Category: etymology (page 2 of 4)

Solo shows mid-2018

We’re on our customary mid-year hiatus, but Daniel’s still having a great time in the studio, taking your questions, playing tracks, and talking about whatever’s happening in the world of language.

We’re thinking of putting together a best-of for the …

330: Making Words for Miriwoong (featuring Knut Olawsky)

The Australian Aboriginal language of Mirawoong is being revitalised. But to do this, it needs more than speakers. It needs words.

How do you construct new words in a language? And how well are these words being accepted?

We’re talking …

318: Mailbag of Awesome

We get mail. From you. And today, we’re answering your questions.

How has jazz influenced our language? And what if you like language diversity, but you’re not too keen on how it’s used?

Daniel and Kylie answer them all on …

292: Mailbag of Destiny

We love taking questions, and for this episode, we’ve got a lot of them.

What’s behind the things we say, and why is language the way it is? Is calling someone a drop-kick secretly obscene? Why does Germany have so …

269: Mailbag Episode

You asked. We answer.

Why do we talk the way we do? Where do our words and phrases come from? And why are they sometimes so very strange?

Linguist Daniel Midgley has something for everyone on this episode of Talk

264: Spurious Etymologies (live at Camp Doogs)

With words, things are not always what they seem.

An etymology is a story about how a word or phrase got to be that way. How did your favourite phrases come about? Is it possible that the origins you’ve heard …

256: Numbers

One, two, three… Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

And yet different languages express numbers in very different ways. How are they handled in our brains? And how did –illion get to be the suffix for truly astronomical sums?

Linguist Daniel

250: Comma Sutra (featuring Louisa Fitzhardinge)

The Talk the Talk team is taking a break, but Daniel jumped at the chance to speak to Louisa Fitzhardinge, whose new comedy show ‘Comma Sutra’ looks at the lighter side of the use — and misuse — of …

238: Questions, Questions

Our listeners have questions, and we have answers.

Why do we say boo? or a whole ‘nother? And our Latin-minded friends have a few questions, as well.

Linguist Daniel Midgley answers them all on this episode of Talk

236: Spelling Reform

Sometimes English spelling doesn’t make much sense.

But even though many influential people have tried to reform our wacky orthography, the anomalies persist. Will English spelling reform ever work?

Linguist Daniel Midgley spells it out on this episode of Talk

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