That's What They Say is a weekly segment on Michigan Radio that explores our changing language. Each week University of Michigan English Professor Anne Curzan will discuss why we say what we say with Michigan Radio Weekend Edition host Rebecca Kruth.
TWTS: In America, it's always hot dog season
Major League Baseball playoffs and football tailgate season both mean the smell of hot dogs is in the air.
10/14/2024 • 5 minutes, 19 seconds
TWTS: Petards are for hoisting, not stabbing
We don't encounter petards very often anymore. That’s unless we’re being, metaphorically speaking, “hoisted with our own petard.”
10/4/2024 • 5 minutes, 16 seconds
TWTS: Should we stop utilizing "utilize" and just use "use"?
There are plenty of people out there who see "utilize" as a pretentious substitute for "use." However, some people are completely comfortable utilizing the verb "utilize."
9/23/2024 • 4 minutes, 38 seconds
TWTS: Yeah, we need to talk about "yay"
There’s the “yea” in voting “yea” or “nay," and then there’s the celebratory “Yay!" Oh yeah, there's also "yeah."
9/16/2024 • 4 minutes, 59 seconds
TWTS: Whoa, is that how you spell "whoa"?
Whoa, whoa, whoa. There are a lot of ways to spell "whoa."
9/9/2024 • 5 minutes, 8 seconds
TWTS: Your caring about gerunds is noble, but you caring is nice too
You could say, "I don't like him singing," or you could say, "I don't like his singing." Believe it or not, some folks have very strong feelings about which of those is correct.
9/1/2024 • 4 minutes, 37 seconds
TWTS: The case of "pleaded" v. "pled"
It's all so grammatically straight forward in the present tense if you plead innocent. Later on though, should you tell people you "pleaded" innocent or "pled" innocent?
8/25/2024 • 4 minutes, 4 seconds
TWTS: Goods in the can may not always be "canned"
The sign at the grocery store said “can goods,” not “canned goods.”
8/18/2024 • 5 minutes, 20 seconds
TWTS: Keeping track of “track” and “tract"
We keep track of things, we lose track of things, we run track, and listen to tracks. Sometimes though, we confuse “track” with “tract.”
8/11/2024 • 5 minutes
TWTS: The “all” in “alls” is just another tough one to call
Alls our listener wanted to know is what's going on with the “alls” in “alls I know.”
8/4/2024 • 5 minutes, 6 seconds
TWTS: Are you really a Realtor?
Technically, not everyone you buy real estate from is a realtor.
7/28/2024 • 5 minutes, 14 seconds
TWTS: The day sped by when time speeded up
The summer sped by and the car sped off, but perhaps we speeded up the process.
7/21/2024 • 5 minutes, 19 seconds
TWTS: Bare, bald, and boldfaced lies
A bare-faced lie may also be bald. Sometimes, it may even be bold.
7/16/2024 • 4 minutes, 42 seconds
TWTS: When "thank you" is your only option
It doesn't seem like coming up with a response to "thank you" should be that complicated. When you think about it though, there are a lot of options.
7/7/2024 • 4 minutes, 6 seconds
TWTS: When it comes to "lie" and "lay," even English professors get confused
Even for speakers who feel solid about the distinction between "lie" and "lay," they may lose that distinction when "low" is added to the mix.
6/16/2024 • 5 minutes, 17 seconds
TWTS: We're not done talking about "alright," all right?
All right, last week, we got distracted by the versatility of "all right." This week, we look at why spelling it as one word, "alright," makes some people really mad.
6/11/2024 • 5 minutes, 20 seconds
TWTS: "Alright" is not just all right with everyone
All right, all right. It's time for us to start talking about whether "alright" is all right.
6/3/2024 • 4 minutes, 43 seconds
TWTS: Await for it, or just await
Wait, wait, don't tell me I can't wait on things.
5/27/2024 • 4 minutes, 43 seconds
TWTS: How worms of destruction begat worms of wisdom
While now we may think of being a bookworm as a positive trait, that hasn't always been the case.
5/20/2024 • 4 minutes, 50 seconds
TWTS: It "ghosts" without saying ... well, anything
Social media has made a couple of longstanding English verbs work or mean differently.
5/13/2024 • 4 minutes, 54 seconds
TWTS: You can pay homage with or without the "h"
If you want to pronounce "homage" to a tee, it may depend what you mean.
4/29/2024 • 4 minutes, 57 seconds
TWTS: Learning new slang is good "for the plot"
As we live our lives, there's some new slang words that can help us narrate it as we go. That is, if we're in a demographic that allows us to use slang credibly.
4/21/2024 • 5 minutes, 10 seconds
TWTS: Whether "or not" belongs in "whether or not" or not
We don’t all agree on whether or not we should correct the phrasing "whether or not."
4/14/2024 • 5 minutes, 7 seconds
TWTS: Going forth and back on "back and forth"
We can talk about sending emails back and forth. But why does it sound odd to talk about sending them forth and back?
4/7/2024 • 4 minutes, 10 seconds
TWTS: You can tuna fish, but you may not need the "fish"
Given that “tuna” is a fish, some may find it unnecessary to call out that fact out in the compound “tuna fish.” For others, “fish” may be an important distinction.
4/1/2024 • 4 minutes, 52 seconds
TWTS: Prone to be prone
You can be prone to do something, whether you're lying down or not.
3/24/2024 • 5 minutes, 14 seconds
TWTS: Attend as many "trainings" as you like
There’s evidence of a new peeve arising. This one is focused on “training” as a countable noun.
3/18/2024 • 5 minutes, 17 seconds
TWTS: An oft overlooked double possessive
Lots of people don't like the redundancy in "irregardless." However, no one's fussy about the redundancy in a phrase like "a friend of mine."
3/10/2024 • 4 minutes, 33 seconds
TWTS: An ouster for the ouster
An ouster can be an act of ousting, or it can be the one who does the ousting. But we seem to have opted for one of those meanings over the other.
3/3/2024 • 5 minutes, 13 seconds
TWTS: Need something? Manifest it
At this point, we can manifest our dream future, a good grade on a exam, or even a parking spot.
2/25/2024 • 4 minutes, 54 seconds
TWTS: "Curry favor" comes from a horse (of course, of course)
Currying favor has everything to do with flattery and horses, and nothing to do with food.
2/18/2024 • 4 minutes, 48 seconds
TWTS: Known liars better hope their pants never literally catch fire
There’s a children’s rhyme that involves liars and pants on fire and various types of wires. Now, we can say things are “pants on fire” false.
2/11/2024 • 4 minutes, 45 seconds
TWTS: If or whether you should use "if" or "whether"
If you worry about if or whether you should use "if" or "whether" in exactly this construction, you're not alone.
2/4/2024 • 4 minutes, 52 seconds
TWTS: Intensifiers are so intense
It's been really dreary and so icy outside lately. It's awfully tempting to wear super cozy clothes and use lots of intensifiers.
1/28/2024 • 5 minutes, 1 second
TWTS: Badgered badgers badger
Badgers live underground and are nocturnal, so we don't see them running around all that often. Somehow though, they're associated with a negative, annoying verb.
1/21/2024 • 5 minutes, 6 seconds
TWTS: The American Dialect Society's 2023 Word of the Year
The year 2023 is officially in the record books. As part of taking stock, the members of the American Dialect Society met to consider what we've all been up to linguistically.
1/14/2024 • 5 minutes, 7 seconds
TWTS: A rule about which we should be asking questions
Many of us were taught the rule that we shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition, and honestly this is a rule we should be asking questions about.
1/7/2024 • 5 minutes, 21 seconds
TWTS: Tupperware containers are plastic, but are plastic containers Tupperware?
It's undeniable that "Tupperware" has become a generic catch-all for plastic containers, regardless of shape, size, or brand. Not everyone likes this.
12/24/2023 • 4 minutes, 35 seconds
TWTS: How many things can you batten?
When you stop to think about a verb like "batten," you may be struck by just how few objects it can take.
12/17/2023 • 5 minutes, 4 seconds
TWTS: Chances and 'stances are both happening
Sometimes something you think is a slip or a mistake, perhaps a product of happenstance, is not that.
12/10/2023 • 5 minutes, 5 seconds
TWTS: Thin as a something
Rails are thin, and so are rakes and pencils and many other things.
12/3/2023 • 4 minutes, 53 seconds
TWTS: When you witness a murder ... of crows
While talking about sheep as a flock may sound unremarkable, a murder of crows sounds much more playful.
11/25/2023 • 5 minutes, 14 seconds
TWTS: Gross misuse of "gross" could have gross consequences
Gross food is disgusting, but a gross error may not be. And our gross income is something else entirely.
11/19/2023 • 5 minutes, 5 seconds
TWTS: Down in a pothole
Very few of us are enamored with, of, or by potholes. If you’re among the aforementioned few, we’d like a word.
11/12/2023 • 5 minutes, 6 seconds
TWTS: Are all pronunciations created equal?
There’s all the variation in pronunciation that we don’t judge, and then there’s the relatively small percentage of variation out there that we do judge.
11/5/2023 • 5 minutes, 5 seconds
TWTS: Whether it's luggage or baggage, it all gets lugged
We physically lug around luggage and baggage at the airport. Metaphorically though, we’re carrying around baggage.
10/29/2023 • 4 minutes, 50 seconds
TWTS: The wide world of "wordies"
Wordies are the skilled birdwatchers of language.
10/22/2023 • 4 minutes, 52 seconds
TWTS: A "near miss" always misses
A near miss doesn’t hit anything, as opposed to a near miss hitting something but almost or nearly missing it.
10/15/2023 • 5 minutes, 6 seconds
TWTS: Sometimes "meantime" just wants to be alone
"In the meantime" is a good phrase to use when you're talking about the time between two events. But can you leave out "in the" and just say "meantime?"
10/8/2023 • 5 minutes
TWTS: The cow goes ... boo?
When an English-speaking U.S. or British audience is unhappy, they will often express their unhappiness by yelling “boo” as opposed to, for instance, “moo.”
10/1/2023 • 5 minutes, 4 seconds
TWTS: It's both football season and football season
Depending where you live, the thought of football season might conjure images of shin guards and knee socks or helmets and shoulder pads.
9/24/2023 • 5 minutes, 25 seconds
TWTS: In tennis, "love" won't let you win, but "let" might
If you’ve been watching the U.S. Open tennis tournament during the last couple of weeks, you’ve probably been hearing a lot of “love” and “let.” But where did those terms come from?
9/10/2023 • 5 minutes
TWTS: It's not unusual to be nonplussed over the meaning of "nonplussed"
"Nonplussed" is one of those words that historically doesn't have a particularly complicated meaning, but it's one that people frequently misuse.
9/4/2023 • 4 minutes, 48 seconds
TWTS: An inquiry into "inquire" and "enquire"
When we inquire about something, one could argue that it doesn't really matter if we inquire with an "i" or enquire with an "e."
8/27/2023 • 4 minutes, 41 seconds
TWTS: Much ado about "ado"
The phrase “without further ado” has itself been unable to escape ado. In other words, there’s been some to-do about it.
8/20/2023 • 4 minutes, 54 seconds
TWTS: Your verbiage might be your best quality, unless its your worst
If you mention my verbiage, it’s no longer clear if I should be insulted.
8/14/2023 • 4 minutes, 45 seconds
TWTS: An extra maître d' serves up a spelling question
If you have more than one head waiter at a restaurant, you run into a funny spelling question in English.
8/6/2023 • 4 minutes, 1 second
TWTS: How clean is a whistle, really?
Coaches, referees and gym teachers are probably better authorities than we are, but we've got a feeling that whistles probably aren't very clean.
7/30/2023 • 4 minutes, 16 seconds
TWTS: Don't blow off "off"
“Off” isn’t just an insect repellant. It’s a versatile word that might not look like much, but it’s amazing how many different ways we use it.
7/23/2023 • 4 minutes, 45 seconds
TWTS: Comparatives need gooder usage rules
There’s a reason it sounds odd if we say it just got beautifuller and beautifuller.
7/16/2023 • 5 minutes, 10 seconds
TWTS: Broadcasting doubt about "broadcasted"
Today we broadcast the news. Tomorrow we will broadcast the news. And yesterday? We broadcast the news.
7/9/2023 • 4 minutes, 31 seconds
TWTS: Both may come from a hare, but it's still "hide nor hair"
There's the hair on on our heads and the hares we see hopping around our yards. There's been some confusion over which of these is the "hare" in "harebrained."
7/2/2023 • 4 minutes, 57 seconds
TWTS: Dictionaries are defined by their editors
Often we will refer to looking something up in "the dictionary." That suggests that it doesn’t really matter which dictionary we use, and that's just not true.
6/25/2023 • 5 minutes, 17 seconds
TWTS: We hereby sanction you to use "sanction" as you see fit
If we sanction things with no other context, it’s not clear whether these things will be allowed or whether they will be penalized.
6/11/2023 • 5 minutes, 36 seconds
TWTS: What's the "hap" in "haphazard"?
Some speakers have come to understand "haphazard" as "half-hazard," because who knows what a "hap" is.
6/4/2023 • 4 minutes, 14 seconds
TWTS: Think hard before pointing out language quirks
There are so many interesting bits of language in the world, we can’t help but notice. The question is, when you notice someone saying something interesting, should you point it out?
5/28/2023 • 5 minutes, 8 seconds
TWTS: Lend your ears before you loan your money
We can lend things and we can loan things, but when it comes to ears, it's about lending.
5/21/2023 • 4 minutes, 55 seconds
TWTS: An origin story that's just "OK"
There are a lot of rumors out there about the origins of the word "okay." We decided it was time to set things straight.
5/14/2023 • 4 minutes, 7 seconds
TWTS: When deadlines were deadly
Anyone who’s used to working under a deadline knows it can be stressful. At least today’s deadlines don’t usually involve actual death – that wasn’t always the case.
5/7/2023 • 4 minutes, 17 seconds
TWTS: If you drive a lorry, take the road less “travelled," not "traveled"
If you’re on the road less traveled, how many Ls are in the word traveled will depend on whether you’re in the U.S. or, say, the U.K.
4/30/2023 • 5 minutes, 8 seconds
TWTS: "Ahold" really has a hold on some of us
If you have “ahold” of something, some people wonder if “ahold” is one word or two words. Other people ask if it’s a word at all.
4/23/2023 • 4 minutes, 41 seconds
TWTS: Unless we’re talking hair, style gets cramped, not crimped
"Crimp" is a verb, and it can refer to interfering. Historically though, it's been "cramping" not "crimping" when we say, “Don’t cramp my style!”
4/9/2023 • 5 minutes, 8 seconds
TWTS: Give our regards to "regard," even if it's plural
In regard to the use of “in regards to,” there has been some serious criticism, even though many people say it and write it.
3/19/2023 • 5 minutes, 26 seconds
TWTS: When breakfast broaches a brand new language question
If we talk about a brand-new brand, both of those brands go back to fire.
3/12/2023 • 5 minutes, 24 seconds
TWTS: When your ancestors are the descendants of your ancestors
When you have a language podcast, you come across a lot of usages that make you think, “I would never say that.” A little research and a few contextual examples later, you might just change your mind.
3/5/2023 • 5 minutes, 19 seconds
TWTS: "Primer" is pronounced "primer," unless you prefer "primer"
When we’re talking about a small book for teaching children to read, or really any short book that introduces a topic, there are two competing pronunciations of the word for that book.
2/26/2023 • 5 minutes, 25 seconds
TWTS: Collective nouns collectively confuse
One jury is made up of multiple people, so when we talk about a jury, we could have the verb agree with the singularity of the noun’s grammar or the plurality of the noun’s meaning.
2/19/2023 • 4 minutes, 57 seconds
TWTS: Hunting for grounds once haunted
The places one haunts are often not haunted, if "haunted" means there are ghosts or spirits there.
1/29/2023 • 5 minutes, 3 seconds
TWTS: Search up your questions online or just ask a linguist
In the age of the internet, if you don’t know the answer to something, you can just search it up online — even if your question is about the verb “search up.”
1/22/2023 • 5 minutes, 25 seconds
TWTS: "Proven" and "proved" are both approved
If you prove something to be true, then it’s proven. Or is it proved?
1/15/2023 • 5 minutes, 9 seconds
TWTS: Confusing “wont” with “want” is a wont nobody wants
As language nerds are wont to do, they get curious about words like “wont” and its relationship with “want.”
1/8/2023 • 5 minutes, 15 seconds
TWTS: At the epicenter of it all
Geologically speaking, epicenters are dangerous places to be. They’ve also raised some usage questions which are probably less dangerous, though it may depend on who you ask.
12/18/2022 • 4 minutes, 58 seconds
TWTS: Feeling overwhelmed? "Whelmed" can totally relate
Given that we can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed, it's completely reasonable to ask what it means to just be whelmed.
12/4/2022 • 5 minutes, 18 seconds
TWTS: Not once, not twice, but thrice
In the Commodores’ song “Three Times a Lady," it’s hard to imagine the lyrics being “once, twice, thrice a lady” rather than “once, twice, three times a lady.”
11/20/2022 • 5 minutes, 17 seconds
TWTS: Don't feel pressured to stop (or start) saying "pressurize"
When we fly, we’re in a pressurized cabin. When we’re trying to get someone to do something, some of us may pressurize them.
11/13/2022 • 5 minutes, 46 seconds
TWTS: Abracadabra, this magic trick is now a language question
When a magician performs the classic trick of sawing their assistant in half, what happens to the person inside the box? Were they "sawed" in half, or were they "sawn" in half?
10/30/2022 • 5 minutes, 31 seconds
TWTS: Don't let your mistakes turn into silent letters
English spellings such as “knight” and “gnat” capture earlier pronunciations of these words. The same cannot be said of the peculiar assemblage of letters in “island.”
10/23/2022 • 5 minutes, 5 seconds
TWTS: The reason this bugs people is because it’s redundant
Some of us learned that “the reason” and “because” shouldn’t be used in the same sentence. The reason this bothers some people is because it's redundant.
10/16/2022 • 5 minutes, 23 seconds
TWTS: A well-placed hyphen disambiguates when placed well
For anyone who's hoping for one exceptionless rule about when to use a hyphen, we're afraid you’re going to be disappointed.
10/9/2022 • 5 minutes, 26 seconds
TWTS: Sometimes all it takes is a carrot, except when it also takes a stick
Some things go together like peas and carrots. Others go together like carrots and sticks, which could mean a lot of different things, depending on how you use this phrase.
9/25/2022 • 5 minutes, 3 seconds
TWTS: Ambiguity notwithstanding, some still like to use "notwithstanding"
Possible objections notwithstanding, the Canadian Justice Department has recommended that "notwithstanding" be replaced in legal writing. But why? The answer takes us deep into some pretty nerdy weeds.
