Why is this a question? with Paul Anthony Jon...

1151. This week, we look at the deep history of words with Doug Harper, creator of Etymonline. We look at the "gravitational" link between digging a grave and having a grave problem, the surprising 1839 origin of "OK," and why some of our favorite word stories are actually "folk ...  Show more

1150. This week, we look at "impact" as a verb and why it's a pet peeve for so many editors and readers. Then, we look at the linguistic shift between sympathy and empathy, exploring how "sympathy" began to sound patronizing and how "empathy" expanded to fill the gap.Links to Get ...  Show more

Have you ever wondered what’s up with double negation, the history of gender neutral pronouns, or why swearing is taboo? Then get ready for this week’s guest, linguist Anne Curzan! Anne and Jonathan talk about how the English language has evolved since the 1300s and how our words ...  Show more

I recently started learning French, and the process has made one thing clear to me: There’s a lot I don’t understand about how languages work. So, I turned to John McWhorter, a linguist who has dedicated his career to demystifying the roughly 7,000 languages spoken around the wor ...  Show more

📝 Get FREE Episode Worksheet 🧐 Take English Level Test 👄 Improve Your Pronunciation Learn British English & about British culture in this episode where Charlie, your host, gets Martin from Rock N' Roll English back on the show to explore the cultural significance football has ...  Show more

📝 Get FREE Episode Worksheet 🧐 Take English Level Test 👄 Improve Your Pronunciation Charlie invites a non-native English teacher from Spain on the show to talk about her language learning journey, especially regarding her accent acquisition. This teacher is called Maria and go ...  Show more