Stay ConnectedFive-time winner of Best Education Podcast in the Podcast Awards. Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing and feed your love of the English language. Whether English is your first language or your second language, these grammar, punctuation, style, and business tips will make you a better and more successful writer. Grammar Girl is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast.
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Copyright: © 2020 Mignon Fogarty, Inc.
969. From "wolkenkratzer" in German to "flea market" in English, direct translations called calques show how languages borrow from each other. This week, we look at how these translations are changing English in Miami and Spanish in Louisiana. Plus, we look at the difference between "gumball machine" and "gumballs machine" and how it might explain Joe Alwyn's Tortured Man Chat.
The calques segment was written by Susan K. Herman, a retired multidisciplined language analyst, analytic editor, and instructor for the federal government.
Corpus Links Mentioned: https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/, https://www.english-corpora.org/
| Transcript: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/calques
| Grammarpalooza (Get texts from Mignon!): https://joinsubtext.com/grammar or text "hello" to (917) 540-0876.
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| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
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| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
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968. This week, I expand on my comments for the New York Times about Taylor Swift's grammatically sound but apostrophe-free new album title: "The Tortured Poets Department." Plus, we dive deep into the nuances between "loving" someone and being "in love," tracing how the word evolved from the ancient Proto-Indo-European root "leubh" yet still doesn't fully capture love's complexity across languages.
The "in love" segment was written by Valerie Fridland, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno and the author of "Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English." You can find her at valeriefridland.com.
| Transcript: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/taylor-swift-apostrophe/transcript
| Grammarpalooza (Get texts from Mignon!): https://joinsubtext.com/grammar or text "hello" to (917) 540-0876.
| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.
| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475).
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media Links: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
967. Should you say "a honor" or "an honor"? It's trickier than you think! We explore why articles depend on sounds and regional variations, the difference between "thee" and "thuh," and your stories about delicious phrasings.
| Transcript: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/a-versus-an/transcript
| Grammarpalooza (Get texts from Mignon!): https://joinsubtext.com/grammar or text "hello" to (917) 540-0876.
| Why we have both "a" and "an: Episode 920
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| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475).
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media Links: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
966. We explore the rise and fall of the letter H: Debates over its name ("haitch" or "aitch"?) and why a once-prestigious pronunciation like "hwhat" now seems old-fashioned.
The "haitch" segment was written by Kate Burridge, a professor of linguistics at Monash University, and Catherine McBride, a professor of psychology at Chinese University of Hong Kong. It originally appeared on "The Conversation" and appears here through a Creative Commons license.
| Transcript: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/letter-h/transcript
| Share a recording of your familect story with me on Threads, Instagram, or Mastodon.
| Grammarpalooza (Get texts from Mignon!): https://joinsubtext.com/grammar or text "hello" to (917) 540-0876.
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| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475).
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media Links: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook.Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
965. It's a listener question extravaganza! I answer your questions about "canceled," "another think/thing coming," zero plurals such as "fish," the way I reference verbs, episode numbers, "at about," mangos versus green peppers, and muskgos. (And if I didn't answer your question, don't despair. I hope to do another show with listener questions in a month or two.)
| Transcript: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/listener-qs/transcript
| Share a recording of your familect story with me on WhatsApp.
| Grammarpalooza (Get texts from Mignon!): https://joinsubtext.com/grammar or text "hello" to (917) 540-0876.
| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.
| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
| Please take our advertising survey. It helps! https://podsurvey.com/GRAMMAR
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media Links: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook.Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
964. From Nietzsche's writing ball to word processors and beyond, we look at how technology can change the way people write. Plus, we unpack the origin of the phrase "Goody Two Shoes" — it didn't start out as an insult.
The "technology" segment was by Matthew G. Kirschenbaum a professor of English and digital studies at the University of Maryland. It originally appeared on The Conversation and appears here through a Creative Commons license. Read the original: https://theconversation.com/technology-changes-how-authors-write-but-the-big-impact-isnt-on-their-style-61955
The "Goody Two Shoes" segment was by Brenda Thomas, a freelance writer who enjoys writing about a variety of topics in the humanities and education.
| Transcript: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/goody/transcript
| Share a recording of your familect story with me on WhatsApp.
| Grammarpalooza (Get texts from Mignon!): https://joinsubtext.com/grammar or text "hello" to (917) 540-0876.
| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.
| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
| Please take our advertising survey. It helps! https://podsurvey.com/GRAMMAR
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media Links: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook.Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
963. Strunk and White said to omit needless words, but sometimes "redundant" words can serve a meaningful purpose. Plus, we have the story behind larruping food.
| Transcript: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/redundancy/transcript
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| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475) or https://sayhi.chat/grammargirl
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media Links: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
962. We explore why phrases like "time flies" and "fast approaching" reveal deeper perspectives on time — is it us moving or the event? Plus, you may think you know how to use commas, but just like people, they can be more complex than they appear at first glance.
The "time" segment was written by by Sarah Duffy, a senior lecturer in English language and linguistics in the Department of Humanities at Northumbria University, Newcastle. It originally appeared on The Conversation and appears here through a Creative Commons License.
| Transcript: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/time-language/transcript
| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.
| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475) or https://sayhi.chat/grammargirl
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media Links: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
960. Some English letters are seen but not heard. In fact, more than half the letters in our alphabet are sometimes silent. We look at the many reasons we have these silent letters that make spelling such a challenge, but that also tell fascinating stories about the history of our language. Plus, we look at the origin of the word "pajamas/pyjamas" and why it has two spellings.
| Transcript: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/silent-letters/transcript
| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.
| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475) or https://sayhi.chat/grammargirl
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media Links: Bluesky, Threads, YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
961. Prompting, hallucinating, and more! Jess Zafarris, author of "Words from Hell," joins me for a word-of-the-year chat. Hang out with us as we look at how dictionaries are handling new words and meanings that have cropped up around emerging technologies in 2023.
"Words from Hell" https://amzn.to/3rZVxo0
Find Jess Zafarris online: Useless Etymology, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram
ITEMS MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST:
AI chatbots made up their own language:
Advanced AP Style Ragan Communications course
| Transcript: https://grammar-girl.simplecast.com/episodes/jess-zafarris/transcript
| Subscribe to the newsletter for regular updates.
| Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| VOICEMAIL: 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475) or https://sayhi.chat/grammargirl
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media Links: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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