Your New Favorite Word

Starting from the same word, Jamis and Tessa follow very different research paths. Jamis plays with lexical ambiguity, while Tessa shows us the glories of verbing, aka “denominalization”.

Tessa has “the guts” to dive deep into the connection between emotion words and bodily organs. Jamis talks about homonyms: words that sound or look the same, but have different meanings, and is “kind” enough to introduce several different “kinds”.

Jamis navigates the twisty little passages of the etymology of the word “maze”, and the lexically frolicsome Tessa explores one type of false etymology, known as a “backronym”.

Starting from the same word, Jamis and Tessa follow very different research paths. Jamis plays with lexical ambiguity, while Tessa shows us the glories of verbing, aka “denominalization”.

Jamis and Tessa are back, with Tessa exploring the web of words around kitty-corner, and Jamis unearthing the argot of the hobo.

In this very first episode of Your New Favorite Word we start to “c” things a different way, and change “reaction” into “creation”. Jamis and Tessa introduce you to the history of the words quarantine and skedaddle, and discover some other fun new words along the way!