Featured Topics

Frequently Asked Questions

49 episodes

Retten Up and Rett Up

When Did People Start Saying “Unthaw” to Mean “Thaw”?

“Hunyak”/“Honyock” Began as a Label for Hungarian Immigrants

Layers to Catch Meddlers

Dialect Adjectives that Mean Skewed or Crooked

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Animal Kingdom

148 episodes

A Cow Couldn’t Find Its Calf in Here

Jugarum, Jugarum, A Frog’s Advertisement Call

Humuhumunukunukuapuaʻa, Hawaii’s State Fish, Means “Little Triggerfish with a Piglike Snout”

“Cria” Refers to the Young of a Llama or Alpaca

Raising a Leveret, Connecting to Cowper

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Black American English

61 episodes

“Go Juking” Can Mean Aimless Errands, Food Stops, and Family Hanging Out

Astorperious and Debubiate

Black Country Kitchen Ghosts

Trifling, Failing to do What Needs Doing

Doesn’t That Take the Cake!

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Book Recommendations

81 episodes

Linguicide and the Fight to Save Endangered Languages

Retracing the Odyssey as Father and Son

Raising a Leveret, Connecting to Cowper

Why We Talk Funny

The Democratic Chaos of Language vs. the Curated Precision of Science

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British English

112 episodes

Have Some Pobbies for Comfort

Mushers Have the London Knowledge

Does a Binfluencer Have a Binsta?

Safe as Houses (Except One of Straw or Sticks?)

Send to Coventry Means to Ostracize or Ignore Someone

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Food and Meals

312 episodes

Cabbage Night and Other Names for Mischief Before Halloween

La Verdad de la Milanesa, an Argentine Spanish Expression for the Real Truth

Ketchup vs. Catsup, A Changing Sauce with Changing Names

X As an Abbreviation Stand-In and “CHX” in Restaurants

Eat All Your Food and Make It a Nice Day Tomorrow

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French

292 episodes

Connections Between Default Settings and a Loan Default

Open Your Budget

Minicast Bonus: Picketwire

Chiffarobe Blends French Chiffonier and Wardrobe

Why the -kansas Part of Arkansas Is Pronounced Differently Than the State of Kansas

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Gender and Language

34 episodes

How to Address a Child’s Nonbinary Partner

Mixing Up He and She in English as a Non-Native Speaker

Gender Neutral Term for Nieces and Nephews

Wigging in Stunts

Singular “They” and “Their” Take a Plural Verb

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German

243 episodes

Eat All Your Food and Make It a Nice Day Tomorrow

Eating “Wood Shavings,” a.k.a. Hobelspäne

Many Names for Flabby Arms

Hair On Your Back Teeth

German Rhyming Regrets

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Greek

145 episodes

The Greek Roots of Sycophant and Showing the Fig

Woof, Arf, Ruff, or Bow Wow?

When You Don’t Finish What You… You Have Anapodotons

Enticing Siren Songs to Warning Siren Sounds

Beware the Epizooty!

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Irish English and Gaelic

84 episodes

A Clabberhead Is Pulp-Brained

Origin of Potatoes and Point, When You Fail to Afford the Food So You Fantasize the Flavor

Is “Murphy’s Law” A Slur Against the Irish?

Uncertain Irish: Neamhchinnte

Omadhauns, Amadáns, Irish for Fools

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Langston Hughes

4 episodes

Low Sick

To Take Tea for the Fever

Get One’s Habits On

Floating Opportunity

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Language in Uniform

49 episodes

Gundecking, the Fabricating of Data and Paperwork

Kelly Days for Cops and Firefighters

A Hundred Feet of Chow Line

Your Mother Wears Combat Boots

Periscope Duty, Also Known as “Waltzing Matilda”

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Latin

260 episodes

What Is So Humane About a Doctor of Humane Letters?

Connections Between Default Settings and a Loan Default

Different “Withs” In English, Latin, and French

Dehisce: When a Wound or Seed Pod Bursts Open

Curfew From a Command to Cover Fires

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Mark Twain

11 episodes

As Dark as the Inside of A…

Mark Twain and Helen Keller

Mark Twain’s Writing Advice

Spondulix, Spondulicks, and Spondolux: From Vertebrae to Slang for Stacked Coins

Compliment Challenge

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Multilingualism

21 episodes

Why Isn’t “Grocery” Ordinarily a Singular Food Item?

When Should You Use Foreign Pronunciations of Foreign Words Outside Their Original Language?

Loanwords and the Complicated Socio-Politico-Historical Relationships Between Languages

Louisiana French Baby Talk: Dodo Means Sleep

Peanut Leg

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Offensive and Taboo Language

38 episodes

Is “Murphy’s Law” A Slur Against the Irish?

English Doofus and German Doof

Narrowback Irish

Guaranteed Way to Curb Swearing at School: Moo Cow!

How Should a High School Teacher Handle Profanity in the Classroom?

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Questions from Kids

59 episodes

Winding, Rhyming with Wending not Minding

Emote Control

Tummy Egg

Wearing a Train, at That Age?

School Butter

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Shakespeare

53 episodes

Keeps Honor Bright

Salad Days, Green in Judgment

“Lay On, Macduff” Became “Lead On, Macduff!”

Hankering and Unbolted Cornmeal

What Shakespeare Studied in Place of English Class: Latin Rhetoric and Disputation

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Southern US English

12 episodes

When “Let Out” Means “Leave Out”

Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English

Where Does the American Southern Drawl Come From?

The Southern Stress on the First Syllable in Words like Cement and Police

“Hot Mess” Describes Chaotic Dysfunction, Often with Affection

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Spanish

443 episodes

La Verdad de la Milanesa, an Argentine Spanish Expression for the Real Truth

Pronouncing an E- Sound Before Words Like School and Scooter

“Cria” Refers to the Young of a Llama or Alpaca

When Christopher Columbus Lowers His Finger

Sweating Ink

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We Need A Word

16 episodes

Lexical Gaps Fixed: “Mico” for Voice-to-Text Errors and ”Mom Sads”

What Shall We Call Joyfully Singing Together?

Words for Someone More than an Acquaintance, Not Quite a Friend

Trailing Grandparents

Smurm, The Little Smile You Give To Passing Strangers

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Word Games

516 episodes

The Long S Word Game: When F Should Be S

Common Bonds Quiz: One Word Links Them All

Hidden Countries Word Game

Wordplay Letter Rearrangement

Two-to-One Cryptic Word Puzzle

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Zora Neale Hurston

8 episodes

Astorperious and Debubiate

“You May Want Horns, but You’ll Die Butt-Headed” for Wants You Can’t Have

Lick the Calf Over

Get One’s Habits On

A “Jook Joint” Is a Roadside Spot for Drinking, Dancing, and Gambling

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Yiddish

27 episodes

When Is “Schmoozer” a Compliment or an Insult?

Schmutz as a Verb for Putting On Sunscreen

Who Is Just Carrying Around Gold, Anyway?

Case Quarter in South Carolina

Fancy-Schmancy and Other Schm Reduplications

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