That's What They Say

By Anne Curzan, Rebecca HectorSociety & Culture Education Language Learning

Favorites
74
Followers
Typical duration
5 min
per episode
If it hooks
91%
finish an episode

Based on Podcast App listening data

That's What They Say episodes

October 23 TWTS: A healthy dose of healthy language
We can be healthy and eating an apple seems clearly healthy, and then there’s the healthy dose of salt, which may not be healthy at all.
6 min
October 16 TWTS: When "f" and "v" were sort of one
If you know how the sound ‘f’ worked in Old English, it suddenly isn’t mysterious why the noun "leaf" with an "f" turns into "leaves" with a "v" when you make it plural
6 min
October 09 TWTS: Why no one is "gonna Pittsburgh"
If I say I’m gonna do it, I don’t necessarily mean I’m headed out the door right now to do it.
6 min
October 02 TWTS: Dictionaries get glow-ups too
The New York Times announced that the Merriam-Webster Dictionary “is wordsmaxxing” and NBC News described it as a “glow-up” of the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
6 min
September 25 TWTS: The same, just more exact
Concerns about redundancy are back this week. It's the exact same thing we’ve talked about before, but this time about the expression "exact same."
6 min
September 20 TWTS: Fore! It's a lightning round
This may be one of the only times that throw pillows, golf, and curling all get wrapped into the same discussion.
6 min
September 11 TWTS: "Proactive" gets a reaction in advance
While people may agree that being proactive is a positive trait, the word proactive can elicit some very negative reactions, so to speak.
6 min
September 04 TWTS: Cat chasing pixies? There's a word for that
Is your cat running around in circles? Be advised, that kitty might be pixilated.
6 min
August 28 TWTS: Old English, new boundaries
When we talk about Middle English, it suggests that we know when English began and when it ends.
6 min
August 27 TWTS: The cards language deals
There are lots of cards we can still play now, but we’ve lost some good ones too.
5 min

About That's What They Say

From the publisher's feed

Funner, snuck, and LOL are all things that we're hearing people say these days.That's What They Say is a weekly segment on Michigan Public that explores our changing language. University of Michigan…