Episodes

  • Episode 100: How did we get here?
    Aug 3 2022

    It’s our 100th episode, which seemed like a good occasion to answer a listener question of a more personal type: how did we—that is, we three editors—get here?

    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.

    Show More Show Less
    22 mins
  • Do we repeat ourselves? Very well then, we repeat ourselves.
    Jul 27 2022

    A listener questions a tautology in one of our definitions and starts us off on a discussion of all types of repetition and redundancy.


    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.

    Show More Show Less
    14 mins
  • Hackneyed Phrases, Both Old and New
    Jul 20 2022

    Writing advice often includes hackneyed phrases we’re supposed to avoid. The phrases we're warned against today are different from the ones of yesteryear. We'll explore both.


    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.

    Show More Show Less
    15 mins
  • Tips for Frenchifying Your French
    Jul 13 2022

    Whether you're hoping to improve your high school French or just order that croissant with more confidence, we have some tips for you.

    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.

    Show More Show Less
    21 mins
  • Eggcorns, Mondegreens, and Spoonerisms—Oh My!
    Jul 6 2022

    A discussion of various kinds of slips of the tongue and errors of the ear.


    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.

    Show More Show Less
    27 mins
  • Traveling Words: Luggage, Baggage, and the Recombobulation Station
    Jun 29 2022

    In the disconcerting event that your travels by air deliver you, but not what you've packed, to your destination, you may find yourself filing a lost luggage claim, or a lost baggage claim—it could be either. Instead of ruminating over the awful circumstances, we turn our attention to the words themselves; we also revisit the recombobulation area we first discussed in episode 86.

    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.

    Show More Show Less
    19 mins
  • Skunked Words
    Jun 22 2022

    Sometimes a word, over time, will take on a meaning that doesn’t play very nicely with its original meaning, leaving a person who knows both meanings unsure what to do. Is the word still usable? Or is it … skunked? 

    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.

    Show More Show Less
    21 mins
  • When Dictionaries Drop Words
    Jun 15 2022

    We’ve discussed how words come to be entered in our dictionaries before, but today we’re going to talk about removing words from dictionaries. Which words get dropped? And why? 

    Hosted by Emily Brewster, Ammon Shea, and Peter Sokolowski.

    Produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.


    Transcript here.

    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Show More Show Less
    26 mins