That's What They Say
Friday at 4:45 p.m. and Sunday at 9:35 a.m.
Funner, snuck, and LOL are all things that we're hearing people say these days.
That's What They Say is a weekly segment on Michigan Public that explores our changing language. University of Michigan English Professor Anne Curzan studies linguistics and the history of the English language. Each week she'll discuss why we say what we say with Michigan Public All Things Considered host Rebecca Hector.
That's What They Say airs Fridays at 4:45 p.m. and Sundays at 9:35 a.m. on Michigan Public and you can podcast it here.
Do you have an English or grammar question? Ask us here!
Latest Episodes
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From 17th-century England to modern-day gratuities, the evolution of "tip" is a story of linguistic twists and turns that ultimately lead to a surprising conclusion: it's not what you think it stands for. -
Historically, bloodletting and bloodshed have been different things, but the line has blurred. Linguist Anne Curzan breaks down the evolution of words.
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When you’re smack dab in the middle of something, you can’t be more in the middle of it.
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English spelling can be a museum of earlier pronunciations, as we see in words like "night," "through," and "cough."
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Given that tuna is a fish, it can seem unnecessary to call that out in the compound tuna fish.
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When we eat up or fix up or heal up or hurry up, we’re not actually moving in an upward direction.
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Funnily enough, two listeners wrote to us this summer about the phrase funnily enough.
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Working out with dumbbells may be a fitness craze now, but the fitness craze that started it all sounds even better.
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If you’d just as soon not learn about an eggcorn that some language pundits really dislike, then you might want to stop reading now.
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We can be angry or infuriated or outraged or furious or livid or incensed, all of which make us fit to be tied.
