Words for Granted - An etymology and linguistics podcast

This episode features an interview with linguist Danny Bate discussing grammatical gender and his journey in the field of linguistics.

This episode explores the etymology of the word 'average' as part of a new series on math terms, examining its mathematical definition as arithmetic mean and its everyday meaning as ordinary or common.

This interview episode features Mignon Fogarty (Grammar Girl) discussing her journey from writer and editor to podcasting pioneer, sharing insights on common grammar mistakes and her upcoming book.

This interview with sociolinguist Valerie Fridland explores her book defending so-called 'bad' English and examines how language evolves through social usage and perception.

This episode features an interview with Courtney Napoles, lead of language research at Grammarly, discussing her background in linguistics and her work on combating bias in linguistic AI.

This episode explores the historical and contemporary meanings of the word 'grotesque,' examining how it describes things that are disfigured or distorted in a way that can be fantastic, mysterious, or comical rather than purely horrifying.

This episode explores the historical evolution and cultural significance of the word 'genius' from its Roman origins to modern associations with figures like Einstein and Da Vinci.

This episode explores the etymology of the word 'idiot,' tracing its origins from the ancient Greek 'idiotes' meaning 'private person' to its modern meaning of someone lacking common sense.

This episode explores the etymology and historical evolution of the word 'trivia', examining how its meaning developed from Latin roots to modern usage.

This episode introduces a new series on lost letters of the English alphabet while addressing listener feedback on pasta terminology from a previous episode.

This episode explores the etymology and evolving meanings of the word 'world' as a collective noun that encompasses everything from the earth to abstract concepts.

This episode explores the historical origins and semantic evolution of the English idiom 'apple of the eye' as part of a series on how idioms change over time.

This episode introduces a series on idiomatic expressions in English, highlighting their prevalence, everyday usage, and expressive efficiency in communication.

This episode explores the origin and usage of the idiom 'red herring' as a distraction technique in both literature and political discourse.

This episode features an interview with Tim Brookes, founder of the Endangered Alphabets Project, discussing the importance of preserving endangered writing systems and his Kickstarter campaign for a board game that raises awareness about the Mongolian script.

The host shares a personal story about befriending a Polish immigrant classmate in eighth grade, which inspired this episode on idioms and language evolution.

This episode features an interview with linguist Rob Paterson about his lifelong passion for language learning, starting from childhood experiences and leading to his professional role at Memrise.

Host Ray Belli interviews travel writer Duncan Madden about the origins and historical evolution of place names, exploring how language and culture shape geographical naming.

This interview with professor Silvia Ferrara explores her work on deciphering ancient scripts, her book 'The Greatest Invention', and the Inscribe project she initiated with European Commission funding.

This episode explores the surprising etymological connection between the mathematical term 'parabola' and the religious word 'parable', tracing their shared Greek origins.

This interview with linguist Arika Okrent explores why English has irregular spellings and pronunciations, delving into the historical and linguistic factors behind words like 'tough,' 'through,' and 'dough.'

This episode explores the history and disappearance of the lost English vowel letters ASH (Æ, æ) and ETHEL (Œ, œ), part of a series on linguistic evolution.

This episode explores the history and evolution of three obsolete English letters—Wynn (Ƿ), Insular G (ᵹ), and Yogh (Ȝ)—and how they reflect changes in language over time.

This episode explores the etymology of the word 'artichoke' through the historical writings of Theophrastus and its linguistic evolution from ancient Greek to modern English.

This episode explores the cultural and linguistic significance of apples, examining their etymology, idioms, and historical references in mythology and religion.

This episode explores the etymology of food-related words, focusing on how their origins reveal literal aspects of food preparation, with examples like 'biscuit' and 'filet'.

This episode explores the lost letters Eth (Ð,ð) and Thorn (Þ,þ) as part of a series on the evolution of the English alphabet, tracing their origins from Runic scripts to their replacement by Latin characters.

This episode explores the historical evolution of meal words like dinner, breakfast, and lunch, examining how their meanings and associated times of day have shifted over centuries.

This episode features an interview with linguist Danny Bate discussing the history of the alphabet and how language evolves over time.

This episode explores Malay loan words that have entered the English language, inspired by a factoid from Gaston Doran's book Babel.

This episode explores the etymologies of the words for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, tracing their origins back to Proto-Indo-European roots.

This episode explores the etymological connections between mathematical terms like parabola and hyperbola and their literary counterparts parable and hyperbole, continuing a series on how math words evolve.

This episode explores the mathematical origin of the word 'Google', tracing it back to the term 'googol' meaning 10 raised to the 100th power, as part of a series on math terms.

This episode explores the ancient Proto-Indo-European origins of the word 'egg' and its connections to words like avian and aviation.

This episode features an interview with linguist Tracey Weldon about African American English and her role in the Oxford Dictionary of African American English.

This episode features a talk from the Virtual Intelligent Speech Conference where host Ray Belli and Kevin Stroud explore why the story of the Proto-Indo-Europeans remains obscure and confined to academia.

This episode explores the surprising etymology of 'understand' as a compound word made up of 'under' and 'stand', examining why this combination doesn't seem logical compared to more transparent compounds like 'mailbox'.

This episode explores the historical use and disappearance of the long s (ſ) and ampersand (&) from the English alphabet, examining their roles in early printed works and linguistic evolution.

This episode explores the historical origins and evolution of the English idiom 'dead ringer' through a story about burial practices in England.

This episode features an interview with linguist John McWhorter about his book 'Nine Nasty Words,' exploring the history and evolution of swear words in English.

This episode features an interview with Oxford professor Simon Horobin about his book exploring the daily evolution of English words and language history.

This episode explores the origins and evolution of the English idiom 'break a leg' used to wish performers good luck.

This episode features an interview with sociologist and writer Keith Khan-Harris about his book 'The Babel Message,' which explores translation, linguistic representation, and official language through the unusual lens of warning messages inside Kinder Surprise Eggs.

This episode explores the origins and meanings of the idiom 'the proof is in the pudding' as part of a series on how English idioms evolve over time.

This episode explores the definition and misconceptions of rhetoric through an interview with professional speechwriter Guy Doza, examining its role as the study of persuasion in language.

This episode, part of a series on English nouns from ethnic groups, explores the etymology of 'cannibal' and discusses how words evolve with historical and cultural implications, including mentions of bonus content on 'vandal' and 'vandalism'.

In this episode of Words for Granted, host Ray Belli continues a series on English nouns derived from ethnic groups, exploring how terms like 'goth' and 'bohemian' originated as pejorative insults rooted in cultural biases and have evolved over time, with a focus on the upcoming etymology of 'philistine'.

This episode explores the etymology of the word 'Bohemian' as part of a series on English nouns derived from ethnic groups, using examples like 'Gothic' to illustrate how historical misconceptions shape language evolution.

Ray Belli traces “goth” and “gothic” from the ancient Goths through Renaissance insults, medieval architecture, Gothic fiction, and 20th-century music.

Ray Belli interviews Steve Kaufmann, who says he learned Mandarin in Hong Kong, Japanese in Japan, and nearly a dozen languages after age 60 through LingQ.

Words for Granted examines why grandmother and grandfather replaced Old English ielde-modor and ielde-fader around the early 15th century.

English dad and papa come from two different histories: one from Old English ata, one from French papa.

Roman Jakobson linked "Why Mama and Papa" (1962) to breastfeeding, "the mm sound," and early language.