For a fantastic read about the history of taxonomy and the ways we use language to try to divide up and impose order on the world, check out Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science (Bookshop|Amazon) by science writer Carol Kaesuk Yoon...
Martha shares another email about the evolution of a pet’s name, in this case a dog whose original name was Dumpster. Now the pooch is named after the 19th president of the United States. Sort of. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript...
Sometimes the process of naming a pet takes a while. The hosts talk about how their dogs’ names evolved. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Pet Name Evolution” You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m...
You know that grammatical “rule” about not ending a sentence with a preposition? Well, who ever decided finishing off a sentence like that is a bad thing? (Personally, we think it’s one of the silliest things anyone ever came up...
sky island n. an isolated ecosystem occurring at a high altitude, such as on a mountain top, which shows evolutionary tendencies similar to those occurring on islands surrounded by water. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
