Monica in Tallahassee, Florida, says that while reading the book Flossie and the Fox to her children, she wondered: What’s the right way for a parent to render dialect if the dialect is not one’s own? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript...
Our conversation about being criticized for using yes, ma’am and no, sir, prompted a letter from an Austin, Texas, listener who had a similar experience when she moved from Mississippi to Ohio. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
Pearl, a youngster in Massachusetts, heard turmeric at dinner over kale and chickpeas and wondered whether her mother’s second-syllable stress matched ordinary dictionary pronunciations. For this spice from India, dictionaries record several...
The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English by linguist Lynne Murphy is a trove of information about differences between these two versions of English. Murphy’s blog, Separated by a Common Language, is...
The slang coming out of Victorian mouths was more colorful than you might think. A 1909 collection of contemporary slang records clever terms for everything from a bald head to the act of sidling through a crowd. Plus, how to remember the difference...
Diego from Orange County, California, wonders: How did George Washington sound when speaking? We can make guesses about his speech, accent, and dialect based on the historical context. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “How Did...
