6 episodes
Lexicon Valley Booksmart Studios
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- Society & Culture
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4.9 • 129 Ratings
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A close examination of language — its power to inform and misinform, to elucidate and obfuscate — from renowned Columbia University linguistics professor John McWhorter. A true polymath, McWhorter analyzes the words and phrases that dominate our discourse and make the headlines.
www.booksmartstudios.org
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The Pandemic's Effect on Language
Turns out that some languages are less intelligible through a mask than others, and, believe it or not, it all depends on how often you use certain consonants. It’s called the McGurk effect and it’s the closest that linguistics comes to actual magic.
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What Do They Speak in Afghanistan?
Listen now | Almost every Afghan speaks one of two main languages — and you may never have heard either.
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The Morphing of Critical Race Theory
There’s a lot of passionate argument about whether “Critical Race Theory” should be taught in schools. But the meaning of CRT differs greatly depending on who you talk to. What did CRT originally mean, and what does it mean now? What are our children actually being taught? And why do some terms tend to become so thorny over time? Click play to find out.
Subscriber-only bonus: Does John’s polymathic mind sometimes trace the lineage of words a bit too quickly to keep up? If you truly want to understand the etymological evolution, click here for a transcript of the latest episode!
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend! And if you’re a subscriber, next week you’ll also get a special bonus segment of Lexicon Valley.
If you haven’t yet, please consider a paid subscription to Booksmart Studios. It’s only $7/month or $70/year and will get you extra podcast episodes, extended guest interviews, transcripts, and an opportunity to engage directly with our hosts. Plus, you’ll be supporting all of the work we do here at Booksmart. Thank you.
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Mare of Easttown and the Philly Accent
Listen now | Kate Winslet was captivating as detective Mare Sheehan in the HBO series, but how was her accent?
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English Has a Bee in Its Bonnet
Lexicon Valley is back!
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Introducing Lexicon Valley with John McWhorter
Listen now | Click play to hear the trailer for the new Lexicon Valley, coming soon from Booksmart Studios!
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Customer Reviews
I liked it before and I like it now
John McWhorter is interesting, suprising, super smart, personable, quirky and amusing. I liked his Slate podcast and I am looking forward to hearing how it develops on this new platform. I will never buy Booksmart plus but I did try peach jello and I did update the horrible iTunes software just to rate and review.
Informative and Entertaining
Perfect podcast to listen to on my work commutes that’s equally entertaining and informative.
Brilliant!
This is the kind of quirky, fun, interesting, and expertly put together podcast that I very much look forward to every 15 days. Since the days of Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo, this podcast has just gotten better and better. Welcome to the new platform!