Lexicon Valley from Booksmart Studios
Lexicon Valley from Booksmart Studios
How About This Weather?
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How About This Weather?

The language of weather often emerges from our conception of time. Exhibit A: Tempest.

To describe inclement weather in English, we might say that “it” is raining, which seems natural to a native speaker. But does “it” refer to the sky, the outdoors, the god of precipitation? Maybe it’s not so natural after all. In fact, many languages do weather quite differently.

Lexicon Valley from Booksmart Studios
Lexicon Valley from Booksmart Studios
A podcast about language, with host John McWhorter.
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John McWhorter