Scholar Fred R. Shapiro is an authority on quotations and the editor of the seminal Yale Book of Quotations, a compendium of over 12,000 bits of wisdom by notable people through history. A Mount Everest of quotes! Which got us wondering: Why the fascination with quotes? And how do we know that Mark Twain quote was actually quipped by Mr. Clemens? We called up Fred to find out:  Continue reading...

Gelett Burgess. Rings a bell? This irrepressible early 20th century figure was at once a linguistic inventor, humorist, poet and creative powerhouse who today is... almost forgotten. Which is a shame, and which is why we celebrate the re-release after a long, long slumber of his classic Burgess Unabridged: A Classic Dictionary of Words You Have Always Needed. We spoke to lexicographer Paul Dickson, who wrote a new foreword to the book, about this remarkable man and his work.  Continue reading...

Slips of the tongue? Mixed up consonants? Verbal blunders are more than simple mistakes to linguist and journalist Michael Erard. The author of Um... Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean, Michael explores what gaffes in speech tell us about language, and ourselves. We called him to learn, um, more about this subject:  Continue reading...

An offhand comment by a former professor tipped off New York Times reporter Margalit Fox to a remarkable linguistic quest: A group of researchers studying, firsthand, the birth of a language. The birth of a language? These scientists had been working secretly in a Bedouin village in the Israeli desert that, because of an unusually high population of deaf residents, had spontaneously created its own sign language, used by deaf and hearing villagers alike. What their experience teaches us about all languages, signed and spoken, is the subject of Margalit's amazing new book, Talking Hands: What Sign Language Reveals About the Mind, and our conversation:  Continue reading...

A couple of weeks ago we ran the first part of our fascinating conversation with Professor Anne Curzan of the University of Michigan, an expert in the history of English and a member of the American Heritage Dictionary's usage panel. Here is part two of our interview -- a jaw-dropper for anyone interested in language -- where we focus on gender, spelling and much more:  Continue reading...

Professor Anne Curzan of the University of Michigan studies the history of English. "I have a great job," she says, one where she challenges people to rethink their ideas of how language works. In addition to teaching, she co-edits the respected Journal of English Linguistics and is also on the usage panel of the The American Heritage Dictionary. We had a fascinating and wide-ranging conversation with her about the history of English, medieval language, gender in language and more. Our conversation was so intriguing we broke it into two parts. Here's part one:  Continue reading...

Language authority Charles Harrington Elster is the "Grandiloquent Gumshoe," a word sleuth who gives no quarter to pompous usage and other tomfoolery. The author of The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations and What in the Word?, Charles is also a seasoned radio commentator and, as he says, "a fellow woolgatherer in the world of words." We had a lively discussion with him about language, usage -- and where he draws the line.  Continue reading...