Here I add my voice to those of many others who feel that this show was better during the period of time when John McWhorter was the host of the show. While it’s technically true that this show is “about language,” it’s more accurate to say that this show is about etymology; at least, that’s the focus of its current hosts. The show was indeed more about language itself when Professor McWhorter was the full-time host. McWhorter sometimes incorporated etymology into his episodes, but he mostly talked about how language works, including grammar, language relations and families, accents and dialects, and pidgins and creoles, to name but a few.
While etymology can be fun and fascinating in its own ways, it’s also much more narrow as a subject than the many other facets of language that John McWhorter covered as a host. I regarded his episodes as sort of “bite-sized” versions of his lectures from The Great Courses/Wondrium; lectures which were already very informative and enjoyable – dare I say entertaining, even!
For etymology alone, I find podcasts such as “Words Unravelled” to be a more interesting show, but Mike and Bob nevertheless put on a solid show that the average “word nerd” would likely find enjoyable. While McWhorter the was host, I would’ve easily rated the show as a 5/5, but while he only occasionally (or rather very uncommonly) hosts an episode, the best rating I can give the show is 3/5. The show was so much more interesting while John was hosting. I can certainly enjoy the “fluff” of etymology, but I am always looking forward to the next episode hosted by McWhorter.
