Lexicon Valley
A podcast about language, with hosts Mike Vuolo, Bob Garfield and John McWhorter.
Episodes
Nice of You to Join Us
What does a Jane Austen novel have in common with a George Carlin routine? Biting commentary on the word nice!
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 307: "Nice of You to Join Us." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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The Dating Game, Great White Edition
Play along and guess the correct chronological order of the following phrases: Great White Hope, Great White Shark and Great White Way.
And check out our other *great* episodes:
The Amazing Great: Good is no longer good enough. Everyone is awesome, superlative or great.
The G.O.A.T.: An aggrandizing acronym that was seeded in the 1960s and born decades later.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart
The Original Maverick
Legend has it that Samuel Maverick was a 19th-century rancher who refused to brand his cattle — but was he really such a maverick?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 305: "The Original Maverick." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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Get One's Goat
On the possible origins of a provocative — and thoroughly caprine — phrase, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 47: "Get One's Goat." With Bob Garfield, Mike Vuolo and Ben Zimmer. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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The G.O.A.T.
The aggrandizing acronym that was seeded in the 1960s and born decades later.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 304: "The G.O.A.T." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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The Amazing Great
Good is no longer good enough. Everyone is awesome, superlative or great.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 280: "The Amazing Great." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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The Ethereal Omelet
A double dose of beautiful words, including the pleasant-sounding mellifluous — which happens to mean pleasant-sounding!
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 303: "The Ethereal Omelet." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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The Most Beautiful Word
Poetry Society of America members have chosen the most beautiful word in the English language. Any guesses?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 302: "The Most Beautiful Word." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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The Dating Game, Paranormal Edition
Guess the chronological order of these early 20th-century words: paramilitary, paranormal and (drug-related) paraphernalia.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 301: "The Dating Game, Paranormal Edition." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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Parasocial Climbing
In our age of AI, the word "parasocial" has gained new relevance. Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield trace its rise and discuss other "para" words like paragraph and parachute.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 300: "Parasocial Climbing." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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The Lowdown on Lowkey
John McWhorter on the hidden logic of "lowkey." Plus, where did all those terms of venery come from? A flamboyance of flamingos?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 299: "The Lowdown on Lowkey." With John McWhorter. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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The Dating Game, Perfect Edition
Play along with our new game and guess the correct chronological order of the following phrases: perfect crime, perfect fit, perfect storm and perfect stranger.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 298: "The Dating Game, Perfect Edition." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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A Perfect Episode
"Perfect!" is everywhere. On the evolution and ubiquity of a flawless word.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 297: "A Perfect Episode." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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I've Been Hornswoggled!
Listener Steven wrote: "I’ve been hornswoggled! So, what exactly has happened to me and when did people start getting hornswoggled? Is it painful?" We have answers.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 296: "I've Been Hornswoggled!" With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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Loose as a Goose
Is there anything particularly loose about a goose — or does that idiom exist only because it rhymes? Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo investigate.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 295: "Loose as a Goose." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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The Sound of a Car Backshifting
John McWhorter on language change — from the meaning of wit to the pronunciation of automobile. Plus, a defense of redundancy!
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 294: "The Sound of a Car Backshifting." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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How Do Words Get into the Dictionary?
Getting new words into the dictionary is a rigorous, time consuming process — with no guarantee of success.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 293: "How Do Words Get into the Dictionary?" With Stefan Fatsis and Bob Garfield. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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Look It Up! The Story of the Dictionary.
"Unabridged" author Stefan Fatsis on the fastidious practice of lexicography and the heiress who amassed the largest collection of dictionaries in history.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 292: "Look It Up! The Story of the Dictionary." With Stefan Fatsis and Bob Garfield. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
Lear
Open Season for Racists
Like 'analog watch' and 'snail mail,' 'openly racist' is a retronym — John McWhorter and Mike Vuolo explain.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 291: "Open Season for Racists." With John McWhorter and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Playing the Angles
What does St. John the Apostle have in common with Bernie Bernbaum, the sniveling grifter from Miller's Crossing? Angling!
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 290: "Playing the Angles." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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You Get the Gist
During an appearance on The Gist with Mike Pesca, we discussed the curious backstory of, you guessed it, the word "gist."
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 289: "You Get the Gist." With Bob Garfield, Mike Pesca, and Mike Vuolo. Edited by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. Special thanks to Michelle Hunter Pesca. All rights reserved.
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Derek Guy on the Language of Clothing
A prolific writer on men's fashion, Guy discusses the vocabulary of outerwear and why dress is a form of social language.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 288: "Derek Guy on the Language of Clothing." With Derek Guy and Mike Vuolo. Edited by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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McWhorter vs. McWhorter
The world was shocked by a controversial article published by "John McWhorter." Here, he sets the record straight.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 287: "McWhorter vs. McWhorter." With John McWhorter. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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A Toast to Toast
Raise a glass to browned bread ... now you're toast!
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 286: "A Toast to Toast." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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All the Rage Bait
Oxford English Dictionary editor Fiona McPherson talks to Mike Vuolo about the terms that caught her attention in 2025.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 285: "All the Rage Bait." With Fiona McPherson and Mike Vuolo. Edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
Author John Koenig talks about inventing words for those subtle emotions that hitherto had no name.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 284: "The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows." With Bob Garfield, John Koenig, and Mike Vuolo. Edited by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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6 7: Everything You Don't Know About the Word of the Year
Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield join Mike Pesca of The Gist to talk about the long, strange journey of 6 7, from rapper Skrilla to the basketball court, from the classroom to the Word of the Year.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 283: "6 7: Everything You Don't Know About the Word of the Year." With Bob Garfield, Mike Pesca, and Mike Vuolo. Edited by Mike Vuolo. Produce
Gobbledygook Explained
Gobbledygook sounds like one of those words that somebody just made up — so is it?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 282: "Gobbledygook Explained." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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Gen Alpha Thinks You're Cringe
Our parents were cringe-inducing but we're just cringe.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 281: "Gen Alpha Thinks You're Cringe." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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The Amazing Great
Good is no longer good enough. Everyone is awesome, superlative or just great.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 280: "The Amazing Great." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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It's Been a Minute
Returning as the primary hosts of Lexicon Valley, Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield speak to John McWhorter about understatement and hyperbole in Black English.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 279: "It's Been a Minute." With Bob Garfield, John McWhorter, and Mike Vuolo. Edited by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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Ask Not?
Richard Tofel, author of Sound the Trumpet: The Making of John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, reveals the startling authorship behind JFK’s most famous words.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 34: "Ask Not?" With Bob Garfield, Richard Tofel, and Mike Vuolo. Edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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The American Accent Came First
What did English sound like during the Revolutionary War? John has a number of fascinating observations about the way the language was spoken back then — including the accents!
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 278: "The American Accent Came First." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Oversleeping at the Sleepover
'Over' isn’t just the opposite of 'under' and 'off' is not necessarily the opposite of 'on.'
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 277: "Oversleeping at the Sleepover." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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The Story of Us
John talks about the subject of his new book from Avery Publishing — Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 276: "The Story of Us." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Fire, Die, Rim
The Thai words for fire, die and rim sound an awful lot like the English words fire, die and rim. How could that be?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 275: "Fire, Die, Rim." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Hither and Yon
Words like thence and thither are all but obsolete in English, but they were actually quite useful!The Thai words for fire, die and rim sound an awful lot like the English words 'fire,' 'die' and 'rim.' How could that be?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 274: "Hither and Yon." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Down the Rabbit Hole
Do you know the difference between a rabbit and a hare? And what then is a bunny? Follow John through the etymological warrens of these furry creatures.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 273: "Down the Rabbit Hole." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Giving You the Business
It may seem apparent how we got from busyness to business, but the origins of the word “busy” itself are shrouded in mystery.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 272: "Giving You the Business." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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When Is Code-Switching Inappropriate?
As a daily listener to WNYC Public Radio in New York City, John has noticed that a certain announcer frequently mispronounces words on air. He has thoughts.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 271: "When Is Code-Switching Inappropriate?" With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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The World's Largest Family
Working backwards from existing languages, linguists have had great success reconstructing Proto-Indo-European. Does that mean we can do the same for all language families?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 270: "The World's Largest Family." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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English Is Practically Naked
A cyclone came through and blew off most of English’s clothes, says John, in Part II of his discussion of Indo-European.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 269: "English is Practically Naked." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Family Ties
There are at least five defining features among hundreds of related languages from English to Hindi to Russian. And what does any of that have to do with the Hittites?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 268: "Family Ties." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Going Deep
The simple verb 'to go' quickly gets complex in just about any language and English is no exception.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 267: "Going Deep." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Come Under Scrutiny
What does the '-bat' in 'acrobat' have to do with the word 'come'?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 266: "Come Under Scrutiny." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Have Your Own Damn Self a Merry Little Christmas
Reflexive pronouns are redundant in a way, sure, but they’re also quite common in many languages.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 265: "Have Your Own Damn Self a Merry Little Christmas." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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When Did People Start Talking?
There’s good reason to believe that sophisticated speech began long before homo sapiens hit the scene.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 264: "When Did People Start Talking?" With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Who's Afraid of Ayesha Rascoe?
Does Ayesha Rascoe have a good radio voice? Not according to many NPR listeners, who find her "loud," "high-pitched" and generally "grating."
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 263: "Who's Afraid of Ayesha Rascoe?" With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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What Is Miami English?
A recent study suggests that a new dialect is emerging in the southern part of Florida.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 262: "What Is Miami English?" With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks
The trial transcript of a 225-year-old murder is filled with fascinating evidence of the way we used to talk.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 262: "Report of the Trial of Levi Weeks." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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I Got My Nails Did!
Many English verbs have three forms — sing, sang and sung, for example. The problem is that speakers seem to want only two.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 260: "I Got My Nails Did!" With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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To v. Too
'Too' — whether about excess, addition or contradiction — evolved from 'to.'
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 259: "To vs. Too." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Picture of Health
Some languages adopt their “health” word from the concept of wholeness — a metaphor that makes perfect sense. Other languages, however, adopt their “health” word from trees.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 258: "Picture of Health." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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The Right Stuff
Like the French word 'droit,' English’s 'right' has taken on a number of useful metaphorical meanings.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 257: "The Right Stuff." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Age, Color, Origin, Material
In this favorite from the archives, John discusses some unwritten rules of English that can be remarkably difficult for a learner of English to master.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 95: "Age, Color, Origin, Material." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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One for the Record Books
The word “record” can be broken down into two parts, the '-re' and the '-cord.' But what do those parts even mean?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 256: "One for the Record Books." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Why Do People in Old Movies Talk Like That?
An encore presentation of a much loved episode about the speech patterns of Bette Davis, George Gershwin, Louis Armstrong and countless other Americans of the 1930s. Why do they all sound like that?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 96: "Why Do People in Old Movies Talk Like That?" With John McWhorter. Produced and edit
Past Master
So many of our words have ugly associations that are particular to a historical time or event. Should we expunge them entirely from our vocabulary? Can we?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 255: "Past Master." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Are You Tryna Hear This?
Words that come to mean “want” often start out meaning something else. Take “want,” for example.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 254: "Are You Tryna Hear This?" With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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The Ambassadors
Henry James wrote his final novels just over a century ago — and yet somehow they are far less accessible than works written much earlier.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 253: "The Ambassadors." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Apostrophe S
Possession is more or less about ownership, and we denote that in English by adding ’s to the end of a word. But of course there’s far more to the story than just that.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 252: "Apostrophe S." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Is "Knocked Up" Racist?
There’s a rumor going around social networks that “knocked up” traces back to American slave trading. Is there any evidence for that etymology?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 251: "Is 'Knocked Up' Racist?" With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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What a Young Brain Can Do
It’s tempting to imagine that a sentence will translate rather neatly, word by word, from one language to another. It’s also naive.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 250: "What a Young Brain Can Do." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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What Do You Talk?
The book and lyrics of 'The Music Man' are replete with everyday, ordinary dialogue that, nevertheless, demonstrates how English often works.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 249: "What Do You Talk?" With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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The Problem with You
English used to have a more or less typical array of second person pronouns, with thou and thee for the singular — subject and object cases, respectively — and ye and you for the plural. So what happened?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 248: "The Problem with You." With John McWhorter. Produced and edite
The Rodney Dangerfield Pronoun
Comedian Rodney Dangerfield was fond of introducing jokes with a kind of redundancy, for example: “My wife, she told me I was one in a million. I found out she was right.” But those seemingly superfluous pronouns are filled with promise.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 247: "The Rodney Dangerfield Pronou
Is Negro a Slur or Just Antiquated?
The racial reckoning of the past several years has altered the way we think about and use language, often for better but occasionally for worse. Sometimes, what we tend to believe is at odds with what is most likely true.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 246: "Is Negro a Slur or Just Antiquated?" With
One Is the Loneliest Number
'Only,' 'lonely,' 'alone' and even 'atone' all derive from the number 'one,' which, by the way, wasn’t always pronounced as if it began with the letter w.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 245: "One Is the Loneliest Number." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserve
Throw Up, Turn Out & Believe
Words like chit-chat, pitter-patter and wishy-washy are formed that way for a reason beyond the pleasing way that they sound. The vowel change actually signifies something more meaningful to our human way of thinking.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. 244: "Throw Up, Turn Out & Believe." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. Al
Why Fidget Poppers Are "Satisfying"
What does the proliferation of so-called ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) videos say about the nuanced use of the word "satisfying"?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. 243: "Why Fidget Poppers Are 'Satisfying.'" With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Why Do We Dot Our i's?
As a guest on The Late Show, John told Stephen Colbert that there was nothing especially interesting to say about the word "I." Well, he takes that back — there is, it turns out, much to say.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. 242: "Why Do We Dot Our i's?" With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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You Are SO Articulate. Really.
Do you remember learning — in grade school most likely — the difference between a count noun and a mass noun? Probably not, and yet chances are that you use them correctly. That’s because you’ve mastered your native language.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. 241: "You Are SO Articulate. Really." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by
When Words Collide
We are frequently asked — often by young listeners who are fascinated by language — how English could possibly accumulate the many thousands of words that make up its vast vocabulary. It’s a topic that’s just too fun not to revisit now and again.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 154: "When Words Collide." With John McWhorter. Pr
The Haphazard History of C
The letters C and K can both represent what we might call a Hard C — as in Cosmo Kramer or Calvin Klein. Not to mention Q, which usually indicates that same sound. Why does the English alphabet have this confusing redundancy?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 240: "The Haphazard History of C." With John McWhorter. Produced and
JFK's Most Famous Sentence
On Jan. 20, 1961, President John F. Kennedy delivered — to an audience seated both outside at the U.S. Capitol and at home in front of their televisions — his inaugural address. Millions were stirred that afternoon by the rousing line: And so, my fellow Americans — ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. Every part of that exhortation is a fascinating lingui
The Evolution of Woke
What does it mean to be woke? Has the word problematic become problematic? John McWhorter talks with Banished host Amna Khalid about the fraught vocabulary of modern censorship.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 238: "The Evolution of Woke." With Amna Khalid and John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights
Reviving Dead Languages
More than half the world’s approximately 7,000 languages will have no speakers left in the coming decades. Some are working feverishly to preserve or maintain them. Others are asking: Why bother?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 237: "Reviving Dead Languages." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rig
Let Sleeping Dogs Lay
Did you know that the past participle of the intransitive verb lie is lain and that its past tense is lay, not to be confused with the present tense of the transitive verb lay? Oh, and did you know that no one really cares if you use them all correctly?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 236: "Let Sleeping Dogs Lay." Wit
How Did Nigeria Get Its Name?
You might guess that Nigeria and Niger derive their names from the Latin word for “black,” especially since both countries were formerly colonized by Europeans. Guess again. John explains.
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Bonus: "How Did Nigeria Get Its Name?" With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo.
Where Is the Name Ketanji From?
President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee has said that her parents picked “Ketanji” from a list of West African names supplied by a relative. But West Africans speak hundreds of languages spread out across many hundreds of miles. Can we get more specific?
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 235: "Where Is the Name Ke
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The Church of What's Happening Now: The New Testament
Deadline: White House
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