295: Loose as a Goose
Is there anything particularly loose about a goose — or does that idiom exist only because it rhymes? Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo investigate the origins of an anserine expression.
🎧Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast
Bonus: Whys and Wherefores
“Why did you do it?” John McWhorter on the many ways that English-speakers ask ‘Why?’
🔑 Unlock bonus episodes to listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast
294: 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!
🎧Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast
Bonus: Going Dutch
Does that other definition of ‘Dutch oven’ belong in the dictionary? We ask @stefanfatsis.bsky.social. Plus: In coining 'Dutch bargain,' someone had it in for the Dutch.
🔑 Unlock bonus episodes to listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #podcast
293: How Do Words Get into the Dictionary?
@stefanfatsis.bsky.social, author of ‘Unabridged,' shares with Bob Garfield a little-known, rigorous process — that has no guarantee of success.
🎧 Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #podcast @groveatlantic.bsky.social
292: Look It Up! The Story of the Dictionary
‘Unabridged’ author @StefanFatsis.bsky.social and Bob Garfield on lexicography and the heiress with history’s best collection of dictionaries.
🎧Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #podcast @groveatlantic.bsky.social
291: Open Season for Racists
Like 'analog watch' and 'snail mail,' 'openly racist' is a retronym — John McWhorter and Mike Vuolo explain.
🎧 Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast
Bonus: Sleeping with the Fishes
A mobster sleeps with the fishes. Does the phrase predate The Godfather? Could Homer hold a clue? Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo angle for answers.
🔑 Unlock bonus episodes to listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast
290: Playing the Angles
From St. John the Apostle to Miller’s Crossing grifter Bernie Bernbaum—and from fishing to geometry—Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield cast about for the origin of ‘angle.’
🎧Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast #angle #angler
289: You Get the Gist
During an appearance on The Gist with Mike Pesca, hosts Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discussed the curious backstory of, you guessed it, the word gist.
🎧Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #podcast #onlanguage #gist @milkepescs.bsky.social
Bonus: What Is a Blazer?
Derek Guy (@dieworkwear.bsky.social) on the blazer, associated with prep schools and date nights. Where does the term originate?
🔑 Unlock bonus episodes to listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #podcast #derekguy #onlanguage #blazer #bonus
288: Derek Guy on the Language of Clothing
The vocabulary of outerwear and dress as a form of social language with the menswear historian behind @dieworkwear.bsky.social.
🎧Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #podcast #onlanguage #derekguy #dieworkwearg
Bonus: Why We Don't Say "the" Ukraine
John McWhorter on why, and a Slavic language few have heard of.
Plus: what do you call two Slovenian blacksmiths? (It’s not Lovro and Oskar.)
🔑 Unlock bonus episodes to listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #podcast
287: McWhorter vs. McWhorter
The world was shocked by a controversial article published by "John McWhorter." Here, he sets the record straight. 🎧 Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast #johnmcwhorter
286: A Toast to Toast
From a medieval recipe for Glazed Sops to the Ghostbusters franchise, Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo raise a glass to the unlikely journey of the word toast. 🎧 Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #toast #nye #happynewyear #happy2026 #podcast
285: All the Rage Bait
Oxford English Dictionary editor Fiona McPherson talks to host Mike Vuolo about the terms that caught her attention this year. 🎧 Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #oed #woty #ragebait #aura #aurafarming #biohack #onlanguage #podcast
Bonus: From Onism to Perdickety
John Koenig weighs in on a few of Mike Vuolo's obscure sorrows — what are yours?
🔑 Unlock bonus episodes to listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast #onism #perdickety #neologism #obscuresorrows
284: The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
Author John Koenig talks about inventing words for those subtle emotions that hitherto had no name. 🎧 Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #anemoia #obscuresorrows #dictionaryofobscuresorrows #onlanguage #podcast
6 7: Everything You Don't Know About the Word of the Year
Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield join and The Gist’s Mike Pesca @milkepescs.bsky.social to talk #67 —from rapper Skrilla to the basketball court to #wordoftheyear.
🎧 Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#podcast #lexiconvalley
Bonus: The Original Maverick
The story of the word maverick has many versions. This one is true.
🔑 Unlock bonus episodes to listen:
lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast #maverick
283: Gobbledygook Explained
Gobbledygook sounds like one of those words that somebody just made up — so is it?
🎧 Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #gobbledygook #gobble #onlanguage #podcast
Bonus: The Fuss Over Nonplussed
Are you nonplussed over the misuse of nonplussed? You're not the only one.
🔑 Unlock bonus episodes to listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast #nonplussed
Bonus: Laugh Till You Cringe
When did we start calling it cringe comedy? Featuring the great tv critic Joy Press (@joypress.bsky.social)!
🔑 Unlock bonus episodes to listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast #cringecomedy
282: Gen Alpha Thinks You're Cringe
Our parents were cringe-inducing, but we're just cringe.
🎧 Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #cringe #podcast #onlanguage
Bonus: Ghost Town
On the rise of ghosting: to haunt, to leave and to ignore.
🔑 Unlock bonus episodes to listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast #ghost
Bonus: Grate Beyond
First we shredded ginger root and stale bread and then a harsh sound landed on the ear. When did we start grating on each other's nerves?
🔑 Unlock bonus episodes to listen:
lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast
281: The Amazing Great
Good is no longer good enough. 🎧 Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #great #onlanguage #podcast
Bonus: Is Unique Still One of a Kind?
John McWhorter on the evolution of the word “unique” — from unparalleled to unusual.
🔑 Unlock bonus episodes to listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #unique #podcast
Bonus: In a Hot Minute
John McWhorter takes the linguistic topic of 280: It’s Been a Minute to an unexpectedly bawdy place.
🔑 Unlock bonus episodes to listen:
lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #onlanguage #podcast
280: It’s Been a Minute
Returning as the primary hosts of Lexicon Valley, Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield speak to John McWhorter about understatement and hyperbole in Black English.
🎧Listen: lexiconvalley.supportingcast.fm/listen/lexic...
#lexiconvalley #itsbeenaminute #onlanguage #podcast
