The Incredible Lightness of Being

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The Incredible Lightness of Being

FromSlate Debates

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30 minutes

Released:

Jun 27, 2017

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John McWhorter considers the eccentric irregularity of the verb to be.Join Slate Plus! Members get bonus segments, exclusive member-only podcasts, and more. Sign up for a free trial today at www.slate.com/podcastsplus. Twitter: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyEmail: lexiconvalley@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Released:

Jun 27, 2017

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

Lexicon Valley is a show about language, from pet peeves, syntax, and etymology to neurolinguistics and the death of languages. Hosted by linguist John McWhorter.

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Lexicon Valley #6: A Meditation on Scrabble: Mike Vuolo talks to "Word Freak" author Stefan Fatsis about the nature of language in Scrabble. by Slate Debates
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Special Announcement from Lexicon Valley: Mike announces a batch of brand new episodes. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #12: The Eloquence of Plain English: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the Gettysburg Address. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #1: A Sin of Which None Is Guilty: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the longstanding English language proscription against ending a sentence with a preposition. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #2: A Bundle of Faggots: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the evolution of the word "faggot." by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #8: When Nouns Grew Genitals: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss what it means for language to have gender. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #22: Talking Leaves and Lightning Paper: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the Cherokee syllabary. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #7: A Needle Pulling Thread: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the big ambitions of the word "so." by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #29: 30 Million By Four: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the importance of talking to your child. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #13: Capturing the Past: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk about how Mad Men and Downton Abbey can teach us about language change. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #3: Consider the Lamppost: Lexicon Valley #3: Consider the Lamppost by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley No. 34: Ask Not Who Wrote "Ask Not": Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss JFK's Inaugural Address with Richard Tofel, author of Sounding the Trumpet. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #5: Untuning the String: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to author David Skinner about his book, The Story of Ain't, which will be published in the fall of 2012. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #15: Then Is Now, Now and Then: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the historical present. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #17: Ascent of the A-word: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to linguist Geoffrey Nunberg about his book Ascent of the A-word: A**holism, the First Sixty Years. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #11: When Being Done Replaced Doing: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the most significant change to the English language that you've never heard of. by Slate Debates
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Special Announcement: Lexicon Valley will be back with a run of all-new episodes in the spring. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #19: Here's to You Mrs. Malaprop: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss what malapropisms might reveal about the way we organize our mental dictionary. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #23: Good Is Up: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss metaphor and the "fiscal cliff." by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #4: Jumpin' Salty in The O: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the vernacular wrapped in a dialect inside a language that some call Ebonics. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley: Special Announcement: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo announce the return of Lexicon Valley. Yay! by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #9: And May He Be a Masculine Bridge: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss how a simple quirk of grammar may affect the way we think. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley No. 37: Legislating Language: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss four legal cases in which the dictionary played a crucial part. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #18: The Rate of Exchange: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the commonly held belief that some languages are spoken faster than others. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #20: Death to Potatoes: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo speak with Nataly Kelly, coauthor of Found in Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley No. 32: The Burden of Being Right: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the irresistible pull of language pedantry. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #14: By Their Words You Shall Know Them: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss stylometry. by Slate Debates
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Lexicon Valley #10: One Giant Leap for Humanity: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the he said/she said of the epicene pronoun. by Slate Debates
40 min listen
Lexicon Valley No. 31: Name That Tone: Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the relationship between tonal languages and musical acuity. by Slate Debates
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The Incredible Lightness of Being

The Incredible Lightness of Being

Description

Titles in the series (100)

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