90: Enpoopification (with Grant Barrett and Tim Brookes)
Jan 21, 2024
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Grant Barrett, a linguist and lexicographer at Dictionary.com, talks about the American Dialect Society's Words of the Year vote. Tim Brookes, an author and advocate for preserving writing systems, discusses World Endangered Writing Day and the importance of preserving endangered writing systems. The podcast covers topics like language variation, regional variations in soft drink names, and the historical significance of writing systems like Glagolytic and Tifuna.
The words clot and clutz have the same Germanic roots and are related to each other.
Journey and journal are not related; they come from different linguistic origins.
The name Grant and the verb grant have the same linguistic origins, even though they have different meanings.
The ADS voted 'shitification' and 'stratification' as the words of the year, reflecting societal challenges and changes.
The term 'chat' refers to the community and engagement within live streamer's chat on platforms like Twitch.
Deep dives
The connection between clot and clutz
The word clot (C L O T) is related to clutz (K L U T Z) because they both come from the German term Klos, which means a lump or a block. The word clutz originally meant a clumsy or ungraceful person and is a variant of clot. Both words share the same Germanic roots.
Journey and journal
The words journey and journal are not related. Journey comes from Old French and originally referred to a day's travel. Journal comes from Latin and originally referred to a daily record or diary.
The word grant
The word grant is not related to the meaning of allowing or giving. The name Grant comes from a romance root meaning to entrust, while the verb grant originally comes from a romance word meaning to allow. The two words have different linguistic origins.
The connection between the name Grant and the verb grant
The name Grant and the verb grant are related. They both come from a romance root meaning to entrust or to give. While they may have different appearances and usage, they share the same linguistic origins.
The winners of the ADS vote: In shitification and in stratification
In shitification and in stratification were the winners of the ADS vote for word of the year. In shitification represents the degradation of online services and in stratification captures the broader societal issues of inequality. Both words reflect the challenges and changes in the world today.
New slang: Chat
Chat is a term used to refer to the collective group of people participating in a streamer's chat on platforms like Twitch. It represents the community and engagement within the chats during live streams.
AI-related word: Hallucinate
Hallucinate, as used to describe the behaviors of large language models, refers to when these models generate text that may seem coherent and human-like but contains fictional or fabricated information. It highlights the limitations and potential dangers of relying solely on AI-generated content.
Personal word of the year: Maintenance
The personal word of the year for one listener is 'maintenance.' They highlight the importance of paying attention to upkeep and putting in time to improve and maintain various aspects of life.
Other notable words: Gat and Augmentation
Gat, shorthand for 'God damn,' represents the emphatic pronunciation of the phrase and is often used for added emphasis or venting frustration. Augmentation refers to the process of enhancing or improving something, often used in the context of technological advancements and improvements.
We’re talking words, and no one has a way with words like Grant Barrett. He’s here to tell us what it’s like at Dictionary.com, and what went down at the annual American Dialect Society Words of the Year 2023 vote. And perhaps he can help forestall Hedvig’s planned mass human extinction.
Also: World Endangered Writing Day is upon us! It’s a fantastic initiative, and author Tim Brookes of Endangered Alphabets is here to lay out the case for preserving writing systems.
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