Hello! I recently discovered this show (so excited!) so haven’t gotten through the majority of old episodes, but wanted to ask if you either have in the past or could in the future cover my dad’s accent?? I need to understand it. He’s born and raised in Boston (in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s) but doesn’t have a classic blue collar Boston accent. He drops some R’s but also pronounces words like bath and half with an open /ah/ sound like he’s British. My grandma and aunts and uncles also talk like this. (They are not “Boston Brahmins,” they’re Russian immigrants.) What’s going on? Where did this accent come from??
Hello. I've been bingeing lots of episodes, being a newcomer to Lexicon Valley. I've heard two recently that mention the phrase "take it for granted", and how people tend to pronounce it "take it for grannid". It didn't reference another way to say it: "take it for granite". I was raised and continue to live in New Hampshire, known as the Granite State, where everything under the surface of the ground is composed of the type of rock called granite. Until I was well into my teens, I thought "take it for granite" was that actual phrase, since granite is everywhere, a given, a plethora of mundane rock. I'm curious if anyone else has heard of this saying that way.
very cool episode, of course, as usual : ). I am using this screen to request a topic to be covered since I can't see where else to post my request. I am fascinated to discover via online etymological dictionary that the word "disdain" now reverses the original meaning of 'dain'/deigne etc that meant "worthy" - to now mean "unworthy", loosely speaking. There are other examples of this in English I'm sure but am so fixated on this one right now that I can't think of the others...however there is the (related?) phenomenon of many English words having exactly opposite meanings. (My phenomenology philosopher friend says Derrida liked that cuz it keeps one on one's toes, paying attention. yuk) ..Could John cover the trajectory of the "worthy" now meaning "unworthy" phenomenon along with whatever else that brings to his mind? (I do not relate to English even tho' born into it, relate better to and speak French not fluently and relate best with other languages such as the Dené speak). Merci bien, chi miigwech, etc etc. (checked 'also share to Notes' but don't know what that means). Have a Great Day if possible in this Heat. Merci encore.
Another question: I had the idea that new words in English would always follow the now standard form, e.g., new verbs would always be regular and have an -ed in the past tense, like "skyped." However, when people use the plural of emoji, it's usually (at a guess - 75% of the time) "emoji," not "emojis." Have you noticed this, and, if so, do you know the reason why?
My question: When writing SE Asian words in English - Afghani, Iraqi, Arabic, Pakastani - why is the k sound written as a q ? Al Qaeda, Iraq, Tariq, for instance.
For John W: A friend of mine observed that the pronunciation of Ukraine has recently changed, I my mind immediately went to "The Backshift". My friends comment: "The dictionary says the American pronunciation of Ukraine is yoo·KRAYN and that is how I always heard it pronounced ... until a couple of weeks ago when a lot of people started pronouncing it YOO-krayn. Does anyone know why this is?"
I've been reading Harry Potter with my daughter: Voldemort and mudbloods (2 taboo words). One is courageous to say, the other righteously forbidden. Are there equivalents in English? I can think of a few
Happy Birthday to John! Also, I haven’t listened to all of your previous Lexicon Valley episodes (I am up to about March of 2019), but I have not yet heard you talk about people saying the word “across” with a T at the end (“acrosst“). I have heard it out in the Pacific Northwest from a millennial guy I know well who otherwise uses unremarkable standard American English. Have you heard this? Is it part of some sort of pattern? Also, it’s weird having kids who grew up in a different area than you did and learn different words! My 11-year-old has always said the word nightmare “nightmere“. It’s not how we, his parents, say it and I thought maybe it was just a thing he did, but then I heard a young woman say it exactly the same way recently. He also learned the phrase “the splits“ as the stretch you do with your legs apart (I learned it as “a split“). Plus, as you mentioned in your recent podcast, both my kids are much better at the singular “they” than I am. Thanks for your excellent podcast!
Re:spelling bees in other countries/languages, I know that there exists a form of dictée/spelling challenge in Luxembourg. If I'm not mistaken (my information is ~5 years old at this point), it is broadcasted via radio and listeners are invited to call in and spell difficult words in Luxembourgish. This spelling difficulty is the result of the tumultuous history of Luxembourgish as a language struggling to maintain its identity with large looming neighbours like German, French, Flemish, etc. constantly influencing it from all sides. Another bi-product of this multilingual atmosphere in Luxembourg is that the spellings of many words continue to be updated with much more frequency than we would ever get used to as English speakers. --Isaac Q
Great episode! I'm grateful you're publishing on Spotify, but even if you wouldn't, I would follow you wherever you go
Only issue, as mentioned above - there was a problem with the audio quality, especially at the beginning.
Something I've been wondering about... why do people phrase a question in a 'multiple choice' kind of way. "Do you want to do X or Y?", when there's no real reason to limit the options, and the questioner would just as likely accept Z instead. Or in some cases people add a dangling ending, as a catchall. "Do you want to do X or Y, or... ?"
will this be on spoitfy?
Yes! https://open.spotify.com/show/5a74U5ghl27s1ON0udNadO
Would love to hear about John McWhorter and how he became a linguist.
We know about peach jello and bubble drinks.
Let’s get to the nitty gritty!
Hello! I recently discovered this show (so excited!) so haven’t gotten through the majority of old episodes, but wanted to ask if you either have in the past or could in the future cover my dad’s accent?? I need to understand it. He’s born and raised in Boston (in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s) but doesn’t have a classic blue collar Boston accent. He drops some R’s but also pronounces words like bath and half with an open /ah/ sound like he’s British. My grandma and aunts and uncles also talk like this. (They are not “Boston Brahmins,” they’re Russian immigrants.) What’s going on? Where did this accent come from??
Hello. I've been bingeing lots of episodes, being a newcomer to Lexicon Valley. I've heard two recently that mention the phrase "take it for granted", and how people tend to pronounce it "take it for grannid". It didn't reference another way to say it: "take it for granite". I was raised and continue to live in New Hampshire, known as the Granite State, where everything under the surface of the ground is composed of the type of rock called granite. Until I was well into my teens, I thought "take it for granite" was that actual phrase, since granite is everywhere, a given, a plethora of mundane rock. I'm curious if anyone else has heard of this saying that way.
very cool episode, of course, as usual : ). I am using this screen to request a topic to be covered since I can't see where else to post my request. I am fascinated to discover via online etymological dictionary that the word "disdain" now reverses the original meaning of 'dain'/deigne etc that meant "worthy" - to now mean "unworthy", loosely speaking. There are other examples of this in English I'm sure but am so fixated on this one right now that I can't think of the others...however there is the (related?) phenomenon of many English words having exactly opposite meanings. (My phenomenology philosopher friend says Derrida liked that cuz it keeps one on one's toes, paying attention. yuk) ..Could John cover the trajectory of the "worthy" now meaning "unworthy" phenomenon along with whatever else that brings to his mind? (I do not relate to English even tho' born into it, relate better to and speak French not fluently and relate best with other languages such as the Dené speak). Merci bien, chi miigwech, etc etc. (checked 'also share to Notes' but don't know what that means). Have a Great Day if possible in this Heat. Merci encore.
Another question: I had the idea that new words in English would always follow the now standard form, e.g., new verbs would always be regular and have an -ed in the past tense, like "skyped." However, when people use the plural of emoji, it's usually (at a guess - 75% of the time) "emoji," not "emojis." Have you noticed this, and, if so, do you know the reason why?
My question: When writing SE Asian words in English - Afghani, Iraqi, Arabic, Pakastani - why is the k sound written as a q ? Al Qaeda, Iraq, Tariq, for instance.
For John W: A friend of mine observed that the pronunciation of Ukraine has recently changed, I my mind immediately went to "The Backshift". My friends comment: "The dictionary says the American pronunciation of Ukraine is yoo·KRAYN and that is how I always heard it pronounced ... until a couple of weeks ago when a lot of people started pronouncing it YOO-krayn. Does anyone know why this is?"
Gordon
Emojis and text talk have influenced our speech, right? Is there any evidence of fonts or illuminations influencing spoken language?
I've been reading Harry Potter with my daughter: Voldemort and mudbloods (2 taboo words). One is courageous to say, the other righteously forbidden. Are there equivalents in English? I can think of a few
Indulge my inner misanthrope with an episode on Wittgenstein's language games. If you please.
Happy Birthday to John! Also, I haven’t listened to all of your previous Lexicon Valley episodes (I am up to about March of 2019), but I have not yet heard you talk about people saying the word “across” with a T at the end (“acrosst“). I have heard it out in the Pacific Northwest from a millennial guy I know well who otherwise uses unremarkable standard American English. Have you heard this? Is it part of some sort of pattern? Also, it’s weird having kids who grew up in a different area than you did and learn different words! My 11-year-old has always said the word nightmare “nightmere“. It’s not how we, his parents, say it and I thought maybe it was just a thing he did, but then I heard a young woman say it exactly the same way recently. He also learned the phrase “the splits“ as the stretch you do with your legs apart (I learned it as “a split“). Plus, as you mentioned in your recent podcast, both my kids are much better at the singular “they” than I am. Thanks for your excellent podcast!
Great show! I was wondering if you have done an episode on sanskrit and/or the dravidian languages
Re:spelling bees in other countries/languages, I know that there exists a form of dictée/spelling challenge in Luxembourg. If I'm not mistaken (my information is ~5 years old at this point), it is broadcasted via radio and listeners are invited to call in and spell difficult words in Luxembourgish. This spelling difficulty is the result of the tumultuous history of Luxembourgish as a language struggling to maintain its identity with large looming neighbours like German, French, Flemish, etc. constantly influencing it from all sides. Another bi-product of this multilingual atmosphere in Luxembourg is that the spellings of many words continue to be updated with much more frequency than we would ever get used to as English speakers. --Isaac Q
More solid gold from John McWhorter. So grateful you’re prepared to put yourself in the public eye and share your knowledge and thought.
Great episode! I'm grateful you're publishing on Spotify, but even if you wouldn't, I would follow you wherever you go
Only issue, as mentioned above - there was a problem with the audio quality, especially at the beginning.
Something I've been wondering about... why do people phrase a question in a 'multiple choice' kind of way. "Do you want to do X or Y?", when there's no real reason to limit the options, and the questioner would just as likely accept Z instead. Or in some cases people add a dangling ending, as a catchall. "Do you want to do X or Y, or... ?"