Something Rhymes with Purple

Words Of The Year 2020

Dec 29, 2020
Celebrate the end of 2020 with a delightful exploration of words! Dive into Christmas cracker jokes and enjoy playful word games with the hosts. Discover how 'quarantine' became the defining term of the year, and learn about quirky coinages like 'covidiot' and 'anthropause.' Reflect on the language shaped by our home lives and the overwhelming news cycle. The discussion wraps up with hopeful terms for the coming year and festive delights like 'fathom' and 'belgarde.' Cheers to a linguistic journey!
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ANECDOTE

Holiday Riddles And Cracker-Joke Games

  • Gyles and Susie play Victorian riddle and cracker-joke games to entertain listeners during the holidays.
  • Gyles recounts writing Christmas cracker riddles and the hosts swap puns and playful word puzzles.
ADVICE

Turn Words One Letter At A Time

  • Play word-transform games alone or with family to pass time and exercise your vocabulary.
  • Turn one word into another by changing one letter at a time to practice linguistic creativity.
INSIGHT

How Dictionaries Pick Words

  • Dictionaries track word popularity using massive language corpora, not only search queries.
  • Oxford's corpus has billions of words and reveals which terms rise or fall in usage over time.
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