Grammar Girl

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

Why "golly" and "gosh" are going the way of the dinosaur, with Sali Tagliamonte

1207. This week, we look at the hidden linguistic history of Ontario with Sali Tagliamonte. We look at why euphemisms like "golly" and "gosh" are going the way of the din

The secret language of gamers. Plus, why ducks don't ‘duck’ from danger

1206. This week, we look at the secret language of video gamers — including why getting "nerfed" is a bad thing and what it means to "rage quit" — and we answer a listene

'Writing for AI' and the flaws of AI detectors, with Sean Goedecke

1205. In the bonus discussion this week, we continue discussing AI em dashes with Sean Goedecke, software engineer for GitHub. We talk about why AI detectors are often un

Shark Week: 6 sayings from pop culture

1204. This week, in honor of Shark Week, we look at six fun shark sayings from pop culture, including "jumping the shark," "voodoo shark," and more.  The shark segment w

Decoding the Chinese character paradox, with Dr. Charles Kemp

1203. In this bonus discussion with Dr. Charles Kemp, we look at why the Chinese writing system has actually become visually more complex over thousands of years. Dr. Kem

Isn't it ironic? Plus, the man behind the guillotine

1202. This week, we look at the tricky question of what makes something ironic, including situational irony, verbal irony, and "skunked" words, with help from psychologis

Saving Canadian lexicography, with John Chew

1201. In this bonus discussion from January, we look at why Canada has been without a current homegrown dictionary for twenty years and how John Chew is leading the charg