Word Matters

By Merriam-Webster, New England Public MediaEducation Arts Books

Word Matters episodes

November 10, 2021 What It Means to 'Call an Audible'
How did 'audible' move from the football huddle to general conversation?
And why do we have both 'inexplicable' and 'unexplainable'?
Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski.
Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.
Transcript available here.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
22 min
November 03, 2021 'Sneaked' vs. 'Snuck'
When is it 'sneaked' and when is it 'snuck'? And how about 'dreamed' vs. 'dreamt'? 'Creeped'/'crept'?
It's Irregular Verbs Week here on Word Matters.
Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski.
Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.
Transcript available here.

Our podcast is sponsored by Betterhelp. To receive 10% off your first month, visit betterhelp.com/matters
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
12 min
October 27, 2021 The Etymology of Insults
How did 'snake-oil salesman' become a term for a swindler? It's a complex story.
How was 'asshat' formed? It's about what you'd expect.
Today we're getting into the intricacies of vulgarities.
Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski.
Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.
Transcript available here.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
19 min
October 20, 2021 How Words Are Dropped from the Dictionary
We talk all the time about how words are entered. But what about the ones that fall away? How are those decisions made? Let's get into it.
Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski.
Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.
Transcript available here.
Sponsored by University of California Irvine Division of Continuing Education. For more information, please visit: ce.uci.edu/learnnow
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
16 min
October 13, 2021 Words Named After Real People
You know that old cliche, "When they look up X in the dictionary, they'll see your picture"? Well, for these folks, that saying is true. Today we're talking eponyms.
Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski.
Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.
Transcript available here.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
13 min
October 06, 2021 Taking an Ax—or Axe?—to the 'Podium' vs. 'Lectern' Debate
Today we're looking at two of the English language's most persistent questions. First, is there an actual difference between 'ax' and 'axe'? What's up with that? Then, the great debate continues to rage over what can be called a 'podium' and what is a 'lectern.'
Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski.
Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.
Transcript available here.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
18 min
September 29, 2021 What's a folk etymology?
The English language 1) is not logical, and 2) loves to hold onto its mistakes. Enter folk etymology, or, attempts to apply logic to the language, and the mistakes that took root.
Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski.
Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.
Transcript available here.

Our podcast is sponsored by Betterhelp. To receive 10% off your first month, visit betterhelp.com/matters
Our podcast is sponsored by Somfy. Learn more about Somfy powered, motorized window coverings by visiting somfysystems.com/podcast
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
13 min
September 22, 2021 'Possum' or 'Opossum'?
This week we finally address it: the two spellings of everyone's favorite North American marsupial.
Plus, we do a deep dive on 'staycation' and various other leisure-related portmanteaus!
Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski.
Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.
Transcript available here.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
23 min
September 15, 2021 How We Approach Compound Words
We're back to the mailbag this week with two great user questions:
What makes a compound word worthy of dictionary entry?
Is there one correct way to spell 'yay'?
Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski.
Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.
Transcript available here.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
20 min
September 08, 2021 How Language Evolves (with Grammar Girl)
We're joined this week by Mignon Fogarty, aka Grammar Girl, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of her show Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.
Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski.
Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.
Transcript available here.

Today's sponsor is BetterHelp. Listeners get 10% off their first month by visiting betterhelp.com/matters
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
24 min

About Word Matters

From the publisher's feed

Word Matters is a show for readers, writers, and anyone who's curious about the English language. Join Merriam-Webster editors as they challenge supposed grammar rules, reveal the surprising…