How does social context shape our perception of language? When hiking the Appalachian Trail, a young woman from Wyoming found that fellow hikers assumed she was from another country, not only because of how she spoke, but also how she looked...
Jack in Spokane, Washington, wonders which phrase is correct when talking about improvising: play it by ear or play it by year? Although play it by ear is the original version and by far the most common one, play it by year sounds plausible enough...
Bert Vaux, the linguist whose data was the basis of the wildly popular New York Times Dialect Quiz, is collecting more data about American English, and invites you to take a survey. The answers will help inform a new app he’s working on. This...
Elizabeth, in Dallas by way of Philadelphia, wondered whether she heard a fresh idiom in rest on one’s morals. The standard phrase is rest on one’s laurels, meaning to coast on past honors or accomplishments rather than keep striving. Its laurels...
How old is the typical library patron? Grant shares a study that says Americans ages 16-29 are considered more likely to read actual printed library books and search the databases, and to spend more time at the libraries themselves. This is part of...
When we agree to make a decision later, we might say we’re going to “play it by ear.” What’s the origin of that phrase? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Play it By Ear” You’re listening to...