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 with.)
This week’s “Slang This!” contestant is literary historian Jack Lynch, author of The Lexicographer’s Dilemma: The Evolution of ‘Proper’ English, from Shakespeare to South Park. He tries to guess the meaning of three slang terms: one throat to choke...
A Connecticut cop says his dad, a retired professor of English and comparative literature at Yale, has been reading his son’s police reports. They disagree about whether complainant is a legitimate word, or whether it should be complainer. This is...
Is that snazzy new car adorbs or bobo? Grant talks about adorbs, bobo, and a few other slang terms collected by Professor Connie Eble of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Adorbs vs...
Grant and Martha discuss a new collection of college slang compiled by UCLA linguistics professor Pamela Munro. Learn more about it and order a copy here. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “College Slang Collection” You’re listening...
infectobesity n.— «Catching “being fat” by means of this virus has been called Infectobesity by Professor Nikhil Dhurandhar, a professor at Louisiana State University. What virus is this exactly? It’s called Adenovirus-36, otherwise known as Ad-36...