We’re taking your questions on a Mailbag episode!
Along the way, we’re going to find out some pretty strange things about how words and phrases got to be how they are. Do you say zero or oh? What is begging the question? And has the French /r/ always been like that?
Daniel, Ben, and Kylie answer them all on this episode of Talk the Talk.
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Cutting Room Floor
Kylie went to Hotcakes, the yearly RTRFM record sale event, and we pore over her purchases. The WA election was last week. Whom to put last? And chickens in a cup!
We listen to whether people say oh or zero in phone numbers. And the history of naughty.
Then there are some embarrassing bits. Daniel and Kylie get the giggles over French dinosaurs, and Kylie reveals the time she tried to drop some ill-advised slang on a classful of high schoolers.
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Show notes
The hazards of English spelling
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-03/lsoa-tho030917.php
Self-Organization In The Spelling Of English Suffixes: The Emergence Of Culture Out Of Anarchy
http://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/Berg_Aronoff.pdf
The Standardization of American English
http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/25489
till (prep.)
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=till&allowed_in_frame=0
Wikipedia: Names for the number 0 in English
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_the_number_0_in_English#.22O.22_.28.22oh.22.29
How many names does zero have?
http://inmadom-myenglishclass.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/how-many-names-does-zero-have.html
Why getting out for zero is called a “duck” in cricket
https://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/why-getting-out-zero-called-duck-cricket
Begging the Question, Again
https://afterdeadline.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/begging-the-question-again/?_r=1
Begging the question: How much should we fight for a correct English usage that no one actually seems to use?
https://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2010/may/24/begging-the-question-mind-your-language
This troublesome 3-word phrase perfectly exemplified Antonin Scalia’s obsession with originalism
https://www.businessinsider.com/beg-the-question-meaning-definition-usage-2016-4
Questions to French native speakers…
http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t16151.htm
r/French: The rolled “R”
https://www.reddit.com/r/French/comments/2wwz2y/the_rolled_r/
Rolled ‘R’ in French – what area?
http://www.forum.french-linguistics.co.uk/forum/topics/rolled-r-in-french-what-area
Studies in the History of the English Language: A Millennial Perspective
Google Books link
Flipped, rolled, trilled or other…How to deal with the French “r”?
https://dictioncorner.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/flipped-rolled-trilled-or-other-how-to-deal-with-the-french-r/
When did the trilled “r” fall out of use in French and become replaced with a uvular fricative?
https://www.quora.com/When-did-the-trilled-r-fall-out-of-use-in-French-and-become-replaced-with-a-uvular-fricative
The origin of the French uvular “R”
http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t4808-15.htm
Frozen – Let It Go (French version)
https://youtu.be/wQP9XZc2Y_c
Georges Brassens – La Mauvaise Réputation
https://youtu.be/26Nuj6dhte8
What Is the F–kboy?
http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2015/08/18/what_does_fuckboy_mean.html
Green’s Dictionary of Slang
https://greensdictofslang.com
Diagram for 0800 0077 070
Transcript
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