Slate Debates

Taking Home the Gold in Language


Listen Later

On today’s episode of Spectacular Vernacular, hosts Ben Zimmer and Nicole Holliday chat about language at the Olympics in Tokyo. They also chat with linguist Arika Okrent about her new book, Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme―And Other Oddities of the English Language. (Check out an essay Okrent wrote about the English spelling system.) And finally, we have our first guest joining us for a fun quiz segment that you don’t want to miss. 

Do you have any language questions or fun facts to share? Email us at [email protected]. You can also use that email address to let us know if you’d like to take part in a future episode, where we’ll bring in listeners for some challenging wordplay.  

Produced by Jasmine Ellis and Cheyna Roth. 

Subscribe to Slate Plus. It’s only $1 for the first month. To learn more, go to slate.com/spectacularplus. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Slate DebatesBy Slate Podcasts

  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6
  • 4.6

4.6

2,841 ratings


More shows like Slate Debates

View all
This American Life by This American Life

This American Life

90,820 Listeners

Radiolab by WNYC Studios

Radiolab

44,006 Listeners

Fresh Air by NPR

Fresh Air

38,537 Listeners

The New Yorker Radio Hour by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker Radio Hour

6,795 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,710 Listeners

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! by NPR

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

38,836 Listeners

On the Media by WNYC Studios

On the Media

9,237 Listeners

Political Gabfest by Slate Podcasts

Political Gabfest

8,493 Listeners

Explain It to Me by Vox

Explain It to Me

7,863 Listeners

The Gray Area with Sean Illing by Vox

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

10,721 Listeners

Whistlestop: Presidential History and Trivia by Slate Podcasts

Whistlestop: Presidential History and Trivia

1,377 Listeners

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts by Slate Podcasts

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts

3,542 Listeners

Hang Up and Listen by Slate Podcasts

Hang Up and Listen

999 Listeners

Care and Feeding | Slate's parenting show by Slate Podcasts

Care and Feeding | Slate's parenting show

1,029 Listeners

Slate News by Slate Podcasts

Slate News

5,625 Listeners

The Pulse by WHYY

The Pulse

343 Listeners

Slate Culture by Slate Podcasts

Slate Culture

1,873 Listeners

Slate Health by Slate Podcasts

Slate Health

53 Listeners

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia by Slate Podcasts

Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia

2,070 Listeners

What Next: TBD by Slate Podcasts

What Next: TBD

237 Listeners

Slow Burn by Slate Podcasts

Slow Burn

23,881 Listeners

Slate Presents: One Year by Slate Podcasts

Slate Presents: One Year

1,283 Listeners

Throughline by NPR

Throughline

16,345 Listeners

One Year by Slate Podcasts

One Year

1,194 Listeners

Culture Gabfest by Slate Podcasts

Culture Gabfest

447 Listeners

The Ezra Klein Show by New York Times Opinion

The Ezra Klein Show

16,096 Listeners

Lexicon Valley by Lexicon Valley

Lexicon Valley

572 Listeners

Hear Me Out by Slate Podcasts

Hear Me Out

60 Listeners

Well, Now by Slate Podcasts

Well, Now

48 Listeners

Navel Gazing by John Dickerson

Navel Gazing

98 Listeners

The Law According to Trump by Slate Podcasts

The Law According to Trump

7 Listeners

Standoff: What Happened at Ruby Ridge? by Slate Podcasts

Standoff: What Happened at Ruby Ridge?

131 Listeners

Slate's Audio Book Club by Slate Podcasts

Slate's Audio Book Club

0 Listeners

When We All Get To Heaven by Eureka Street Productions

When We All Get To Heaven

47 Listeners