Podcast appearances and mentions of Arika Okrent

In unserer neuesten Podcastfolge tauchen wir tief in das faszinierende Universum der Kunstsprachen ein. Kunstsprachen? Ganz genau! Diese von Menschen konstruierten Sprachen sind nicht nur eine Spielerei von Sprachliebhaber*innen oder Fantasy- und Science-Fiction-Fans, sondern tragen oft tiefgründige kulturelle und politische Visionen in sich und erfüllen teilweise ganz praktische Zwecke.In dieser Folge richten wir unser besonderes Augenmerk auf Esperanto – die wohl erfolgreichste Plansprache der Welt. Erfahre die spannende Geschichte hinter Esperanto: Von der Vision eines idealistischen Doktors über den knapp verpassten Aufstieg zur Weltsprache bis hin zur modernen und lebendigen Sprachgemeinschaft, die heute weltweit existiert.Ein Podcast von Anton und Jakob. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sprachpfade---Weiterführende Literatur: Detlev Blanke (1985): Internationale Plansprachen. Eine Einführung (Sammlung Akademie-Verlag 34), Berlin [ND 2021].Detlev Blanke & Sabine Fiedler & Humphrey Tonkin (Hg.) (2018): International Planned Languages, New York.Arika Okrent (2009): In the land of invented languages. A celebration of linguistic creativity, madness, and genius, New York. --> Darin zum Esperanto die Kapitel 8-12.Mark Rosenfelder (2010): The Language Construction Kit, Chicago. --> Für die, die Lust bekommen haben, selbst eine Sprache zu erfinden und ganz nebenbei einen einfachen und spaßigen Einstieg in die Sprachwissenschaft bekommen möchten.Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof als Doktoro Esperanto (1887): Internationale Sprache. Vorrede und vollständiges Lehrbuch, Warschau. --> als Faksimile hier frei zugänglich: https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno-buch?apm=0&aid=100078Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof (1905): Fundamento de Esperanto, [o.O.]. --> der Kodex des Esperanto, also der Text, der die grundsätzliches Regeln der Sprache festlegt und das erste Wörterbuch liefert; seitdem in zahllosen Sprachen übersetzt und in zahllosen Auflagen erschienen; online hier: https://www.akademio-de-esperanto.org/fundamento/index.html---Fürs kleine Lesen: Arika Okrent & E.M. Rickerson (2012): „Whatever happened to Esperanto?“, in: E.M. Rickerson & Barry Hilton (Hg.): The 5-Minute Linguist. Bite-sized Essays on Language and Languages, 2. Aufl., Sheffield / Bristol (CT). Alle Bücher ausleihbar in deiner nächsten Bibliothek! ---Zum Reinnerden:Die Verse aus dem Ringgedicht: Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul. ‚Ein Ring, sie zu knechten, sie alle zu finden, Ins Dunkel zu treiben und ewig zu binden'Der Gruß am Ende in Tolkiens Quenya=Elbisch (mit Audio): Elen síla lúmenn'omentiëlvo ‚Ein Stern scheint auf die Stunde unserer Begegnung‘Die ersten Sätze des Artikel 1 der Allgemeinen Erklärung der Menschenrechte in Esperanto (mit Audio): Ĉiuj homoj estas denaske liberaj kaj egalaj laŭ digno kaj rajtoj. Ili posedas racion kaj konsciencon, kaj devus konduti unu al la alia en spirito de frateco. ‚Alle Menschen sind frei und gleich an Würde und Rechten geboren. Sie sind mit Vernunft und Gewissen begabt und sollen einander im Geist der Brüderlichkeit begegnen.‘Voynich Manuskript: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich-ManuskriptHINWEIS: Wir haben in dieser Folge Seiten aus der Wikipedia verlinkt. Das bedeutet nicht, dass wir jeder einzelnen Information jedes einzelnen Artikels der Wikipedia trauen. Die hier verlinkten Artikel besitzen aber trotz anführbarer Kritik eine gewisse Qualität und eignen sich deshalb als Ausgangspunkt, um sich mit dem Thema zu beschäftigen. Falls ihr mit unseren Einschätzungen nicht übereinstimmt, meldet euch gerne. ---Gegenüber Themenvorschlägen für die kommenden Ausflüge in die Sprachwissenschaft und Anregungen jeder Art sind wir stets offen. Wir freuen uns auf euer Feedback! Schreibt uns dazu einfach an oder in die DMs: anton.sprachpfade@protonmail.com oder jakob.sprachpfade@protonmail.com

Hello, Puzzlers! AJ has a new book out! You can order "The Year of Living Constitutionally" right now!. Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: author and linguist Arika Okrent! Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask Chat GPT” and audio rebuses. Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts!  "The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.  Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts. The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.  Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: author and linguist Arika Okrent! Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask Chat GPT” and audio rebuses. Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts!  "The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.  Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts. The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.  Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: author and linguist Arika Okrent! Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask Chat GPT” and audio rebuses. Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts!  "The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.  Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts. The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.  Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this deep cut from 2012, we are searching for platonic ideals longing for completion, engaged in epic quests for holy grails in science, linguistics, and world peace. And along the way, we'll meet the dreamers and measure just how impossible their dreams are.  First: a perfect moment. On day 86 of a 3-month trek to and from the South Pole, adventurer Aleksander Gamme (https://zpr.io/ryaJzt5vaNTZ) discovered something he'd stashed under the ice at the start of his trip. He wasn't expecting such a rush of happiness in that cold, hungry instant, but he hit the bliss jackpot.Producer Tim Howard (https://zpr.io/bfxEEMYHf5vT) brings us the incredible and tragic story of Charles Bliss -- the man that inspired this show. As Charles's friend Richard Ure and writer Arika Okrent (https://zpr.io/3gjsdSePpQbG) explain, Bliss believed that war was often caused by the misuse of language. Having lived through the hell of Nazi concentration camps, he set about creating the perfect language, based on symbols and logic. Years later, Shirley McNaughton accidentally discovered it, and started using it to communicate with her students -- kids with cerebral palsy who quickly picked up the language and made it their own. At first, Charles was thrilled...until he started to feel his original dream of saving the world was slipping from his fingers.And finally, co-host Latif Nasser (https://zpr.io/pJsnQSYWJLTe) explains how, on a cold, snowy farm in Vermont in 1880, a kid named Wilson Bentley put a snowflake under a microscope and started a lifelong quest to capture perfection. EPISODE CREDITS:Reported by - Tim HowardProduced by - Tim Howard CITATIONS: Videos: Aleksander and his glorious gift to his future self. (https://zpr.io/STUpZqWqrBwy)Books:    Arika Okrent, In the Land of Invented Language (https://zpr.io/uqBLpYQr7xNT) Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison, Objectivity (https://zpr.io/JpdC8rS7Uqjq) Duncan C. Blanchard, The Snowflake Man: A Biography of Wilson A Bentley (https://zpr.io/YaqeAw4XucRT) Ken Libbrecht, The Secret Life of a Snowflake: An Up-Close Look at the Art and Science of Snowflakes (https://zpr.io/DtZrbyFc3M75), Ken Libbrecht's Field Guide to Snowflakes (https://zpr.io/wg79x4HPCFun) W.A. Bentley, Snowflakes in Photographs (https://zpr.io/ccQfy9ZGFDDh) Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org Leadership support for Radiolab's science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

In Dr Arika Okrent's latest book, Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme - and Other Oddities of the English Language, the linguist examines the weirdness of the English language and why it is so hard to master.

Why do pigs snort? And why do we call their snorts “oink” in English? We're taking our exploration of animal noises in two directions today. First we'll learn about why we use different words to describe animal noises, depending on what language we're speaking. And then we'll examine what animals are actually saying when they oink or tweet or moo! Our guests are linguist and author Arika Okrent and bioacoustic researcher Elodie Briefer, of the University of Copenhagen. Other questions we tackle in this episode: Do cows make different amounts of “moos” to say different words? Why do ducks make loud noises? Why do roosters cockadoodle-do in the morning? PLUS, so many kids sent us animal noises in different languages and we'll hear them all! Download our learning guides: PDF | Google Slide Bioacoustics is the study of sounds made in nature. Scientists like Elodie Briefer study how animals make sounds and what information we can find in those sounds. Scientists will record sounds and use computers to measure and analyze what they hear and use observational skills to help determine what the sounds might mean. Animals speak in emotion, not in words. Pigs have contact calls as well as positive and negative calls. Researchers have found that pigs will make longer calls when they are unhappy. Scientists and animal welfare advocates hope to use this information to eventually develop an app that farmers can use to improve animals' lives on farms. With words like moo, oink and cockadoodle-do, we are giving a name to a sound. But we're not just trying to mimic the sound. Most of us can make the sound of a pig snort but we need words like oink because we don't want to stop using our language to make a pig snort in the middle of a conversation. Human voices are capable of millions of sounds but a language only uses a subset of those sounds. Our animal noise words will use the sounds available in our individual languages. Words that sound like the sound they are describing are called onomatopoeia. An animal has to have some cultural importance for a language to create a word for its call. That's why we don't have words in English for the noise a camel or a sloth would make. In Turkish there is no word for a pig call because that culture doesn't keep pigs on farms.

The English Language is one of the most difficult languages to learn, mostly because it has strange, and extraordinarily inconsistent spelling conventions.  Why?  That is the question author and language expert Arika Okrent answers in her book Highly Irregular.  In short, English is a Germanic language spoken by barbarians, altered by the French, influenced by […]

For the November 2021 podcast, Paul discusses the peculiarities of the English language with Arika Okrent, linguist and author of "Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme." For more information on Arika, visit ArikaOkrent.com.

Humankind has a long history of trying and failing to "fix" language. What can Benjamin Franklin, 500 year old maps of the universe, and Klingon Christmas Carols teach us about how language affects us? And for the thousands of indigenous languages at risk of extinction, how can the knowledge they hold be preserved, protected and revitalized?  Featuring author and linguist Arika Okrent, Wikitongues Founder Daniel Bögre Udell, 7,000 Languages Executive Director Stephanie Witkowski, and a special interview with Renata Altenfelder, Global Executive Director, Brand & Marketing at Motorola Mobility. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When it comes to English spelling and pronunciation, there is plenty of rhyme and very little reason. But what is the reason for that? Why among all European languages is English so uniquely chaotic today?To help us answer that question, we spoke with linguist and longtime friend of the show, Arika Okrent, author of the new book Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme and Other Oddities of the English Language. In it, Arika explores the origins of those phonetic paradoxes, and it turns out some of the reasons for confusion are as counterintuitive as the words themselves.Corpse, Corps, Horse and Worse

When it comes to English spelling and pronunciation, there is plenty of rhyme and very little reason. But what is the reason for that? Why among all European languages is English so uniquely chaotic today?To help us answer that question, we spoke with linguist and longtime friend of the show, Arika Okrent, author of the new book Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme and Other Oddities of the English Language. In it, Arika explores the origins of those phonetic paradoxes, and it turns out some of the reasons for confusion are as counterintuitive as the words themselves.Corpse, Corps, Horse and Worse

This week, Paul goes behind the curtain with linguist and author Arika Okrent to discuss her new book: “Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme – and Other Oddities of the English Language.” Arika answers the age old questions like: why is “of” not spelled with a “V;” why do many words have […]

Dré, Lauren, and Aidan ask, What is language? What are the benefits and limitations of language? Why is nonverbal communication important? How does language shape the way we think and experience the world? And more. Website & Newsletter | https://commonscientists.com Support Us | https://patreon.com/commonscientists REFERENCES Language | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language Ludwig Wittgenstein | https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/wittgenstein/ Temple Grandin | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_Grandin Autism | https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/autism-spectrum-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20352928 Left vs Right Brain | https://www.healthline.com/health/left-brain-vs-right-brain Limitations of language | Michael Eriksson | http://www.aswedeingermany.de/50LanguageAndWriting/50TheLimitationsOfLanguage.html Nonverbal communication | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonverbal_communication Steven Pinker | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Pinker In the land of invented languages | Arika Okrent | http://inthelandofinventedlanguages.com/ DuoLingo | Free Language Courses for English Speakers | https://www.duolingo.com/courses Arrival (film) | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrival_(film) Sapir-Worf Hypothesis / Linguistic Relativity | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity ASCII | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCII Mathematical universe hypothesis | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_universe_hypothesis Semantics v syntax | https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/semantics-vs-syntax-vs-pragmatics-grammar-rules Ethio-Jazz Ted talk | Meklit Hadero | https://www.ted.com/talks/meklit_hadero_the_unexpected_beauty_of_everyday_sounds?language=en Onomatopoeia | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeia Mellifluous | https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mellifluous How language shapes the way we think | Lera Boroditsky | https://www.ted.com/talks/lera_boroditsky_how_language_shapes_the_way_we_think?language=en Broca's and Wernicke's Aphasia | https://memory.ucsf.edu/symptoms/speech-language Schrödinger's cat | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger's_cat Dictionary of obscure sorrows | https://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com/ PODCAST INFO Podcast Website | https://commonscientists.com/common-science/ Apple Podcasts | https://apple.co/2KDjQCK Spotify | https://spoti.fi/3pTK821 TAGS #Storytelling #Science #Society #Culture #Learning

On today's episode of Spectacular Vernacular, hosts Ben Zimmer and Nicole Holliday chat about language at the Olympics in Tokyo. They also chat with linguist Arika Okrent about her new book, Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme―And Other Oddities of the English Language. (Check out an essay Okrent wrote about the English spelling system.) And finally, we have our first guest joining us for a fun quiz segment that you don't want to miss.  Do you have any language questions or fun facts to share? Email us at spectacular@slate.com. You can also use that email address to let us know if you'd like to take part in a future episode, where we'll bring in listeners for some challenging wordplay.   Produced by Jasmine Ellis and Cheyna Roth.  Subscribe to Slate Plus. It's only $1 for the first month. To learn more, go to slate.com/spectacularplus.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of Spectacular Vernacular, hosts Ben Zimmer and Nicole Holliday chat about language at the Olympics in Tokyo. They also chat with linguist Arika Okrent about her new book, Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme―And Other Oddities of the English Language. (Check out an essay Okrent wrote about the English spelling system.) And finally, we have our first guest joining us for a fun quiz segment that you don't want to miss.  Do you have any language questions or fun facts to share? Email us at spectacular@slate.com. You can also use that email address to let us know if you'd like to take part in a future episode, where we'll bring in listeners for some challenging wordplay.   Produced by Jasmine Ellis and Cheyna Roth.  Subscribe to Slate Plus. It's only $1 for the first month. To learn more, go to slate.com/spectacularplus.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why do we say 'I climbed' not 'I clomb'? Why is there a 'p' in 'receipt' and not in 'deceit'? Why is 'of' spelled with a 'f' when it sounds like a 'v'? Michael Rosen hears why from American linguist Arika Okrent. Together they talk about the strangeness of English and who is to blame for the mess. Produced by Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio in Bristol.

Why do we say 'I climbed' not 'I clomb'? Why is there a 'p' in 'receipt' and not in 'deceit'? Why is 'of' spelled with a 'f' when it sounds like a 'v'? Michael Rosen hears why from American linguist Arika Okrent. Together they talk about the strangeness of English and who is to blame for the mess. Produced by Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio in Bristol.

English may be spoken by a whopping 1.5 billion ESL speakers around the world, but that doesn't mean it's an "easy" language to learn. For native English speakers, it's easy to take for granted just how irregular the English language is. In this interview episode, I chat with Arika Okrent about her new book, Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme and Other Oddities of the English Language.  Today's episode is brought to you by italki. Go to https://go.italki.com/anniversary-wordsforgranted to claim your $140 of italki credits. 

“I don’t have a pet dinosaur.” This sentence is, we assume, true for everyone listening to this episode (if it isn’t, uh, tell us your ways?). And yet it has a different feel to it than a more ordinary sentence like “I don’t have a cat”, the type of negated sentence that’s true for some people and not others. In this episode, your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch get enthusiastic about negation! We talk about how languages make sentences negative, how negation fits into the social side of conversation, and two ways you can make things super extra negative: negative concord (aka “French toast negation”) and negative polarity items (aka “Mean Girls negation”). Plus, a few sneak peeks from the upcoming book Highly Irregular by Arika Okrent, which is coming out on July 1, 2021 and which we are delighted to recommend. Announcements: This month’s bonus episode is a recording of our live show! When someone else is telling a story, you might encourage them to keep talking or to elaborate on a particular point by making various words, sounds, phrases, or gestures, such as "oh really?" and "mhm-hm" and nodding. This linguistic behaviour is known as backchannelling. Join us on Patreon to learn more, and to get access to 50 other bonus episodes. You’ll also get access to our Discord server to chat with other lingthusiasts! www.patreon.com/lingthusiasm For links to everything mentioned in this episode: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/651742548840398848/lingthusiasm-episode-56-not-not-a-negation

Un conlanger, en américain, est une personne qui construit de nouvelles langues et qui est passionnée par les mots et les structures grammaticales. Chez les géants de l’écran, un conlanger est une personne qui crée des langues pour la science-fiction. On pourrait croire que ces langues incompréhensibles des humains ne sont qu’une suite d’onomatopées. En réalité, ces langues peuvent être réellement parlées ! Syntaxe, grammaire tous les éléments d’une langue étrangère sont présents. David Peterson a à peine plus de 30 ans. Linguiste devenu conlanger; c’est lui qui a inventé le dothraki, la langue parlée par l’un des peuples de Game of Thrones. Elle est la treizième langue qu’il invente. Dans plusieurs interviews David Peterson explique que le plus difficile est de décider ou non de l’existence de tel ou tel mot. Ainsi les Dothraki «avec leurs longues nattes» ou «jahaki» ne possèdent ni téléphone portable, ni livre. Il était donc inutile d’inventer des mots pour ces objets. En revanche, «les Dothraki ont plus de 14 mots pour dire cheval». David Peterson explique qu’il a créé les racines de la langue en jouant et combinant des lettres avec des sons. Après avoir compilé un peu de vocabulaire, il l’a testé grammaticalement en griffonnant des modèles de phrases et en y ajoutant des suffixes et des préfixes pour augmenter le nombre de mots inventés. Dans la trilogie du Seigneur des anneaux JRR Tolkien a inventé la totalité des langues elfiques de ses romans avec toujours la même astuce : ajouter à la langue inventée des éléments d’une langue connue ! Ainsi les langues inventées semblent plus réelles et apportent au spectateur le sens de l’émerveillement. Ce qui renforce également le côté fantastique du film. Et pourquoi ce besoin d’inventer des langues qui ne vont même pas survivre ?! Si les nouvelles langues créés par les géants du fantastique ont une grammaire et une diversité lexicale (le dothraki compte 10000 mots par exemple); L’auteur de “Au pays des langues inventées”, Arika Okrent, nuance dans le New York Time “un vocabulaire riche est plus difficile à apprendre mais exige moins d’efforts pour la construction du sens. Au contraire, un lexique pauvre a besoin de l’aide du contexte et des conventions sociales pour se répandre”. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week Jad and Radiolab alum Tim Howard revisit a favorite episode from 2012. Because moments of total, world-shaking bliss are not easy to come by. Maybe that's what makes them feel so life-altering when they strike. And so worth chasing. This hour: stories of striving, grasping, tripping, and falling for happiness, perfection, and ideals.   With Alexander Gamme, Arika Okrent, Richard Sproat, and Ken Libbrecht. This update was produced with help from Audrey Quinn. Support Radiolab today at Radiolab.org/donate. 

Have you ever wondered why we say "merry Christmas" and not "happy Christmas"? And why the word "merry" seems to exist nowadays only to be used for spreading holiday cheer? We'll get it sorted out with the help of linguist Arika Okrent.  Music in this Episode: Gaena: Blue Dot Sessions March: Kai Engel Delicant: Podington Bear Suppose it Is: Podington Bear Wish Background: Kevin MacCleod  Rate Christmas Past on Apple Podcasts, and I'll send you a sticker to say thanks. After leaving your review, get in touch through the contact page at http://christmaspast.media/contact and let me know your Apple Podcasts username and an address where you can receive your sticker.  Follow Christmas Past on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Christmas Past is a proud member of the Christmas Podcast Network, a collection of the best Christmas shows around.

Hello and welcome to this very odd episode of the Littlest PetCast. In this episode, we look at the episode "A Day at the Museum", written by Merriwether Williams, and directed by Dallas Parker. In this episode, the park is closed, but the pets really want to play. They spot a lawn to play on but their ball gets lost in the museum. Minka and Penny Ling go into the museum, but get lost in their imagination. Meanwhile, I have lost my mind.Will I ever understand horror people? Should you check out Arika Okrent ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSABQ0fvcFJ2hmOkn3F__8Q ) on youtube? If you think something exists with a generic title, what are the chances that it's a flash game? Are all animals pets in this universe? What is real?

Language encapsulates every part of a culture, from its history of ideas to the way its speakers perceive reality itself. And according to linguistics expert Arika Okrent, author of "In the Land of Invented Languages," even "made-up" languages like Klingon and Esperanto serve an important purpose. She joins the Curiosity Podcast to discuss the field of linguistics and why we say what we say. In addition to her first-level certification in Klingon, Arika Okrent's education includes an M.A. in Linguistics from Gallaudet, the world's only university for the deaf, and a joint PhD from the Department of Linguistics and the Department of Psychology's Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience Program at the University of Chicago.  More from Curiosity: ISS Astronauts Speak In A "Space Creole" Called Runglish Esperanto Is the World's Universal Language The Language You Speak Changes Your Perception Of Time—Literally It's Surprisingly Easy To Plant False Memories The Norman Conquest Is Why Steak Is "Beef" and Not "Cow" The Shocking Socioeconomic Word Gap Additional resources discussed: "In the Land of Invented Languages: Esperanto Rock Stars, Klingon Poets, Loglan Lovers, and the Mad Dreamers Who Tried to Build A Perfect Language" Arika Okrent's website Lingua Francas, Pidgins, and Creoles Development and Use of the Klingon Language "J.R.R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography" "The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 6)" "The Treason of Isengard: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Two (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 7)" "The War of the Ring: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Three (The History of Middle-Earth, Vol. 8)" The Klingon Language Institute's annual conference, qep'a' The Whorfian time warp: Representing duration through the language hourglass The Whites of Our Eyes (New York Times) Qapla' See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, Martha has so much to talk about that she runs out of time, Stephen espouses the virtues of building your own gamedev tools, and Mark names the episode after a Star Trek thing because it's his birthday today so he gets to.Discuss this episode on Reddit using this thread in r/gamedev. Intro to Linguistics for Game Developers 0:03:31 Martha MegarryAudioGame DesignThe Legend of Zelda's Hylian Language - FandomThe Language Creation SocietyA list of constructed languages in video games. - WikipediaMyst's created language, D'ni. - FandomUK Professors Go Primal With 'Far Cry' - Gail Hairston, University of KentuckySIL's Glossary of Linguistics article on sonority scale - SILSkyrim's Dragon Shouts - Matt Miller, Game InformerOmniglot is an encyclopedia of writing systems and languages - OmniglotThe Conlangers Library game list - Conlangers LibraryNo Man's Sky guide: alien races, languages and Monolith puzzles - Jeffrey Parkin, PolygonThe Rosetta Stone in Fez (Pretty obvious clue in hindsight.) - mykwud, YouTubeTwitter Blowup Leads to Sudden Cancellation of Fez II -  Owen Good, KotakuPlaying the Birth and Death of Language in 'Dialect' - Alex Roberts, WaypointScientology's enturbulating lingo -  Britt Peterson, The Boston GlobeKathryn Hymes on Twitter - @chiclashaw, TwitterThe Language Construction Kit, a book Martha recommended, is available for free… - bookDescribing Morphosyntax: A Guide For Field Linguists is the other book Martha r… - bookSpeaking ‘Star Trek': Meet the Man Who Made Up the Klingon Language - Matt Blitz, Popular MechanicsThe Klingon Language Institute is a thing that exists.International Phonetic Alphabet - WikipediaMass Effect: Meeting the Elcor Ambassador - Thieving HIppo, YouTubeGaming's favorite VR mouse uses sign language in the cutest way - Allegra Frank, PolygonCantonese vs. Mandarin - Off the Great Wall, YouTubeFeast Your Eyes on This Beautiful Linguistic Family Tree - Arika Okrent, Mental FlossThe Conlangery Podcast is a neat podcast about linguistics and conlang. - Podcast Making Your Own Tools 0:44:57 Stephen McGregorTools We referenced a few of our episodes during the show: "75% sure.""The Stevechievement."GDC 2017 Special (Part 1)GDC 2017 Special (Part 2)Stephen's tool he recently made for Fingeance. - Stephen McGregor, TwitterTech Toolbox microtalks at GDC 2017 - GDCOur friends at Howling Moon made Super Fast Soft Shadow. - Unity

This week, Martha has so much to talk about that she runs out of time, Stephen espouses the virtues of building your own gamedev tools, and Mark names the episode after a Star Trek thing because it's his birthday today so he gets to.   Discuss this episode on Reddit using this thread in r/gamedev. Intro to Linguistics for game developers 0:03:31 Martha Megarry Category Audio Game Design The Legend of Zelda’s Hylian Language - Fandom wiki The Language Creation Society A list of constructed languages in video games. - Wikipedia Myst’s created language, D’ni. - Fandom wiki “UK Professors Go Primal With 'Far Cry'” - Gail Hairston , University of Kentucky SIL’s Glossary of Linguistics article on sonority scale - SIL “Skyrim’s Dragon Shouts” - Matt Miller, , Game Informer Omniglot is an encyclopedia of writing systems and languages - Omniglot The Conlangers Library game list - Conlangers Library “No Man’s Sky guide: alien races, languages and Monolith puzzles” - Jeffrey Parkin , Polygon The Rosetta Stone in Fez (Pretty obvious clue in hindsight.) - mykwud , YouTube “Twitter Blowup Leads to Sudden Cancellation of Fez II” - Owen Good , Kotaku “Playing the Birth and Death of Language in 'Dialect'” - Alex Roberts , Waypoint “Scientology’s enturbulating lingo” - Britt Peterson , The Boston Globe Kathryn Hymes on Twitter - @chiclashaw , Twitter The Language Construction Kit, a book Martha recommended, is available for free… Describing Morphosyntax: A Guide For Field Linguists is the other book Martha r… “Speaking ‘Star Trek’: Meet the Man Who Made Up the Klingon Language” - Matt Blitz , Popular Mechanics The Klingon Language Institute is a thing that exists. International Phonetic Alphabet - Wikipedia “Mass Effect: Meeting the Elcor Ambassador” - Thieving HIppo , YouTube “Gaming’s favorite VR mouse uses sign language in the cutest way” - Allegra Frank , Polygon “Cantonese vs. Mandarin” - Off the Great Wall , YouTube “Feast Your Eyes on This Beautiful Linguistic Family Tree” - Arika Okrent , Mental Floss The Conlangery Podcast is a neat podcast about linguistics and conlang. - Podcast Making your own tools 0:44:57 Stephen McGregor Category Tools We referenced a few of our episodes during the show: "75% sure." "The Stevechievement." GDC 2017 Special (Part 1) GDC 2017 Special (Part 2) Stephen’s tool he recently made for Fingeance. - Stephen McGregor , Twitter Tech Toolbox microtalks at GDC 2017 - GDC Our friends at Howling Moon made Super Fast Soft Shadow. - Unity Asset Store

Given how many natural languages are out there that you will never learn, what would possess someone to study an invented language like Esperanto, Klingon, or Dothraki? And who on earth would take the time to invent one? This question drove linguist Arika Okrent (@arikaokrent) to research and write a book about invented languages. In this interview Arika offers an overview of the most salient languages invented since the 17th century. She provides fascinating historical context about the inventors, their motivations, and the reception of their languages. Arika's book is In the Land of Invented Languages: Adventures in Linguistic Creativity, Madness, and Genius: http://amzn.to/2hr6qq3. Arika is also a columnist for Mental Floss.

We communicate with each other in more ways than ever and with an ever expanding range of devices and platforms. But they all piggy back on an earlier invention, our original social networking technology - language. In this edition of the Digital Human Aleks Krotoski explores the idea of language as a technology itself and how people over the years have attempted to improve it; re-engineer it for maximum efficiency, or use it as a lever of social change. She speaks to Professor David Crystal about how we're living through a period of rapid language growth comparable to the renaissance or industrial revolution. Evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel explains how we can consider language as a technology devised by natural selection while linguist Arika Okrent charts the attempts down the years by those who think they can perfect the function of language by devising their own. Producer: Peter McManus.

Have a question about objective pronouns? Whom ya gonna call? Wait--is that right? Or would it be "who ya gonna call"? "Whom" may be technically correct, but insisting on it can get you called an elitist. It's enough to make you nervous as a polecat in a perfume parlor! And if you really want to dig a hole all the way to China, don't start anywhere in the continental United States--you'll come out at the bottom of the ocean! Plus, how to pronounce the name of the Show-Me State, catfishing, gallon smashing, and what it means to conversate.FULL DETAILSMarch 4 was National Grammar Day, an occasion that prompted thoughtful essays and discussions about grammar, as well as a Tweeted Haiku Contest, for which Martha served a judge. Arika Okrent, author of In The Land of Invented Languages, took the prize with this one: I am an error/ And I will never reveal myself/ After you press send. Actually, that tweet became a self-fulfilling prophecy, because she soon followed up with an apt correction: Make that "send". The idea of digging a hole to China surfaces as early as 1872 in a Chamber's Journal fiction piece about beavers and engineers. Unfortunately, digging from almost anywhere in the United States would lead you to open water on the other end. To dig straight through to China, you'd have to start shoveling in Northern Argentina. There'd also be a few pesky physics problems to work out, like the fiery, molten mass at the center of the Earth. Here's how to find out where you'd end up when you start digging from anywhere on the planet, and how to make an earth sandwich with your antipodes.Whom you gonna call about discrepancies regarding who and whom? Grant and Martha, that's who. Although whom to contact is a correct use of whom, it's fast becoming obsolete, with growing numbers of people viewing it as elitist, effete, or both. But fair warning: Do not correct someone on this unless you're sure you have your facts straight! Here's another tweeted haiku from Liz Morrison in San Diego: "Serial comma/ Chicago yes, AP no/ You bewilder me."Quiz Master John Chaneski has a game about professions that match their respective verbs. What, for example, does a tutor do? Conversate, a variation of the word converse, is part of African-American Vernacular English, but with a slightly different meaning. To conversate is "to converse raucously." This word goes back to at least 1811, and it's well-known to many African-Americans. It's commonly heard in the Bahamas and Jamaica as well. Martha spoke recently at an Audubon Society event, where she traced the role of the Latin stem greg-. It's a form of the Latin word grex meaning "flock" or "herd." This root appears in many English words involving groups, including aggregate, congregate, gregarious, as well as the word egregious--literally, "standing outside the herd." Cain from Dublin, Ireland, wonders why sportscasters in his country often say a team's at sixes and sevens when they're looking disorganized or nonplussed. The leading theory suggests that sixes and sevens, primarily heard in the United Kingdom, comes from a French dice games similar to craps, called hazard, wherein to set on cinque and sice (from the French words for five and six) was the riskiest roll. Old Eddard sayings were plentiful in the 1930s, when the Lum and Abner radio show was a hit in households across the country. Lum Edwards, who made up half of the cornball duo, would offer up such wise sayings as I always found that the best way to figure out what tomorrow's weather was going to be is to wait until tomorrow comes along. That way you never make a mistake.Did you know that the word rack can also mean "one thousand," as in, he has four racks, or four thousand dollars? Here's another slang term: Gallon Smashing. It's the latest craze in pranks involving gallons of milk, a grocery store aisle to smash them on, and plenty of free time to waste. And of course, no slang roundup could fail to mention catfishing, the practice of lying to someone on the Internet in order to manipulate them, as in the case of former Notre Dame star Manti Te'o and noted Pacific Islander uberprankster Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. On the occasion of National Grammar Day, University of Illinois linguist Dennis Barron has pointed out some arresting posters from a wartime version from the early 20th century. They're from a 1918 Chicago Women's Club initiative called Better American Speech Week, a jingoistic campaign tinged with nationalism and ethnocentrism.Stanley Wilkins, a listener from Tyler, Texas, shares the idiom nervous as a pole cat in a perfume parlor. A polecat, more commonly known as a skunk, also fronts such gems as mean as a polecat, nervous as a pole cat in a standoff with a porcupine, and tickled as a polecat eating briars. In other news, Grant admits that, from a reasonable distance, he enjoys the mephitic emanations of Mephitis mephitis.A while back, we talked about the game Going To Texas, where two kids hold hands and spin around until they fall over dizzy. Becca Turpel from San Diego, California, said she knows the game as Wrist Rockets. Others have identified it as Dizzy Dizzy Dinosaur. Has anyone ever called it Fun?How do you pronounce Missouri? The late Donald Lance, a former professor from the University of Missouri at Columbia, compiled the exhaustive research that became The Pronunciation of Missouri: Variation and Change in American English, which traces the discrepancy between Missour-ee and Missour-uh all the way back to the 1600s. Today the pronunciation mostly divides along age lines, with older people saying Missour-uh and younger ones saying Missour-ee. The exceptions are politicians, who often say Missour-uh to sound authentic or folksy.Nancy Friedman, who writes the blog Fritinancy, tweeted this haiku for National Grammar Day: Dear yoga teacher/ if you say down once more/ I'll hurt you, no lie.If someone's a pound of pennies, it means they're a valuable asset and a pain in the butt, all at the same time. Grant and Martha are stumped on the origin of this one, though it is true that a pound of pennies comes out to about $1.46. One suspects that this guy's banker felt the same way about him. Have you heard chick used as a verb? Runners and triathletes use it to refer to a female passing a male in a race, as in You just got chicked!This episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett.....Support for A Way with Words comes from The Ken Blanchard Companies, celebrating 35 years of making a leadership difference with Situational Leadership II, the leadership model designed to boost effectiveness, impact, and employee engagement. More about how Blanchard can help your executives and organizational leaders at kenblanchard.com/leadership.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2014, Wayword LLC.

The Patented SpecGram 5 Minute Interview: Arika Okrent — My guest today is Arika Okrent, linguist, author of In the Land of Invented Languages, fan of conlangs and, I think, conlangers, speaker of Klingon and Hungarian, signer of ASL, and contributor to Mental Floss and Slate’s Lexicon Valley, where she writes about conlangs, ASL, old fonts, and even makes a decent case for the use of “I could care less”.

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to linguist Arika Okrent about the most logical language ever invented. Show notes at www.slate.com/lexiconvalley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have a question about objective pronouns? Whom ya gonna call? Wait--is that right? Or would it be "who ya gonna call"? "Whom" may be technically correct, but insisting on it can get you called an elitist. It's enough to make you nervous as a polecat in a perfume parlor! And if you really want to dig a hole all the way to China, don't start anywhere in the continental United States--you'll come out at the bottom of the ocean! Plus, how to pronounce the name of the Show-Me State, catfishing, gallon smashing, and what it means to conversate.FULL DETAILSMarch 4 was National Grammar Day, an occasion that prompted thoughtful essays and discussions about grammar, as well as a Tweeted Haiku Contest, for which Martha served a judge. Arika Okrent, author of In The Land of Invented Languages, took the prize with this one: I am an error/ And I will never reveal myself/ After you press send. Actually, that tweet became a self-fulfilling prophecy, because she soon followed up with an apt correction: Make that "send". The idea of digging a hole to China surfaces as early as 1872 in a Chamber's Journal fiction piece about beavers and engineers. Unfortunately, digging from almost anywhere in the United States would lead you to open water on the other end. To dig straight through to China, you'd have to start shoveling in Northern Argentina. There'd also be a few pesky physics problems to work out, like the fiery, molten mass at the center of the Earth. Here's how to find out where you'd end up when you start digging from anywhere on the planet, and how to make an earth sandwich with your antipodes.Whom you gonna call about discrepancies regarding who and whom? Grant and Martha, that's who. Although whom to contact is a correct use of whom, it's fast becoming obsolete, with growing numbers of people viewing it as elitist, effete, or both. But fair warning: Do not correct someone on this unless you're sure you have your facts straight! Here's another tweeted haiku from Liz Morrison in San Diego: "Serial comma/ Chicago yes, AP no/ You bewilder me."Quiz Master John Chaneski has a game about professions that match their respective verbs. What, for example, does a tutor do? Conversate, a variation of the word converse, is part of African-American Vernacular English, but with a slightly different meaning. To conversate is "to converse raucously." This word goes back to at least 1811, and it's well-known to many African-Americans. It's commonly heard in the Bahamas and Jamaica as well. Martha spoke recently at an Audubon Society event, where she traced the role of the Latin stem greg-. It's a form of the Latin word grex meaning "flock" or "herd." This root appears in many English words involving groups, including aggregate, congregate, gregarious, as well as the word egregious--literally, "standing outside the herd." Cain from Dublin, Ireland, wonders why sportscasters in his country often say a team's at sixes and sevens when they're looking disorganized or nonplussed. The leading theory suggests that sixes and sevens, primarily heard in the United Kingdom, comes from a French dice games similar to craps, called hazard, wherein to set on cinque and sice (from the French words for five and six) was the riskiest roll. Old Eddard sayings were plentiful in the 1930s, when the Lum and Abner radio show was a hit in households across the country. Lum Edwards, who made up half of the cornball duo, would offer up such wise sayings as I always found that the best way to figure out what tomorrow's weather was going to be is to wait until tomorrow comes along. That way you never make a mistake.Did you know that the word rack can also mean "one thousand," as in, he has four racks, or four thousand dollars? Here's another slang term: Gallon Smashing. It's the latest craze in pranks involving gallons of milk, a grocery store aisle to smash them on, and plenty of free time to waste. And of course, no slang roundup could fail to mention catfishing, the practice of lying to someone on the Internet in order to manipulate them, as in the case of former Notre Dame star Manti Te'o and noted Pacific Islander uberprankster Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. On the occasion of National Grammar Day, University of Illinois linguist Dennis Barron has pointed out some arresting posters from a wartime version from the early 20th century. They're from a 1918 Chicago Women's Club initiative called Better American Speech Week, a jingoistic campaign tinged with nationalism and ethnocentrism.Stanley Wilkins, a listener from Tyler, Texas, shares the idiom nervous as a pole cat in a perfume parlor. A polecat, more commonly known as a skunk, also fronts such gems as mean as a polecat, nervous as a pole cat in a standoff with a porcupine, and tickled as a polecat eating briars. In other news, Grant admits that, from a reasonable distance, he enjoys the mephitic emanations of Mephitis mephitis.A while back, we talked about the game Going To Texas, where two kids hold hands and spin around until they fall over dizzy. Becca Turpel from San Diego, California, said she knows the game as Wrist Rockets. Others have identified it as Dizzy Dizzy Dinosaur. Has anyone ever called it Fun?How do you pronounce Missouri? The late Donald Lance, a former professor from the University of Missouri at Columbia, compiled the exhaustive research that became The Pronunciation of Missouri: Variation and Change in American English, which traces the discrepancy between Missour-ee and Missour-uh all the way back to the 1600s. Today the pronunciation mostly divides along age lines, with older people saying Missour-uh and younger ones saying Missour-ee. The exceptions are politicians, who often say Missour-uh to sound authentic or folksy.Nancy Friedman, who writes the blog Fritinancy, tweeted this haiku for National Grammar Day: Dear yoga teacher/ if you say down once more/ I'll hurt you, no lie.If someone's a pound of pennies, it means they're a valuable asset and a pain in the butt, all at the same time. Grant and Martha are stumped on the origin of this one, though it is true that a pound of pennies comes out to about $1.46. One suspects that this guy's banker felt the same way about him. Have you heard chick used as a verb? Runners and triathletes use it to refer to a female passing a male in a race, as in You just got chicked!This episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett.....Support for A Way with Words also comes from National University, which invites you to change your future today. More at http://www.nu.edu/.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2013, Wayword LLC.

Have a question about objective pronouns? Whom ya gonna call? Wait--is that right? Or would it be "who ya gonna call"? "Whom" may be technically correct, but insisting on it can get you called an elitist. It's enough to make you nervous as a polecat in a perfume parlor! And if you really want to dig a hole all the way to China, don't start anywhere in the continental United States--you'll come out at the bottom of the ocean! Plus, how to pronounce the name of the Show-Me State, catfishing, gallon smashing, and what it means to conversate.FULL DETAILSMarch 4 was National Grammar Day, an occasion that prompted thoughtful essays and discussions about grammar, as well as a Tweeted Haiku Contest, for which Martha served a judge. Arika Okrent, author of In The Land of Invented Languages, took the prize with this one: I am an error/ And I will never reveal myself/ After you press send. Actually, that tweet became a self-fulfilling prophecy, because she soon followed up with an apt correction: Make that "send". The idea of digging a hole to China surfaces as early as 1872 in a Chamber's Journal fiction piece about beavers and engineers. Unfortunately, digging from almost anywhere in the United States would lead you to open water on the other end. To dig straight through to China, you'd have to start shoveling in Northern Argentina. There'd also be a few pesky physics problems to work out, like the fiery, molten mass at the center of the Earth. Here's how to find out where you'd end up when you start digging from anywhere on the planet, and how to make an earth sandwich with your antipodes.Whom you gonna call about discrepancies regarding who and whom? Grant and Martha, that's who. Although whom to contact is a correct use of whom, it's fast becoming obsolete, with growing numbers of people viewing it as elitist, effete, or both. But fair warning: Do not correct someone on this unless you're sure you have your facts straight! Here's another tweeted haiku from Liz Morrison in San Diego: "Serial comma/ Chicago yes, AP no/ You bewilder me."Quiz Master John Chaneski has a game about professions that match their respective verbs. What, for example, does a tutor do? Conversate, a variation of the word converse, is part of African-American Vernacular English, but with a slightly different meaning. To conversate is "to converse raucously." This word goes back to at least 1811, and it's well-known to many African-Americans. It's commonly heard in the Bahamas and Jamaica as well. Martha spoke recently at an Audubon Society event, where she traced the role of the Latin stem greg-. It's a form of the Latin word grex meaning "flock" or "herd." This root appears in many English words involving groups, including aggregate, congregate, gregarious, as well as the word egregious--literally, "standing outside the herd." Cain from Dublin, Ireland, wonders why sportscasters in his country often say a team's at sixes and sevens when they're looking disorganized or nonplussed. The leading theory suggests that sixes and sevens, primarily heard in the United Kingdom, comes from a French dice games similar to craps, called hazard, wherein to set on cinque and sice (from the French words for five and six) was the riskiest roll. Old Eddard sayings were plentiful in the 1930s, when the Lum and Abner radio show was a hit in households across the country. Lum Edwards, who made up half of the cornball duo, would offer up such wise sayings as I always found that the best way to figure out what tomorrow's weather was going to be is to wait until tomorrow comes along. That way you never make a mistake.Did you know that the word rack can also mean "one thousand," as in, he has four racks, or four thousand dollars? Here's another slang term: Gallon Smashing. It's the latest craze in pranks involving gallons of milk, a grocery store aisle to smash them on, and plenty of free time to waste. And of course, no slang roundup could fail to mention catfishing, the practice of lying to someone on the Internet in order to manipulate them, as in the case of former Notre Dame star Manti Te'o and noted Pacific Islander uberprankster Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. On the occasion of National Grammar Day, University of Illinois linguist Dennis Barron has pointed out some arresting posters from a wartime version from the early 20th century. They're from a 1918 Chicago Women's Club initiative called Better American Speech Week, a jingoistic campaign tinged with nationalism and ethnocentrism.Stanley Wilkins, a listener from Tyler, Texas, shares the idiom nervous as a pole cat in a perfume parlor. A polecat, more commonly known as a skunk, also fronts such gems as mean as a polecat, nervous as a pole cat in a standoff with a porcupine, and tickled as a polecat eating briars. In other news, Grant admits that, from a reasonable distance, he enjoys the mephitic emanations of Mephitis mephitis.A while back, we talked about the game Going To Texas, where two kids hold hands and spin around until they fall over dizzy. Becca Turpel from San Diego, California, said she knows the game as Wrist Rockets. Others have identified it as Dizzy Dizzy Dinosaur. Has anyone ever called it Fun?How do you pronounce Missouri? The late Donald Lance, a former professor from the University of Missouri at Columbia, compiled the exhaustive research that became The Pronunciation of Missouri: Variation and Change in American English, which traces the discrepancy between Missour-ee and Missour-uh all the way back to the 1600s. Today the pronunciation mostly divides along age lines, with older people saying Missour-uh and younger ones saying Missour-ee. The exceptions are politicians, who often say Missour-uh to sound authentic or folksy.Nancy Friedman, who writes the blog Fritinancy, tweeted this haiku for National Grammar Day: Dear yoga teacher/ if you say down once more/ I'll hurt you, no lie.If someone's a pound of pennies, it means they're a valuable asset and a pain in the butt, all at the same time. Grant and Martha are stumped on the origin of this one, though it is true that a pound of pennies comes out to about $1.46. One suspects that this guy's banker felt the same way about him. Have you heard chick used as a verb? Runners and triathletes use it to refer to a female passing a male in a race, as in You just got chicked!This episode was hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett.....Support for A Way with Words also comes from National University, which invites you to change your future today. More at http://www.nu.edu/.And from The Ken Blanchard Companies, whose purpose is to make a leadership difference among executives, managers, and individuals in organizations everywhere. More about Ken Blanchard's leadership training programs at kenblanchard.com/leadership.--A Way with Words is funded by its listeners: http://waywordradio.org/donateGet your language question answered on the air! Call or write with your questions at any time:Email: words@waywordradio.orgPhone: United States and Canada toll-free (877) WAY-WORD/(877) 929-9673London +44 20 7193 2113Mexico City +52 55 8421 9771Donate: http://waywordradio.org/donateSite: http://waywordradio.org/Podcast: http://waywordradio.org/podcast/Forums: http://waywordradio.org/discussion/Newsletter: http://waywordradio.org/newsletter/Twitter: http://twitter.com/wayword/Skype: skype://waywordradio Copyright 2012, Wayword LLC.