Episodios

  • Silly Rules (Or, the Unpredictability of the English Language)

    Silly Rules (Or, the Unpredictability of the English Language)
    Aug 3 2024
    Today, we look at language rules that are rules sometimes, and rules that don't make sense. Well, they make some sense. Whatever. They're rules, anyway.
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    29 m
  • The Etymology Olympics

    The Etymology Olympics
    Jul 27 2024
    With the world's greatest sporting event upon us, we look at the origins of some sports-related words.
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    29 m
  • Is This a Fossil? Or Just Some Dumb Old Rock?

    Is This a Fossil? Or Just Some Dumb Old Rock?
    Jul 20 2024
    A listener question prompts us to think about words like rehabilitate, revamp, and nonplussed, and whether we can be plussed about habilitating and vamping, or if we're just talking nonsense.
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    29 m
  • The Ambiguity of English (Is the Name of My Jazz Band)

    The Ambiguity of English (Is the Name of My Jazz Band)
    Jul 13 2024
    This week, we're talking ambiguous words and ambiguous phrases– sometimes we think we know what we're saying and sometimes we're really wrong.
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    29 m
  • It's a Dead Language, I Always Say

    It's a Dead Language, I Always Say
    Jul 6 2024
    Latin may be dead, but we still use it every day. This week we look at some common Latin phrases and what they actually mean.
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    29 m
  • Cranberry Morphemes

    Cranberry Morphemes
    Jun 29 2024
    We know what a berry is, we know what a cranberry is, but what the heck is a "cran?" We enter the sometimes murky world of the cranberry morpheme...
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    29 m
  • Final Exams

    Final Exams
    Jun 22 2024
    As we head into summer, we'll take a look back to see if we can remember what we've learned over the past year.
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    29 m
  • The Defining Words of the Spelling Bee

    The Defining Words of the Spelling Bee
    Jun 15 2024
    After this year's thrilling spell-off in the National Spelling Bee, we try to tease out the definitions of some of the words that won the contest.
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    29 m