Lexicon Valley

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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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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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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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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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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'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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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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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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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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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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