Welcome to Lexicon Valley!

Luxuriate in the wonder of language.

As part of the Booksmart Studios family, we here at Lexicon Valley strive for brainy, quirky and — because we wish to hold your attention — entertaining. And in case you stumbled here in the dark, we’re all about language.

We cover everything from grammar to etymology to usage. Which means we ask questions like:

• Where does the name Ketanji come from?

• Can you play Jew in Scrabble?

• Should we embrace the singular they?

Most of us speak, sign or write just about every day. We have our individual preferences and pet peeves and our exceedingly strong opinions about the way other people use language — which is, after all, an arbitrary collection of sounds and gestures that is part science, part sentiment and all the more impressive for being largely crowdsourced. Language evolves the way it wants to, whether we like it or not. It is among the most impressive of all human creations. And there are literally thousands of them!

Every two weeks, we put out a show that is all about the wonder and fascination of language, often topical or taken from the headlines. On alternate weeks — for paying subscribers only — we publish a brief audio explainer and a written column in which I answer your questions. So ask me anything, as they say, as long as it’s about language. Send your questions and comments to lexiconvalley@booksmartstudios.org.

Thanks so much for listening and reading and for supporting what we do here at Booksmart Studios. And again, welcome to the Valley.

We are Booksmart.

We at Lexicon Valley are proud to be part of the Booksmart Studios family of shows. Please check out the other great shows from Booksmart, including: