That's What They Say

By Anne Curzan, Rebecca Hector

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 E... more

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FAQs about That's What They Say:

How many episodes does That's What They Say have?

The podcast currently has 418 episodes available.

That's What They Say episodes:

December 13, 2025 TWTS: A brief history of pants
The word "pants" has oodles of good linguistic stories to tell, and that’s no pile of pants.
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6min
December 08, 2025 TWTS: Reeling in the small fry
It's a time of year when many of us are cooking and eating big meals together which may involve fried food and "small fry."
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5min
November 29, 2025 TWTS: When downloading gets emotional
Now that we can "download" some "mashups," we should talk about how these words have changed over time.
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6min
November 24, 2025 TWTS: Movers and shakers made into shapers
As we merrily roll along, we might be moving and shaking, with maybe some shaping in there too.
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5min
November 17, 2025 TWTS: When "lickety split" took off
We will share some fun linguistic facts about lickety-split, lickety-split.
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6min
November 10, 2025 TWTS: Here's a tip: "Tip" isn't an acronym
From 17th-century England to modern-day gratuities, the evolution of "tip" is a story of linguistic twists and turns that ultimately lead to a surprising conclusion: it's not what you think it stands for.
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6min
November 03, 2025 TWTS: The bloody evolution of bloodletting
Historically, bloodletting and bloodshed have been different things, but the line has blurred. Linguist Anne Curzan breaks down the evolution of words.
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6min
October 27, 2025 TWTS: Smack dab in the middle, give or take a little
When you’re smack dab in the middle of something, you can’t be more in the middle of it.
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5min
October 19, 2025 TWTS: Getting through the history of "gh" is tougher than we thought
English spelling can be a museum of earlier pronunciations, as we see in words like "night," "through," and "cough."
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6min
October 12, 2025 TWTS: You can tuna fish, but you may not need the "fish"
Given that tuna is a fish, it can seem unnecessary to call that out in the compound tuna fish.
...more
5min

FAQs about That's What They Say:

How many episodes does That's What They Say have?

The podcast currently has 418 episodes available.

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