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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There are so many interesting bits of language in the world, we can’t help but notice. The question is, when you notice someone saying something interesting, should you point it out? -
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There's competitive forensics, but there's also forensic medicine, forensic accounting, and forensic linguistics too.
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The word "deadpan" is on the rise, as multiple parts of speech. That "pan" is related to the historical expression “shut your pan."
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Not all of us use the word 'whenever' in exactly the same way, and people are noticing.
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It’s 100% true that people online are asking about sentences like, “I got an a hundred on the test.”
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The way some people use "resonate" doesn't resonate with all of our listeners.
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We can sweep the floor, sweep the board, sweep the stakes, sweep the series – and maybe it will even be called a "clean sweep."
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While you may not find “comfortability” in many standard dictionaries yet, it is out there in circulation with “comfortableness.”
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Sometimes we’re left in the lurch. It’s probably fair to say that most of us don’t know where that lurch is.
