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How do we make the discipline of linguistics — and our world — a more just, diverse, and equitable place? Why does our personal history and personal p...

Why does everyone say OOO! when they see someone fall down? Why do we say YUM when we feed a baby? And what's the deal with fillers like UM? For thi...

How can you tell if a news story is intended to deceive? In one well-known case of journalistic deception, there were tells that required machine lear...

We're going deep into our Mailbag, and we're going to answer all your questions. Why do we say "here you go" when we give something to someone? Wh...

When language was innovated, what happened next? How did it change our abilities — and our responsibilities — to each other? Dr Nick Enfield shares id...

Here's an entire show, curated by one of our most prolific contributors — newly minted speechie PharaohKatt! She's got news. She's got words. She tr...

For this special live LingFest23 episode, we'll again be voting on tricky language issues, and our votes will be binding on all English users for all ...

We all have freedom of expression, but what are its limits — social and legal? And how have governments tried to curtail it? We're talking through the...

The American Dialect Society Word of the Year has been chosen — and it's a wonderful and terrible pick! Depending on who you're talking to. In this ep...

In what was meant to be a casual chat, cognitive scientist Dr Mark Ellison answers galaxy-brain-level questions about how language works. Why aren'...

We're counting down our Words of the Year, as voted by you! We're joined by our friends and patrons, and they've brought us some words we missed. And ...

ChatGPT has just landed. It can generate text that seems fluid, plausible, and (surprisingly) not total nonsense. It's got a lot of people wondering w...

Many expressions we use come from the nautical domain. But are they nautical? Are they really? We've got Chase Dalton from the US Naval History Podcas...

A chat with Dr Kelly Wright, who's been working on… well, really a lot. Kelly is at the juncture of a lot of areas we're keen on. Oxford's effort to...

Just two words, but they do so much. But what exactly? Here to answer that question is Dr Isabelle Burke, who has studied yeah-no in depth. She's also...

Yes, linguistics is all through the world of sci-fi, but science fiction has had a surprising impact on linguistic research as well. Dr Hannah Little ...

It's Ben, Hedvig, and Daniel all together in the same place for the first time. We're talking about the state of the show, the state of linguistics co...

Language isn't just for communication — it's fun. For over a hundred years, crosswords have served as entertainment, and even been blamed for society'...

In which we get together for a chat, talk about stuff we like, and — oh, yeah — answers a few questions from our great listeners. Other languages h...

Today, we communicate. But once, we didn't. What had to happen in our brains to make communication possible? And why don't other animals do it like we...

Our friends, listeners, and patrons give us so many great stories, news, and words, so for this live episode, we're having them tell these language st...

Our listeners and patrons send in so many great ideas, stories, and words. For this episode, listener and prolific contributor Diego has put together ...

Everyone's favourite tabletop grammarian is back! It's Ellen Jovin, proprietor of the Grammar Table. She dispenses grammar advice around New York City...

It's crude. It's rude. And it's a lot of fun. Slang has been with us for as long as people didn't want others to understand what they were about. But ...

Language titan Tiger Webb is helping us with our voluminous Mailbag. Hedvig is giving her annual Eurovision language roundup. And we're sorting thro...

How is language like a game of charades? According to a new book, quite a lot. Charades players and language users improvise and work together to crea...

We had the pleasure of an interview with two up-and-coming linguists, wanting to find out more about the show and linguistic communication. It was suc...

Linguistics is what we all love, but how do we make it pay? Turns out there are more ways than you might have thought of, and a new book is here to he...

Lingcomm legend Mignon Fogarty (Grammar Girl) joins us to answer all the questions in our Mailbag! And we have to ask her about National Grammar Day. ...

Anacostia is a rapidly gentrifying suburb in Washington DC, and as Anacostia changes, so does the language. How do the original Black residents use la...