Slate Debates

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to Jonathon Green, author of The Vulgar Tongue and Green's Dictionary of Slang, a 6,000-page, three-volume reference more than 20 years in the making. Show notes at www.slate.com/lexiconvalley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a mystery word or phrase with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. Show notes at www.slate.com/lexiconvalley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss Sarah Palin's use of demonstrative pronouns. Show notes at www.slate.com/lexiconvalley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a mystery word or phrase with lexicographer Ben Zimmer. Show notes at www.slate.com/lexiconvalley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to arts critic Nathan Rabin and journalist Christopher John Farley about the phrases they coined to identify two of Hollywood's most pernicious tropes. Show notes at www.slate.com/lexiconvalley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield discuss a mystery word or phrase with Vocabulary.com executive producer Ben Zimmer. Show notes at www.slate.com/lexiconvalley. Follow @lexiconvalley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to Columbia University professor John McWhorter about his new book, The Language Hoax. Show notes at www.slate.com/lexiconvalley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss four legal cases in which the dictionary played a crucial part. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the early history of the word "dude." Show notes at www.slate.com/lexiconvalley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the many meanings of a child's "no." Show notes at www.slate.com/lexiconvalley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss JFK's Inaugural Address with Richard Tofel, author of Sounding the Trumpet. Show notes at www.slate.com/lexiconvalley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to linguist Arika Okrent about the most logical language ever invented. Show notes at www.slate.com/lexiconvalley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo announce the return of Lexicon Valley. Yay! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the irresistible pull of language pedantry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the relationship between tonal languages and musical acuity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Vuolo talks with an anthropological linguist about the influence geography might have on speech. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the importance of talking to your child. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss curse words old and new with author Melissa Mohr. Show notes at slate.com/lexiconvalley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the seemingly paradoxical phrase "yeah-no." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo announce a new run of Lexicon Valley episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lexicon Valley will be back with a run of all-new episodes in the spring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss R-dropping and the New York accent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a defining feature of the classic New York accent. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss creaky voice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss metaphor and the "fiscal cliff." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the Cherokee syllabary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the debate over "illegal" versus "undocumented" at the heart of U.S. immigration policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo speak with Nataly Kelly, coauthor of Found in Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss what malapropisms might reveal about the way we organize our mental dictionary. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the commonly held belief that some languages are spoken faster than others. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to linguist Geoffrey Nunberg about his book Ascent of the A-word: A**holism, the First Sixty Years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike announces a run of all new episodes beginning later in the summer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss what we lose when a language goes extinct. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the historical present. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss stylometry. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk about how Mad Men and Downton Abbey can teach us about language change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the Gettysburg Address. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the most significant change to the English language that you've never heard of. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the he said/she said of the epicene pronoun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss how a simple quirk of grammar may affect the way we think. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss what it means for language to have gender. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the big ambitions of the word "so." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike announces a batch of brand new episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Vuolo talks to "Word Freak" author Stefan Fatsis about the nature of language in Scrabble. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to author David Skinner about his book, The Story of Ain't, which will be published in the fall of 2012. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the vernacular wrapped in a dialect inside a language that some call Ebonics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the hypercorrected incorrectness of "between you and I." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the evolution of the word "faggot." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the longstanding English language proscription against ending a sentence with a preposition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices