SYMHC Classics: Great Vowel Shift

Charles Goodyear's work is important to so many things we have in the 21st century. But his life and his work to create a stable rubber was full of problems -- many of them caused by Goodyear himself. Research: Britannica Editors. "Charles Goodyear". Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 D ...  Show more

This 2022 episode covers the development of penicillin, which started – but definitely did not end – with the chance discovery of some mold in a petri dish. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Over the course of the 1500s, English spelling started to become standardized, but the pronunciation of the language continued to change. By the early 1600s, English scholars noticed that spellings no longer reflected the way words were pronounced, and they recommended phonetic r ...  Show more

Who spoke English first and what was it like? Nothing like it is today. Listen in to learn all about it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

On this episode of Our American Stories, The History Guy shares the story of “The Great Vowel Shift” and the making of modern English which has now become the official language in over 75 countries; and Rick Bowers shares how an undercover agent infiltrated the KKK, and with the ...  Show more

Prof. Simon Horobin examines how the English language has changed over time, addressing such vexed questions as whether Jane Austen could spell, the fate of the apostrophe and whether people who 'literally' explode with anger are corrupting the language.