Strange or obtuse; a stinging homophobic slur; a radical political rejection of normativity; a broad term encompassing every and any variation on sexual orientation and gender identity: the word 'quee...Show More
David Shariatmadari reveals how English is evolving – or in Jacob Rees-Mogg’s case, refusing to – and Cecelia Watson shares her passion for the semicolon. Help support our independent journalism at <a...Show More
They look like numbers. They sound like numbers. You kinda know they are numbers. But they’re not actually numbers. Linguistic anthropologist Stephen Chrisomalis explains what’s going on with indefini...Show More
What is your beautiful brain up to as you comprehend language? Cognitive psychologist Jenni Rodd takes a peek. Visit http://theallusionist.org/brain for more information about this topic. Find me at h...Show More
“Talking about music is like dancing about architecture” is a problematic statement: not just because nobody can agree on who came up with it, but because dancing about architecture doesn’t seem parti...Show More
In this episode, Karina and Pippa consider the word Native, using it to explore Canada's painful colonial past and present. They discuss the labels applied to Indigenous peoples and sit down with two ...Show More
Girlfriend, boyfriend, S.O., bae, better half, sweetheart, beau ... what's in a name? Pippa and Karina debate and dismantle all the names you may choose to call that special someone and discuss the so...Show More
What happens when landlords evict tenants to renovate their units and triple the rents? Bitter disputes, drawn-out court battles, fierce housing activism - and a brand-new portmanteau that's catching ...Show More
Pippa and Karina journey from the fifteenth century to the present day, tracing the course of a small word with an outsized impact. As singular "they" gains ground as the gender-neutral pronoun of cho...Show More