Episodes
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Why Do We Use Cringey Words for Loved Ones?
S4 E4 - 9m 11s
Why do we use such unusual words for the people we love? From baby to bunny, two thirds of American adults refer to their romantic partners by a pet name. And we’ve been doing this for a long time—the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary traces terms of endearment over a thousand years. But where do all these pet names come from?
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Is the Southern Accent Disappearing?
S4 E3 - 7m 33s
When you hear names like Gladys or Herbert or Doris, you probably automatically think of old people, but why is that? Linguists have been studying the science of first names for a long time, and though what's behind a particular parent's choice is deeply personal and often opaque, there are certain trends in baby naming that can reveal a lot about the values and direction of a society.
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Why Do These Words Get Mispronounced So Much?
S4 E2 - 8m 32s
We all love language but still sometimes we pronounce certain words wrong, and everyone does it. We’re not talking about speaking too fast or jumbling letters. We’re talking about good ol’ fashioned mispronunciations–things you didn’t know you were saying wrong. But how do they happen? And why are they not as wrong as people think?
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How Language Nerds Solve Crimes
S4 E1 - 8m 59s
The fact that we all have our own unique way of speaking is a beautiful thing. It's at the core of personal expression and contributes to the wonderful tapestry of language. But it also means that no form of expression can be 100% anonymous. Linguists use language everyday to solve crimes. As the famous Miranda warning goes: "anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law."
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