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Welcome to the Valley!

With esteemed Columbia University linguistics professor John McWhorter as your host, Lexicon Valley dissects this messy, maddening and thoroughly wonderful thing we call language.

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If you love Lexicon Valley, please consider becoming a paying subscriber! For just $5/month, you’ll get extra bonus segments and the ability to ask John linguistic questions that he may answer in his biweekly Q-and-A. Plus you’ll be supporting all the work we do here at Booksmart Studios. Thank you for your support.

Latest Episodes View All

Podcast Episode

Oversleeping at the Sleepover

Over isn’t just the opposite of under and off is not necessarily the opposite of on. John explains.Please subscribe to Lexicon Valley to support our show — go to www.booksmartstudios.com to find out h...

· 25 min 10 sec

Podcast Episode

The Story of Us

John talks about the subject of his new book by Avery Publishing — Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words.Please subscribe at www.booksmartstudios.com and thank you for listening! This...

· 21 min 6 sec

Podcast Episode

Fire, Die, Rim

The Thai words for fire, die and rim sound an awful lot like the English words fire, die and rim. Why is that? John explains.To help support Lexicon Valley please consider a paid subscription — visit...

· 32 min 22 sec

Podcast Episode

Hither and Yon

Words like thence and thither are all but obsolete in English, but they were actually quite useful! John explains.SUBSCRIBE to LEXICON VALLEY — please go to www.booksmartstudios.com to become a paid m...

· 25 min 51 sec

About us

In his close examination of language — its power to inform and misinform, to elucidate and obfuscate, John analyzes the words and phrases that dominate our discourse and make the headlines.

Questions? Comments? E-mail booksmartstudios@gmail.com and one of our producers will get back to you as soon as possible.