Because Language (becauselangpod)

Coming soon: a chat with @korystamper.bsky.social about her new book True Color. How do you define what blue is? What even IS colour? Turns out, the quest to define colours was happening along with a standardisation crisis and a dictionary crisis. Kory tells us all about it.
@aaknopf.bsky.social

Final hours for this Kickstarter! Tim is creating beautiful works of art, and presenting them as words of encouragement for communities that use endangered scripts. Check it out and support.

I really want to believe that he asked "the what?" reflexively

as a treat
#WordOfTheWeek

frustration tolerance
#WordOfTheWeek

Seriously it’s this kind of complacency

Get tested, everyone

that YOU know of

Need some help spelling the word BUREAU?
It's easier than you think, but it's going to take a gross mnemonic. And Daniel's got one.

Full episode: becauselanguage.com/133-why-we-t...

For editors, on National Grammar Day.

On Grammar Day, they get aggressive:
Of their pronouns and nouns they're possessive,
Their subjunctives are hot
(Though we wish they were not),
And their verbs, like themselves, are progressive.

#alimerickaday

I feel complicit because I sold the dog food

Classic

A sticker on a laptop. It says “BECASUE LANGAUGE” and there are red squiggles under the two misspelled words

I can’t even get this right on our promo stuff 😭

"Lingusitics" Sticker for Sale by talkthetalk Who else besides me types this EVERY TIME? • Millions of unique designs by independent artists. Find your thing.

www.redbubble.com/i/sticker/Li...

Sticker: "Lingusitics is the science of langauge." Red squiggles appear under the two misspelled words

And as we all know…

ai/dr
#WordOfTheWeek

Language helps with information transfer, and that includes a lot of information about ourselves.
With Valerie Fridland, author of "Why We Talk Funny".

Full episode: becauselanguage.com/133-why-we-t...

The US Southern accent is becoming a marker of ideology. With Valerie Fridland, author of "Why We Talk Funny".

Full episode:
becauselanguage.com/133-why-we-t...

Life is extremely kiki right now and I would really like it to be just a little more bouba

Sounds amazing. Reznor does have a legitimate foothold on “Americans”. He’s in the video, chasing Bowie down the street.

Also, this is your weekly reminder that Trent Reznor backwards is Ron Zertnert

New Cambridge Element, Aviation English as a Global Lingua Franca, by Hyejeong Kim, out now! Read for free for the next 2 weeks at
https://cup.org/4aJ494I
#LangSky

How did the kids feel about 6-7 at the #WotY2025 vote? Kelly Wright is the data czar for @americandialect.org, and she tells us all about it.
Whole episode: becauselanguage.com/132-woty-202...

Listener Flo tells us about "weeaboo", an enthusiast for Japanese culture.
But what about someone who's into French stuff?
With Kelly Wright!
Whole episode: becauselanguage.com/132-woty-202...

Good vowel dumper

Unexpected antifa

Time for the worst #WotY2025.
Words are a proxy for the communities that use them, so who do they hate this year? Let's see.
African-Americans, as always.
Business types, yes.
Oo, children! That's new.
Also Australian and British English speakers catching strays.
www.lssu.edu/resources/ab...

Fun discovery!

See, I’m gonna disagree on Chomsky’s linguistics. He had some cool ideas that didn’t pan out, but in defending those ideas he dragged linguistics into unproductive intradisciplinary battles that lasted decades. We could have done so much better than Chomsky.

This is right

We did a whole episode together on him! And now it’s all fucking with my lesson plan (the tiniest of the problems from this, of course).
What’s our consensus on deleting the Chomsky? Into the bin forever? Teach but call out?

Trust issues with everyone forever

is my takeaway