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How Do Words Get into the Dictionary?
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 the Dictionary." With Stefan Fatsis and Bob Garfield. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.
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Unabridged author Stefan Fatsis on the fastidious practice of lexicography and the woman who amassed the single largest collection of dictionaries in history. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Stu...
· 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
During an appearance on The Gist with Mike Pesca, we discussed the curious backstory of, you guessed it, the word gist. Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios production. Episode 289: "You Get the...
· 13 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.
