Lexicon Valley
Lexicon Valley
A podcast about language, with hosts Mike Vuolo, Bob Garfield and John McWhorter.
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 31, 2016 • 32min
Your Brain on Profanity
Why are so many swear words monosyllabic? Benjamin K. Bergen, author of the upcoming What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves, discusses the science of cursing.
Twitter: @lexiconvalley
Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley
Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley
May 17, 2016 • 26min
LinguaFile XXIII | Roshambo
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot! How an American Revolutionary War figure spawned a new name for a very old game.
Twitter: @lexiconvalley
Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley
Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley
May 3, 2016 • 27min
The Blaccent: What Does It Mean to Sound Black?
Linguist John McWhorter argues that it makes perfect sense for the speech of black and white Americans to have subtle differences.
Twitter: @lexiconvalley
Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley
Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley
Apr 19, 2016 • 22min
LinguaFile XXII | Red Herring
A wild goose chase that stinks from fish. How did Clupea harengus come to signify a diversionary tactic?
Twitter: @lexiconvalley
Facebook: facebook.com/
Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley
Apr 4, 2016 • 27min
Defecation Presentation
The earliest known citation for “sh-t show” is from an English-language translation of a 1970s criminal trial in Germany. But what was the word or phrase being translated?
Twitter: @lexiconvalley
Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley
Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley
Mar 8, 2016 • 29min
Take This Episode with a Grain of Salt
A salty phrase with roots in Ancient Rome has confounded English speakers for centuries.
Twitter: @lexiconvalley
Facebook: facebook.com/
Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley
Feb 22, 2016 • 28min
The Full, Firm, Valiant, and Heavy-Hearted Trump
Donald Trump calls people (and publications) he doesn’t like “sad.” When did that word become an insult?
Twitter: @lexiconvalley
Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley
Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley
Feb 8, 2016 • 32min
LinguaFile XXI | Wazzock
A peculiar insult from the north of England has the Oxford English Dictionary stumped.
Twitter: @lexiconvalley
Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley
Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley
Jan 27, 2016 • 36min
The Fall and Rise of the Singular They
A pronoun that English borrowed from its Scandinavian neighbors gets new life as a gender neutral alternative to he and she.
Twitter: @lexiconvalley
Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley
Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley
Jan 11, 2016 • 36min
LinguaFile XX | In Cahoots
The curious case of a conspiratorial coinage: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk about a mystery word or phrase with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
Twitter: @lexiconvalley
Facebook: facebook.com/LexiconValley
Website: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley
