Words for Granted - An etymology and linguistics podcast

How Do New Words Get Added to the Dictionary? | Interview with Fiona McPherson

In this episode, Ray and OED editor Fiona McPherson examine the tension between linguistic change and lexicographical authority. Rather than treating the dictionary as a

A 5,000 Year History of Punctuation: Interview with Florence Hazrat

Today, we live in a world where text is, by default, punctuated. But the ubiquity of punctuation is a surprisingly recent development. Florence Hazrat traces its evolutio

The Oxford Comma Debate: Interview with Jay Stookesbery

In this episode, Ray and Jay discuss the question first raised by the 2000s indie rock band, Vampire Weekend: Who gives a f*** about an Oxford comma ? Their conversation

The Simplified Spelling Movement: Interview with Gabe Henry

We all know English spelling is inconsistent, but some people have actually tried to change it. In this episode, Gabe Henry, author of Enough is Enuf, explores the histor

The Proto-Indo-European Puzzle: Interview with Laura Spinney

In this episode, Ray chats with author Laura Spinney about Proto-Indo-European, the ancestral language of hundreds of modern languages spoken by billions today ranging fr

The Science and History of English Accents: Interview with Valerie Fridland

In this episode, Ray talks with linguist Valerie Friedland about accents—what they are, where they come from, and why everyone has one. They explore how accents begin in

The History of the Alphabet: Interview with Danny Bate

In this episode, author Danny Bate walks through the alphabet's evolution from its origins in Egyptian hieroglyphs to the letters of the English alphabet familiar to us t

Lessons on Language with the Grammar Girl (Mignon Fogerty)

In this episode, Ray chats with Mignon Fogerty, aka the Grammar Girl. "Good grammar" may seem like the epitome of prescriptivism, but when it comes to her "Quick and Dirt

The Marvels of Translation: Interview with Keith Khan-Harris

What can we learn about the nature of translation by reading a warning message in hundreds of different languages? In this episode, Keith Kahn-Harris discusses his latest

The Power (and Omnipresence) of Rhetoric: Interview with Guy Doza

Rhetoric has a bad reputation. We tend to think of it as a linguistic tool used by polticians and marketing execs to maipulate the masses. While this stereotype is true,

A Defense of "Bad" English: Interview with Valerie Fridland

Instead of criticizing deviations from Standard English as "wrong," what if we celebrated them as expressive lingusitic innovations? In this conversation with Valerie, we

Learning New Languages: Interview with Rob Paterson

What goes into building a language learning curriculum? How do designers choose features within a language learing app? Are some approaches to language learning better th

Origins of Place Names: Interview with Duncan Madden

Place names are not random––behind the name of every country is a story of how it came to be. From stories of invasion and rebellion to the fantastical and mundane, autho

Grammatical Gender: Interview with Danny Bate

In this interview with linguist Danny Bate, we go deep on all things gender––grammatical gender, that is. Why do some languages have gender while others don't? Where does

Episode 109: Trivia

Trivia refers to obscure or useless information, but this definition is a far cry from the word's etymology. Trivia, or tri-via, literally means "three roads," and in Anc

African American English: Interview w/ Tracey Weldon

In this episode, I speak with Tracey Weldon, linguist and board advisor on the Oxford Dictionary of African American English project. We discuss the origins of AAE, the r

Episode 108: Understand

What does "standing under" have to do with "understanding?" Nothing at all, which is why most of us probably overlook the obvious fact that "understand" is actually a com

Episode 107: World

In Old English, the word "world", or weorold, did not refer to a place. It was a compound word comprising wer, meaing "man", and ald, meaning "age". "World" literally mea

Deciphering Ancient Scripts: Interview with Silvia Ferrara

Have you ever wondered how writing was invented - or, how many times it was invented? How many undeciphered scripts has the ancient world left us, and is there any hope i

Episode 106: Grotesque

The etymology of "grotesque" is hiding in plain sight: "grotto-esque". Originally, the word was used to describe a style of ancient art that was discovered in underground