Grammar Girl

Famous quotes we've been getting wrong, from Robert Frost to 'Don't mess with Texas,' with Eli Burnstein

1227. This week, we talk to Eli Burnstein, author of "Phrased & Confused." We look at why Robert Frost's "road less traveled" wasn't really less traveled, and why the oth

Is it 'try and' or 'try to'? What does an epilogue do?

1226. This week, we look at why so many people say "try and" instead of "try to," including why it may be the older form, why it turns up more in speech than in writing,

'Rizz,' 'lost in the sauce,' and Dictionary.com's newest words, with Steve Johnson

1225. This week, we talk to lexicographer Steve Johnson from Dictionary.com. We look at how slang like "no cap" and "throw hands" works its way up from a separate slang d

Why are ships called 'she'?

1224. This week, we look at why English speakers call ships "she," even when the ship is named Henry. Then we have a follow-up on "maxxing" from two listeners, including

What's in a word? Mapping America's regional vocabulary and the Linguistic Atlas Project, with Allison Burkette

1223. This week, Valerie Fridland steps in for Mignon and sits down with linguist Allison Burkette of the Linguistic Atlas Project at the University of Kentucky. They loo

How often do you use 'the'? Meet Zipf's law

1222. This week, we look at Zipf's law, a pattern that shapes how often you use your most common words, and why SETI researchers think it could help identify alien commun

Min-maxxing, looksmaxxing, and Nixon-maxxing, with Roger Kreuz

1221. This week, we talk to Roger Kreuz, associate dean at the University of Memphis, about the "maxxing" craze. We look at how it started with min-maxxing in 1990s gamin

Why do pirates say 'Arr'? Is it 'none is' or 'none are'?

1220. This week, in honor of Talk Like a Pirate Day, we look at the history of eight pirate words, and then we look at whether the right pairing is "none is" or "none are

Stray Russian words and made-up style rules, with Daniel Heuman and Chris Ryder

1219. This week, we talk to Daniel Heuman and Chris Ryder from Intelligent Editing about the errors hiding in AI writing that looks flawless. We look at why it invents it

Who's a good boy? The science behind 'dog voice.' Is it 'bated breath' or 'baited breath'?

1218. This week, we look at "dog-directed speech" — the high-pitched, sing-songy register people love to use with dogs — and what the research says about whether dogs act

How we got from no spaces between words to the interrobang, with Florence Hazrat

1217. This week, we talk to Florence Hazrat, author of "On the Mark," about how punctuation evolved over 2,000 years. We look at why ancient Greek and Roman writing had n

Why do so many last names sound like jobs?

1216. In honor of Labor Day, we look at occupational surnames — why Baker, Cooper, and Fletcher sound like jobs, and why Wainwright, Chandler, and Fuller were jobs too, e

Explosions, chemistry, and dictionary 'spite,' with Kory Stamper

1215. This week, we talk to Kory Stamper about why color science is surprisingly dangerous. We look at the literal chemical explosions at DuPont dye labs and the bitter r

It's Greek to me: Why is the language of 'The Odyssey' shorthand for all that we don’t understand?

1214. This week, we look at why we say, "It's all Greek to me" when we don't understand something. We trace the phrase from medieval monks who couldn't read Greek manuscr

Sarah L. Kaufman on the shared rhythm of dance, critical writing, and finding better verbs

1213. Pulitzer-Prize-winning dance critic Sarah L. Kaufman goes deeper into her journey from the "Washington Post" copy desk to the world of professional dance criticism.

What 'kith and kin' and 'beck and call' have in common

1212. This week, we look at fossil words — old words like "kith," "beck," and "hue" that survive only inside phrases like "kith and kin," "beck and call," and "hue and cr

Word wagons and bobbasheelys: Life at DARE, with Joan Houston Hall

1211. Today, we look at the behind-the-scenes history of the Dictionary of American Regional English with Joan Houston Hall. We look at her personal journey into linguist

Why does 'shh' mean the same thing in so many languages, and what's 'broad' about daylight?

1210. This week, we look at why the sound "shh" means "be quiet" in so many different languages, and we trace the phrase "broad daylight" back to Old English to find out

How comics are made, with Glenn Fleishman

1209. Glenn Fleishman discusses the mechanical journey of a comic strip, from the cartoonist’s ink to the final newspaper page. We look at why drawing close to size helpe

Why does the U.S. have so many regional accents?

1208. This week, linguist Valerie Fridland explains why the U.S. has so many regional accents — tracing New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southern, and Western speech back to wh