Podcast

This is the start of season 2. How to start with that bang? Let’s talk Beyoncé, Gwen Stefani, and a classic Broadway show—and, of course, the words they use. You might not have known it, but they have a major disagreement on the usage of a phrase. Specifically, should it be “if I were” or “if I was”?

Today, we’re going to get down to the root of it, plus answer another big one that I know has been bothering you: Is it “ring in the new year” or “bring in the new year”?

It’s time to dive in.

At twelve months old, babies are already beginning to recognize “adjacent relationships” of words, how language fits together to organize itself. The learning process with listening, speaking, and writing, begins there and often lasts for a lifetime.

There’s no medal awarded for correctness, but a strong command of your words is one way to show your mettle. But we’ll get back to that.

Now that we’ve established whether it’s “prouder” or “more proud” than a peacock in last week’s episode, I want to keep talking about birds. Why? Because calling a North American turkey a “turkey” is up there with the earliest of #fakenews. But, accuracy has never been the English language’s strong suit.

It’s the week of Thanksgiving in the United States, and this is the time of year one question is asked time and time again:

Why on earth do we call a turkey a “turkey”?

Is it possible to be more proud than a peacock? Or, wait, is it “prouder” than a peacock? One is the correct form, but do you know the answer?

Let’s talk language tips for the curious or confused. This is Season 1, Episode 10. How we have only two episodes left in this first season, I have no idea, but here we are.

I’m presently building my list of ideas for Season 2, so contact me if you have a question or some fascinating word trivia to share. But for now, let’s dive in.

Language tips for the curious or confused. Because we really can fit into either category, depending on the day, the moment, the answer that slipped from your mind.

This is episode 9 of season 1, and I’ll admit it, this podcast started out as an experiment. Who in the world is as fascinated as I am by words and language and fine-tuning our communications, spit-polishing them until them shine? It turns out, I’m not alone. I love it.

But let’s dive in. Or should I say, let’s giddy-up. Today, we’re talking about cowboys.

We all need these little word choice reminders, don’t we?

We need to remember the difference between “insure” and “ensure,” without a doubt understanding that “insure” with an “i” is talking about insurance.

We need to know that when you might say “I could care less,” that means that you do indeed care about something. If you say, “I could care less,” then you must care a bit to be able to care a smaller amount. The expression you might be looking for is “I couldn’t care less,” which means that you already care so little that it’s impossible for you to care less than you already do. There’s a difference.

Our words have the power to meddle or to muddle if we don’t pay attention to them.

But without further ado, here’s today’s writing tip for the curious or confused.

Before I dive into the trickery of English language spacing, let me tell you a story about selling books at midnight at the launch of J.K. Rowling’s 5^th book in the Harry Potter series, The Order of the Phoenix.

I was in college at the time, working at a bookstore, and the build-up had been growing for weeks. Pre-orders were organized. Boxes were piled up in the back. Everyone working that night had to don at minimum a cape. The one I was given was purple and sparkly. If you know me, you’ll know that purple sparkly capes are not quite my style, but these are the things we do for the love of books and the love of readers.

I want to talk about monsters. A scary story can be fun any time of year, but especially near Halloween. It’s good to know that a collection of ravens is an “unkindness” and a collection of crows is a “murder.” It’s good to know that there are these things called “ghost words,” which are typos in the dictionary, creating words that don’t actually exist.

Spooky, right? Maybe. Maybe not.

But today, let’s talk about “Frankenstein” vs. “Frankenstein’s monster.” I think a lot of folks are a bit confused.

Just in the (k)nick of time, let’s talk about how you spell that “(k)nick” in the “(k)nick of time.” Is it spelled N-I-C-K or is it K-N-I-C-K? What’s your first reaction? Let’s see if you’re right.

This is episode 5, and I’m having fun with this series of language tips for the curious or confused. I hope you are too. So we’ve talked about Kurt Cobain and Judas Priest. We’ve talked about spelling hijacking and spelling revolutions that didn’t quite catch steam. Today, I want to turn to an expression that is never problematic when you say it but often is when people decide to spell it.

And here’s where I want to begin the conversation: