Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers.
1,068 episodes — Page 1 of 22
Why does 'Here comes he' sound so wrong?
Oct 13, 202610 min
Famous quotes we've been getting wrong, from Robert Frost to 'Don't mess with Texas,' with Eli Burnstein
Oct 8, 202645 min
Is it 'try and' or 'try to'? What does an epilogue do?
Oct 6, 202610 min
'Rizz,' 'lost in the sauce,' and Dictionary.com's newest words, with Steve Johnson
Oct 1, 202620 min
Why are ships called 'she'?
Sep 29, 202613 min
What's in a word? Mapping America's regional vocabulary and the Linguistic Atlas Project, with Allison Burkette
Sep 24, 202634 min
How often do you use 'the'? Meet Zipf's law
Sep 22, 20269 min
Min-maxxing, looksmaxxing, and Nixon-maxxing, with Roger Kreuz
Sep 17, 202617 min
Why do pirates say 'Arr'? Is it 'none is' or 'none are'?
Sep 15, 202612 min
Stray Russian words and made-up style rules, with Daniel Heuman and Chris Ryder
Sep 10, 202624 min
Who's a good boy? The science behind 'dog voice.' Is it 'bated breath' or 'baited breath'?
Sep 8, 202611 min
How we got from no spaces between words to the interrobang, with Florence Hazrat
Sep 3, 202627 min
Why do so many last names sound like jobs?
Sep 1, 20269 min
Explosions, chemistry, and dictionary 'spite,' with Kory Stamper
Aug 27, 202620 min
It's Greek to me: Why is the language of 'The Odyssey' shorthand for all that we don’t understand?
Aug 25, 202610 min
Sarah L. Kaufman on the shared rhythm of dance, critical writing, and finding better verbs
Aug 20, 202616 min
What 'kith and kin' and 'beck and call' have in common
Aug 18, 202612 min
Word wagons and bobbasheelys: Life at DARE, with Joan Houston Hall
Aug 13, 202620 min
Why does 'shh' mean the same thing in so many languages, and what's 'broad' about daylight?
Aug 11, 202611 min
How comics are made, with Glenn Fleishman
Aug 6, 202626 min
Why does the U.S. have so many regional accents?
Aug 4, 202610 min
Why "golly" and "gosh" are going the way of the dinosaur, with Sali Tagliamonte
Jul 30, 202628 min
The secret language of gamers. Plus, why ducks don't ‘duck’ from danger
Jul 28, 202612 min
'Writing for AI' and the flaws of AI detectors, with Sean Goedecke
Jul 23, 202626 min
Shark Week: 6 sayings from pop culture
Jul 21, 20268 min
Decoding the Chinese character paradox, with Dr. Charles Kemp
Jul 16, 202612 min
Isn't it ironic? Plus, the man behind the guillotine
Jul 14, 202611 min
Saving Canadian lexicography, with John Chew
Jul 9, 202637 min
Snowclones: fill-in-the-blank phrases we can’t stop remixing. Plus, is it 'RBIs' or 'RBI'?
Jul 7, 20269 min
Building a beloved resource for word lovers, with Doug Harper
Jul 2, 202627 min
How to answer the question 'What's your book about?'
Jun 30, 202610 min
Fossil words, eponyms, and a miscellany of weird facts, with Jess Zafarris and Shannon Miller
Jun 25, 202638 min
Why 'love' means 'zero' in tennis
Jun 23, 20268 min
Tomi Adeyemi: The writing life
Jun 20, 202642 min
The bouba-kiki effect in baby chicks, with Dr. Maria Loconsole
Jun 18, 202617 min
The secret code of weather forecasts
Jun 16, 20269 min
Randall Munroe of xkcd: Language Chat and Weird Bee Laws.
Jun 13, 202635 min
What it really takes to translate Shakespeare, with Daniel Hahn
Jun 11, 202634 min
How to get started as a freelance writer
Jun 9, 202614 min
The case for language clarity, with Iva Cheung
Jun 4, 202628 min
Does Yoda speak 'real' English? Is it 'a real trouper' or 'a real trooper'?
Jun 2, 202613 min
Everyone has a story to tell, and why your memoir matters, with Grant Faulkner
May 28, 202626 min
How ‘bee’s knees’ became high praise, and why do recipes sound so bossy?
May 26, 202616 min
Why your topic isn't a point (and how to fix it), with Joel Schwartzberg
May 21, 202622 min
How many people is a 'troop'? Why spelling bees are called 'bees.'
May 19, 202614 min
The hidden logic of English spelling, with Colin Gorrie
May 14, 202624 min
How the Crusades gave us 'lingua franca.' 'That' or 'who' for animals? Doot doot doot
May 12, 202615 min
Meeting the new editor, with AP Stylebook's Anna Jo Bratton
May 7, 202624 min
Decoding the colon: AP vs. MLA style. Plus, words with no known origin.
May 5, 202617 min
The hidden superpower of verbs, with Sarah L. Kaufman
Apr 30, 202627 min