern English
Episode 237
Explore the quirky process of back‑formation that turned the noun editor into the verb edit, and how this linguistic trick reflects deeper patterns o…
5 days, 1 hour ago
Hamburger to Burger: How a German City Name Became an English Suffix
Episode 236
This episode traces the journey of ‘hamburger’ from a German city name to a productive suffix in modern English, exploring rebracketing, folk etymolo…
5 days, 1 hour ago
From Borderlands to the Bard: Dialect, Colonial English, and Stage Directions
Episode 235
In this episode we trace how English evolved across a dialect continuum from Yorkshire to Scotland, how colonial forces shaped Hong Kong English, and…
5 days, 2 hours ago
Pilgrim: From Latin Traveler to American Icon—The Linguistic Journey of a Single Word
Episode 234
This episode traces the word ‘pilgrim’ from its Latin roots as a foreigner through medieval pilgrimage culture, the English Separatists aboard the Ma…
5 days, 2 hours ago
Stoop Story: How Dutch Steps Became an English Icon
Episode 233
From the stone staircases of 17th‑century New Amsterdam to modern Manhattan streets, discover how the word ‘stoop’ survived a political takeover and …
5 days, 2 hours ago
Why Does Love Have an O? The Medieval Scribal Trick that Still Sticks
Episode 232
This episode traces the quirky orthographic legacy of love, son, and come—why English keeps an ‘o’ where a modern speaker would expect a ‘u’. We dig …
5 days, 3 hours ago
From Will to Knave to Good: Tracing English’s Evolving Lexicon
Episode 231
In this episode we follow three pivotal English words—‘will’, ‘knave’, and ‘good’—from their Old English roots to modern usage, uncovering how social…
5 days, 3 hours ago