An Ohio listener reports that when her toddler daughter used to ask for what she called LMNOPs. It took a while for their family to realize she wanted M&M’s candy. She also had her own word go-dogs for “hot dogs,” and her family still fondly uses that term. Maybe she was a fan of that children’s favorite by P.D. Eastman, Go, Dog. Go! (Bookshop|Amazon). This is part of a complete episode.
The so-called “lifestyle influencer accent” you hear in videos on TikTok and YouTube, where someone speaks with rising tones at the end of sentences and phrases, suggesting that they’re about to say something important, is a form of what linguists...
Meg in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, gets why the state highway department encourages drivers to use their blinkers when changing lanes, but placing a digital sign at the Sagamore Bridge that reads Use Ya Blinkah is, well, a lexical bridge too far. Meg’s...
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