Hilarious typos (and how to avoid them). Why ...

1217. This week, we talk to Florence Hazrat, author of "On the Mark," about how punctuation evolved over 2,000 years. We look at why ancient Greek and Roman writing had no spaces between words, how a librarian in Alexandria introduced the first marks to help readers, and why the ...  Show more

1216. In honor of Labor Day, we look at occupational surnames — why Baker, Cooper, and Fletcher sound like jobs, and why Wainwright, Chandler, and Fuller were jobs too, even though they don't sound like it anymore. We also look at how names like Webster and Baxter preserve an Old ...  Show more

Ah, the bane of authors, students and copywriters the world round: the infamous typo! Something as small as a single misplaced letter can call the entire credibility of a book, text, or essay into question. Usually readers can still "get the gist," but every so often an innocent ...  Show more

Let's look at some funny examples of badly-worded signs from around the world (including UK & USA), which show the ambiguity and unintended consequences of unclear English. I analyse lots of signs, explaining the errors and offering improved versions, using them as teachin ...

Let's look at some funny examples of badly-worded signs from around the world (including UK & USA), which show the ambiguity and unintended consequences of unclear English. I analyse lots of signs, explaining the errors and offering improved versions, using them as teaching momen ...  Show more

Sometimes it is fine to laugh at the mistakes that we make in English (I do it in French) and so in this episode let's look at some English errors that are unintentionally hilarious. I will correct the errors, explain what is funny, and there is a lot of vocabulary to learn in th ...  Show more