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Dec 2024
1h 42m

111: Words of the Week of the Year 2024 ...

Daniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård
About this episode

It's our Words of the Year episode, where we do a vibe check on all the words and name one of them our Because Language Word of the Year. We're joined by Grammar Girl Mignon Fogarty and a lot of friends and supporters. It's going to be weird. It's going to be brat. You know we're going to eat that.

Timestamps

  • Cold open: 0:00
  • Intros: 0:54
  • All the words from everywhere: 10:58
  • Related or Not: 43:28
  • Words from Mignon and James: 58:50
  • Our Words of the Week of the Year: 1:13:23
  • The Reads: 1:33:40
  • Outtakes: 1:39:29
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