Slate Debates

How an American Revolutionary War figure spawned a new name for a very old game. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyEmail: [email protected]

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Linguist John McWhorter argues that it makes perfect sense for the speech of black and white Americans to have subtle differences.

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How did Clupea harengus come to signify a diversionary tactic?

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The earliest known citation for “shit show” is from an English-language translation of a 1970s criminal trial in Germany. But what was the word or phrase being translated? Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyEmail: [email protected]

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A salty phrase with roots in Ancient Rome has confounded English speakers for centuries. Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyEmail: [email protected]

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Donald Trump calls people (and publications) he doesn’t like “sad.” When did that word become an insult?

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A peculiar insult from the north of England has the Oxford English Dictionary stumped.

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A pronoun that English borrowed from its Scandinavian neighbors gets new life as a gender neutral alternative to he and she.

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Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk about a mystery word or phrase with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.

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Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to editors at Oxford, Merriam-Webster, and Dictionary.com about their picks for Word of the Year.

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