Former chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary John Simpson joins us to talk about how words evolve and about the effect technology has on how we speak.
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Should Hate Speech Be Banned On Campus?
Shetal Vohra-Gupta and Naomi Reed of UT’s Institute of Urban Policy Research and Analysis join us to talk about the need for schools to develop anti-hate speech guidelines.
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How To Speak Emoji
Linguist Vyvyan Evans joins us to make the case that all of these hearts, winks and thumbs are actually advancing our ability to communicate.
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The Power Of Profanity
This hour, we’ll talk about the complex set of rules that guide our usage of taboo words – and about why some words get declared off limits.
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Inside The World Of Competitive Spelling
Vauhini Vara joins us to talk about why the Scripps National Spelling Bee has been dominated by Indian-American competitors.
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How We Read
Cognitive scientist Mark Seidenberg joins us to talk about taking a more scientific approach to teaching reading.
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Speaking American
This hour, we’ll talk about how the U.S. developed so many regional dialects – and about how to navigate these sub-languages – with Josh Katz, author of “Speaking American: How Y’all, Youse, and You Guys Talk: A Visual Guide.”
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Esperanto: A Universal Language
This hour, we’ll talk about the invention – and ultimate failure – of Esperanto with Princeton professor Esther Schor, author of “Bridge of Words: Esperanto and the Dream of a Universal Language” (Metropolitan Books).
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Adventures In Arabic
This hour, we’ll talk with Zora O’Neill about how she immersed herself in the Middle East, mastered the language and broadened her worldview in the process. She writes about the experience in her memoir, “All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures in Arabic and the Arab World” (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).
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How To Speak Dothraki
We’ll talk about how fictional foreign tongues add to their fantastical stories with David J. Peterson, author of “The Art of Language Invention: From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves, the Words Behind World-Building.”
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Me Talk Pretty One Day
This hour, we’ll talk about common expressions and terms that may set off the language police with Ammon Shea, author of Bad English: A History of Linguistic Aggravation
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Head That Wears The Comma Crown
This hour we’ll revisit our May talk with Mary Norris, who spent over three decades in The New Yorker’s copy department.
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