Compiling the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was a seventy-year endeavour that called on thousands of volunteers from all walks of life. The Dictionary People, reviewed by Daisy Hay in the LRB, is a recent attempt to track down the various characters who made the OED possible. Daisy joins Tom to discuss how contributors and their enthusiasms ... Show More
Today
On Politics: The Bust-up at the BBC
The BBC is in crisis, again. A leaked dossier alleging a lack of impartiality in its reporting on Trump, Israel, race and gender has felled its director general and drawn threats of a defamation lawsuit from the White House. Yet many at the corporation point to the dossier’s cult ... Show More
1h 4m
Nov 21
Aftershock: The War on Terror – Episode 1: With Us or Against Us
In the days after 9/11, George W. Bush declared a state of emergency and initiated what would become an unprecedented expansion of US power. Public debate narrowed: there were new limits on what was acceptable, and not acceptable, to say. The London Review of Books published a nu ... Show More
44m 54s
Nov 2018
The Bizarre Origin of the Oxford English Dictionary
With 600,000 words and 3 million quotations, the Oxford English Dictionary is a massive tome. Work began on the dictionary in 1857, but the first edition wasn't published until 1884. Compiling the dictionary was a Herculean task, and James Murray, the editor of the dictionary, pu ... Show More
43m 20s
Nov 2022
A Strange Use of 'Said.' Kith and Kin. New Scrabble Words!
<p>903. A listener heard some jargon, and then got annoyed by "said" jargon, so we explored why. Plus, who the heck are your kith? And finally, we got excited about the first new Scrabble words since 2018.</p><p>|<strong> Transcript: </strong><a href="https://grammar-girl.simpl ... Show More
12m 33s
May 2022
EP299: Origin of the Phrase "In a Nutshell" as well as other Everyday Sayings, The Woman Who Sneaked Into George Washington's Army and The Dignity of the Individual Human Being
<p>On this episode of <em>Our American Stories</em>, <strong>Andrew Thompson</strong> shares another slice from his ultimate guide to understanding these baffling mini mysteries of the English language. <strong>Marilyn Komechak</strong>, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/ ... Show More
38m 16s
Nov 2022
Why Today's 'Thank You' Is Different from an Ancient 'Thank You.' Gerunds.
<p>902. Language reflects culture, so it's no surprise that giving thanks hundreds of years ago was different from giving thanks today. We have the fascinating history. Plus, since "Thanksgiving" is a gerund, we looked at all the interesting things you can do with gerunds in gene ... Show More
16m 58s
Aug 2023
Etymology (WORD ORIGINS) Encore with Helen Zaltzman
<p>The brilliant and dazzling Helen Zaltzman pops in with some new asides in this encore episode of Ologies. Helen, host of the podcasts The Allusionist, Veronica Mars Investigations and Answer Me This, and a person who technically for a living researches the origins of language ... Show More
1h 6m