Lexicon Valley

How Did Americans Talk a Hundred Years Ago?

21 Mar 2017

Contributed by Lukas

John McWhorter time travels to 1930 to eavesdrop on American English. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios....

Like, Why Do We Use Like So Much?

07 Feb 2017

Contributed by Lukas

A conversation with sociolinguist Alexandra D’Arcy X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley...

What Had Happened Was Storytelling

24 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

John McWhorter discusses his new book, Talking Back, Talking Black. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.co...

Why We Stopped Teaching Children How to Read

10 Jan 2017

Contributed by Lukas

A conversation with Mark Seidenberg, author of Language at the Speed of Sight. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmar...

Away in a Penthouse, the Little Lord Jesus

27 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

When hath gave way to has, plus the original meaning of merry. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/Lex...

What "The Wizard of Oz" Can Tell Us About "Arrival"

13 Dec 2016

Contributed by Lukas

In Arrival, Amy Adams plays a linguist who discovers that language can radically alter a person’s sense of reality. Can it actually? X: @lexiconval...

Black Like Us

30 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Are the slang, sounds and syntax of Black English a kind of universal patois for America’s youth? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconVa...

Language Lessons of Past Presidents

15 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Some unwitting English instruction from previous U.S. presidents. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/...

How You Vanquished Ye, Thee and Thou

01 Nov 2016

Contributed by Lukas

How our rich and complex system of second-person pronouns got whittled down to just you. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite...

Why Do People in Old Movies Talk Like That?

18 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

On the peculiar speech patterns of early 20th century Americans. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/L...

Billy and Me Went to the Store

04 Oct 2016

Contributed by Lukas

On the unwritten rules of pronouns. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about...

What Is a Dictionary, Really?

20 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A conversation with John Simpson, former editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: books...

The Invisible Language of Nursery Rhymes

06 Sep 2016

Contributed by Lukas

What does Hickory Dickory Dock really mean? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn mo...

Word Sex

23 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Where do new words come from? Often old words. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn...

Should Shakespeare Get a Modern English Makeover?

08 Aug 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A conversation with Jack Lynch, author of Becoming Shakespeare: The Unlikely Afterlife That Turned a Provincial Playwright into the Bard. X: @lexicon...

Are Emoji a Language?

26 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A conversation with Gretchen McCulloch on the big meaning behind our favorite little pictograms. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValle...

Finding Life in a Dead Language

12 Jul 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A conversation with Ann Patty, author of Living With a Dead Language, about her transformative experience learning Latin. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: ...

Rules Are Made to Be Spoken

29 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A conversation with Sali Tagliamonte, author of Making Waves: The Story of Variationist Sociolinguistics. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/Lex...

Should We Make English Spelling Easier?

14 Jun 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A conversation with etymologist Anatoly Liberman, author of Word Origins and How We Know Them. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyW...

Your Brain on Profanity

31 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Benjamin K. Bergen, author of What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves, discusses the science of cursing. X: @...

LinguaFile XXIV | Roshambo

17 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Why some people call rock-paper-scissors roshambo, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: books...

The Blaccent

03 May 2016

Contributed by Lukas

Linguist John McWhorter says the so-called blaccent is largely about vowel sounds. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: book...

LinguaFile XXIII | Red Herring

19 Apr 2016

Contributed by Lukas

How Clupea harengus — a.k.a. Atlantic herring — came to signify a diversionary tactic, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: ...

Defecation Presentation

04 Apr 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The earliest known example of "sh-t show" is from an English-language translation of a 1970s criminal trial in Germany. But what was the word or phras...

LinguaFile XXII | Grain of Salt

08 Mar 2016

Contributed by Lukas

On the origin of a skeptical phrase, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.co...

The Full, Firm, Valiant and Heavy-Hearted Trump

22 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

When exactly did sad become an insult? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more ab...

LinguaFile XXI | Wazzock

08 Feb 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A peculiar insult from the north of England has the Oxford English Dictionary stumped, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: face...

The Fall and Rise of the Singular They

27 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

A pronoun that English borrowed from its Scandinavian neighbors gets new life as an alternative to he and she. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.co...

LinguaFile XX | In Cahoots

11 Jan 2016

Contributed by Lukas

The curious case of a conspiratorial coinage, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmarts...

Tears of Joy, Identity and a Prism of Isms

28 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Editors at Merriam-Webster, Oxford University Press and Dictionary.com discuss the one word they believe best represents 2015. X: @lexiconvalleyFaceb...

LinguaFile XIX | 86'd

14 Dec 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On the early-20th-century origins of a bizarre food-industry code, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconVall...

Snoozefest

30 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The energetic history of the word sleep. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more ...

LinguaFile XVIII | Hootenanny

16 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On a word that was popularized during the 1940s folk movement, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWe...

A Cat, a Coward and Female Genitalia

02 Nov 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The etymological quirkiness of the word pussy. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn...

LinguaFile XVII | Humdinger

19 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On a real beauty of a word, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/Lexicon...

Seven Centuries of F--ks

05 Oct 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On a recent revelation regarding the history of one our most enduring expletives. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: books...

LinguaFile XVI | Boondoggle

21 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On the origins of a very wasteful word, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios...

How New York Became the Big Apple

08 Sep 2015

Contributed by Lukas

New York City is big, sure, but why an apple? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn ...

LinguaFile XV | Gringo

24 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On the origin of a Spanish-language pejorative, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmar...

What Do You Mean What Is It Like?

10 Aug 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On “a literary history of the strange expression ‘what is it like?’” — with lexicographer Anne Seaton. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook....

LinguaFile XIV | Heebie Jeebies

27 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On the jittery history of a nervous term, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudi...

What's the Deal with Translating Seinfeld?

13 Jul 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Seinfeld has been dubbed into other languages, but does it actually translate? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmar...

LinguaFile XIII | Bozo

29 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On the etymology of a doofy and goofy word, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstu...

The Pollyanna Hypothesis

15 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Are we humans a mostly positive people? Our language says yes. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/Lex...

LinguaFile XII | Kibitz

01 Jun 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Adding our two cents' worth from the peanut gallery, with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: boo...

M'athchomaroon, Zhey Lajak Vezhven!

18 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Conlanger David J. Peterson on the art and craft of inventing languages for Game of Thrones. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWeb...

LinguaFile XI | Seersucker

04 May 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On a well-traveled fabric, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/Lex...

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

20 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

You don't know nuthin' about the double negative. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Le...

LinguaFile X | Pumpernickel

13 Apr 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On the flatulent history of a popular deli staple, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: ...

And Infinitum

23 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On a quirk of grammar that Henry Fowler felt “should not be discountenanced.” X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: books...

LinguaFile IX | Carnival

09 Mar 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On the contested origin of a gluttonous word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: books...

Sex Workers

23 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

The rise and fall of the feminine ending. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more...

LinguaFile VIII | Quiz

09 Feb 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On the etymology of a puzzling word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudi...

The Many Lives of Anna Karenina

26 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

Just how faithful should a translator be to the original? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconV...

LinguaFile VII | Cockamamie

16 Jan 2015

Contributed by Lukas

On the Yiddish-inflected origin of a crazy word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: bo...

Exposure to Vape Culture

29 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Editors at Merriam-Webster, Oxford University Press, Dictionary.com and Wordnik discuss their rationale for choosing the one word that best represents...

LinguaFile VI | Grog

15 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

On the etymology of a potent word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios...

What Does It Mean to Sound Gay?

01 Dec 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Can you tell if a man is gay by the way he speaks? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley L...

LinguaFile V | Get One's Goat

17 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

On the etymology of a provocative phrase, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmart...

Number Theory

03 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

How many blackbirds were baked in that pie? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn mo...

LinguaFile IV | Snark

20 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

On the etymology of a sarcastic word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstud...

Man on the Street

06 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathon Green's decades-long quest to document slang throughout the English-speaking world. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWeb...

LinguaFile III | Orange

23 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

On the etymology of a well-traveled and colorful word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsi...

Demonstratively Speaking

08 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

On the rhetorical effect of this, that, these and those. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconVa...

LinguaFile II | Lagniappe

25 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

On the etymology of a gratuitous word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstu...

The Manic Pixie and the Magical Negro

12 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Journalists Nathan Rabin and Christopher John Farley on the pitfalls of coining a viral term. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWe...

LinguaFile I | Discombobulate

28 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

On the etymology of a bewildering word, featuring lexicographer Ben Zimmer. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartst...

Fisherman's Whorf

15 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

On The Language Hoax, in which author and linguist John McWhorter pushes back against the idea that language affects culture. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebo...

Legislating Language

14 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Our next witness, Your Honor, is the dictionary — court cases in which lexicography played a starring role. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com...

The Dude Abides

28 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The early history of dudery, starring swells and fops and with a cameo by Mark Twain. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: b...

Learning to Say No

20 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The surprisingly complex taxonomy of simple negation. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValle...

Ask Not Who Wrote "Ask Not"

17 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The crowdsourcing of JFK’s most iconic speech: Crafting President Kennedy’s inaugural address. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconVal...

The End of Ambiguity

10 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

On an invented language that forces you to choose your words carefully. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudio...

The Burden of Being Right

06 Aug 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Embracing the hand-slapping, prescriptivist schoolmarm in all of us. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.c...

Name That Tone

15 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

How tonal languages such as Cantonese might give would-be musicians a leg up. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmart...

Eject at High Altitude

01 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The uncanny correlation between altitude and language development with Caleb Everett. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: b...

30 Million By Four

25 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

How to raise verbal children: Why talking to your kids is one of the most important investments you can make in their future. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebo...

A Brief History of Swearing

17 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

On profanity and obscenity with author Melissa Mohr. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley...

Accentuate the Positive

10 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Yeah, no: On the seemingly paradoxical phrase and its hidden logic. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.co...

The Fawth Flaw, Part II

31 Jan 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The fall and rise of rhoticity (pronouncing your Rs) in New York City English. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmar...

The Fawth Flaw

17 Jan 2013

Contributed by Lukas

A classic study about R-dropping in Manhattan department stores and so-called "prestige borrowing." X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconVa...

Get Your Creak On

02 Jan 2013

Contributed by Lukas

On the vocal phenomenon called creaky voice or vocal fry. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconV...

Good Is Up

21 Dec 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Why the phrase "fiscal cliff" is such a powerful metaphor. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/Lexicon...

Talking Leaves and Lightning Paper

04 Dec 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Sequoyah: The Cherokee man who invented an alphabet for his language. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios....

Undocumented Illegals

13 Nov 2012

Contributed by Lukas

The heated debate over language at the heart of U.S. immigration policy. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudi...

Death to Potatoes

01 Nov 2012

Contributed by Lukas

On the all-important role that language translation — and mistranslation — plays in our lives, with Nataly Kelly and Jost Zetzsche. X: @lexiconva...

Here's to You Mrs. Malaprop

16 Oct 2012

Contributed by Lukas

What misspeaking might reveal about the way our mental dictionary is organized. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksma...

The Rate of Exchange

02 Oct 2012

Contributed by Lukas

On the widespread belief that other languages are spoken more rapidly than your own. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: bo...

Ascent of the A-Word

18 Sep 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg on his book Ascent of the A-Word: A**holism, the First Sixty Years. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWe...

Our Dying Words

09 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Should we care when a language dies? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more abou...

Then Is Now, Now and Then

02 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

The narrative mastery of Seinfeld's Kramer: talking about the past in the present tense. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite...

By Their Words You Shall Know Them

18 Jun 2012

Contributed by Lukas

How we know L. Frank Baum didn't write the 15th Oz book — the surprising way mathematicians can determine authorship. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: f...

Capturing the Past

11 Jun 2012

Contributed by Lukas

“Lord Grantham, Don Draper’s on Hold”: The algorithm that finds anachronisms in Downton Abbey, Mad Men and Edith Wharton. X: @lexiconvalleyFace...

The Eloquence of Plain English

04 Jun 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Was Honest Abe a Poet? How Lincoln’s speaking style evolved from overly ornate to the brilliant simplicity of Gettysburg. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook...

When Being Done Replaced Doing

29 May 2012

Contributed by Lukas

As a language evolves, words, phrases and even whole tenses fall in and out of fashion. And then, every once in a while, a whole new way of expressing...

One Giant Leap for Humanity

14 May 2012

Contributed by Lukas

In the third and final installment of the Lexicon Valley series about language and gender, Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield discuss the ongoing quest for a...

And May He Be a Masculine Bridge

07 May 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Does talking about an object as masculine or feminine somehow cause us to think of it that way? In the second part of a Lexicon Valley series about la...

When Nouns Grew Genitals

30 Apr 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Languages all across the world have what’s called grammatical gender, which means simply that nouns get divided up into different categories or “c...

A Needle Pulling Thread

23 Apr 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Have you noticed the seemingly stratospheric rise of the word “so” in recent years? People use it not only as a conjunction or an intensifying adv...

A Meditation on Scrabble

12 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Does Scrabble in fact celebrate language? Or does it merely reduce English to a set of mathematical symbols and probability calculations? Mike Vuolo t...