If the word is spelled a-s-k, why do so many people pronounce ask as “axe”? Grant has a surprising answer, one that goes all the way back to, believe it or not, the time of Chaucer. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of...
If you’re still wondering about how far back in time you could go and still understand the English spoken then, check out written and audio excerpts from the poem Beowulf. Also, this NPR report in which host Robert Siegel gets a lesson in...