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PODCAST EPISODE
The Sound of a Car Backshifting
John McWhorter on language change — from the meaning of wit to the pronunciation of automobile. Plus, a defense of redundancy!
Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 294: "The Sound of a Car Backshifting." With John McWhorter. Produced and edited by Mike Vuolo. All rights reserved.
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Getting new words into the dictionary is a rigorous, time consuming process — with no guarantee of success. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 293: "How Do Words Get in...
· 25 min 43 sec
"Unabridged" author Stefan Fatsis on the fastidious practice of lexicography and the heiress who amassed the largest collection of dictionaries in history. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studio...
· 30 min 0 sec
Like 'analog watch' and 'snail mail,' 'openly racist' is a retronym — John McWhorter and Mike Vuolo explain. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 291: "Open Season for Racis...
· 23 min 47 sec
What does St. John the Apostle have in common with Bernie Bernbaum, the sniveling grifter from Miller's Crossing? Angling! Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 290: "Playing t...
· 25 min 15 sec
About Lexicon Valley
A close examination of language — its power to inform and misinform, to elucidate and obfuscate. Founded in 2012, the erudite and irreverent audio show Lexicon Valley analyzes the words and phrases that dominate our discourse and make the headlines.
John McWhorter (host) teaches linguistics at Columbia University and writes a column for the New York Times. He earned a PhD in Linguistics from Stanford University and is the author of several books, including The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language, Nine Nasty Words: English in the Gutter and Word on the Street, about dialects and Black English.
Mike Vuolo (host) is the editor of Lexicon Valley and founder of Booksmart Studios. Born into a family of Italians and Jews, his childhood was filled with exaggerated hand gestures and hysterical worry, now channeled productively into audio. Vuolo has produced programs for Slate and WNYC. His crossword puzzles have appeared in outlets including The New York Times.
Bob Garfield (host) is an essayist, pundit, and inveterate caster, both broadly and podly. A former correspondent for NPR’s All Things Considered and longtime co-host of WNYC’s award-winning On the Media, Garfield is also the dashing and arthritic author of books including American Manifesto: Saving Democracy from Villains, Vandals and Ourselves.
Comments? Contact booksmartstudios@gmail.com.
