Whippoorwills, bob whites, and chickadees. How do we decide the names of birds and what to call their calls? Plus, the last syllables of Arkansas and Kansas are pronounced differently, but they come from the same etymological root. And: What’s the...
The word antidisestablishmentarianism first appeared in the 1890s, denoting “opposition to ending the Church of England’s status as the official state church”—the disestablishment of the church, in other words. This word didn’t take off in the U.S...
Following up on our discussion of the really big word you ever learned, some listeners responded with antidisestablishmentarianism, a word rarely seen except in, well, discussions of big words. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
What IS the longest word in the English language? “Antidisestablishmentarianism”? “Floccinaucinihilipilification”? Or “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis,” maybe? Martha and Grant discuss such sesquipedalian contenders for the title of...