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PODCAST

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers.

QuickAndDirtyTips.com

Five-time winner of Best Education Podcast in the Podcast Awards. Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing and feed your love of the English language. Whether English is your first language or your second language, these grammar, punctuation, style, and business tips will make you a better and more successful writer. Grammar Girl is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

education

All Episodes

00:23:08

Writing for ‘civic clarity’ (plus, the power of short...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2026/02/12

1159. This week, we look at "civic clarity" with writing instructor Roy Peter Clark in a newly edited version of our 2020 conversation. We look at the ethical code of clear communication and why "civic clarity" is more important now than ever. We also discuss the strategy of "writing short" for social media and how to navigate the difficult process of cutting a draft to find your focus.Poynter InstituteRoy Peter Clark's Facebook🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.🔗 Share your familect recording in

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00:13:27

How bored tourists invented an Olympic sport....

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2026/02/10

1158. This week, we go full Winter Olympics, tracing the origin of "ski," "luge," "toboggan," and more. Then, we look at why we say "Celsius" instead of "centigrade."🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.🔗 Take our advertising survey. 🔗 Get the edited transcript.🔗 Get Grammar Girl books. | HOST: Mignon Fogarty| Grammar Girl

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00:23:27

Why AI loves em dashes, with Sean Goedecke

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2026/02/05

1157. This week, we look at AI em dashes with Sean Goedecke, software engineer for GitHub. We talk about why artificial intelligence models frequently use em dashes and words like "delve," and how training on public domain books from the late 1800s may have influenced these patterns. We also look at the role of human feedback in shaping "AI style."www.SeanGoedecke.com🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL

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00:14:33

Why 'forte' has three pronunciations. What is...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2026/02/03

1156. This week, we look at the pronunciation chaos surrounding "forte" and "pianoforte," from the French fencing term meaning "strong point" to the Italian musical direction meaning "loud." Then, we look at "playing the dozens" — the African American insult game with a mysterious origin.🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.🔗 Subscribe to

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00:13:19

How can there be hundreds of words for snow? with Dr....

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2026/01/29

1155. This week, we look at whether it’s actually true that Inuit languages have hundreds of words for snow with Dr. Charles Kemp. We look at how researchers used a database of 18 million volumes to find out how our environment shapes our vocabulary using the Nida-Conklin principle. We also look at a surprising finding about words for rain being abundant in non-rainy regions.CharlesKemp.com🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at

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00:16:39

Scarecrows and other 'cutthroat' compounds. Reading...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2026/01/27

1154. This week, we look at "headless" nouns like "scarecrow," "pickpocket," and "breakfast." We look at why these "cutthroat compounds" break the normal rules of English grammar. Then, we look at the science of reading versus listening, including how our brains process text differently from audio and why multitasking can affect your comprehension.🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)🔗 Watch

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00:45:19

Scrabble strategy and tournament culture, with John Chew

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2026/01/22

1153. This week, we look at the high-stakes world of Scrabble tournaments with John Chew, head of the North American Scrabble Players Association. We look at the strict etiquette of the tile bag, why professional players count tiles, and how the official word list is managed for competitive play.NASPA website🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.🔗 Subscribe

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00:13:20

What is a baker’s dozen? Making O-words plural. Wrong...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2026/01/20

1152. This week, we look at what a baker's dozen is and why it's actually 13. We also look at other "dozen" phrases, like "devil's dozen" and "banker's dozen." Finally, we tackle the inconsistency of making words that end in O plural, from "tomatoes" to "rodeos."🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)🔗 Join Grammarpalooza at Patreon.🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.🔗 Take our advertising

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00:33:50

Building the Online Etymology Dictionary, with Doug...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2026/01/15

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 etymologies" designed as jokes.Etymonline.comVisit our YouTube channel to see the video version of this episode. 🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)🔗 Watch

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00:15:06

Using ‘impact’ as a verb. ‘Sympathy’ versus...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2026/01/13

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 One Month Free of the Grammar Girl Patreon (different links for different levels)Order of the Snail ($1/month level): https://www.patreon.com/grammargirl/redeem/687E4Order of the Aardvark ($5/month

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00:32:21

Rare books, burned letters, and Johnson’s dictionary,...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2026/01/08

1149. This week, we look at the life and legacy of Samuel Johnson, the man behind the 1755 Dictionary of the English Language. We talk with John Overholt, curator at Harvard’s Houghton Library, about Johnson's eclectic career. We also look at what it’s like to manage a collection of 4,000 rare books and why even the most "unremarkable" items deserve a home in a library.Find John Overholt on Mastodon.Houghton Library's websiteLinks to Get One Month Free of the Grammar Girl Patreon (different links

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00:14:49

Penny idioms that are still legal tender. The...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2026/01/06

1148. This week, we look at penny idioms that are still "legal tender" in our language even as the U.S. penny is retired. We look at the history of phrases like "a bad penny" and "penny wise and pound foolish." Then, we look at the linguistic history of procrastination, explaining how human nature changed words like "soon," "anon," and "presently" from meaning "at once" to "in a little while."The penny segment was written by Karen Lunde, a longtime writer and editor turned web designer and marketing

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00:26:13

The Goth letters: why the alphabet goes off the rails...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2026/01/01

1147. In this bonus segment that originally ran in October, we look at the fascinating history of the "new letters" of the alphabet — V, W, X, Y, and Z. Danny Bate explains why T was the original end of the alphabet and how letters were added by the Greeks and Romans. We also look at the origin of the letter Y, which was originally a vowel, and the two historical reasons we call the final letter “zee” or “zed.”Find Danny Bate on his website, Bluesky or on X. Get the book, "Why Q Needs U."Listen to

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00:15:38

War of the dots. Why we say 'pitch black.' Pitch hot.

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2025/12/30

1146. This week, we look at the history of Braille, from the tragic accident that inspired Louis Braille's six-dot system to the "War of the Dots"—a decades-long conflict over competing reading standards in the U.S. Then, we look at the origin of the phrase "pitch black," revealing how the intensifier "pitch" refers to an ancient, dark wood tar and how the word traces its roots back to Old English.The braille segment was written by Karen Lunde, a longtime writer and editor turned web designer and

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00:30:31

How a long-lost yearbook revealed the origin of...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2025/12/25

1145. In this bonus segment from October, I talk with Ben Zimmer about "hella" and how even yearbook messages can be digitized to help preserve the language record. Ben shares the full story of this slang term, and we also talk about the detective work that led to the OED using Run DMC's use of "drop" in “Spin Magazine” as a citation.Ben Zimmer's website: Benzimmer.comBen Zimmer's social media: Bluesky. Facebook. Links to Get One Month Free of the Grammar Girl Patreon (different links for different

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00:17:37

The origin of X in algebra. Why we say ‘how come’ for...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2025/12/23

1144. This week, we look at the origin of the letter X as the variable for the unknown in algebra. Then, we look at the phrase "how come," explaining why it's more informal than "why" and how its grammar subtly differs from other question words.That X segment was written by Peter Schumer, Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Middlebury College, and it originally appeared on The Conversation and appears here through a Creative Commons license.Links to Get One Month Free of the Grammar

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00:24:00

2025 Words of the Year, with Jess Zafarris and Danny...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2025/12/18

1143. This week, we look at the 2025 words of the year with Jess Zafarris and Danny Hieber. We look at viral slang like "six seven" and cultural terms like "rage bait" and "fatigued." We also look at the dramatic rise of "slop" to describe low-quality AI content and how words like "parasocial" are changing function.Find Jess Zafarris at UselessEtymology.com, or find her podcast Words Unravelled on YouTube.Find Danny Hieber at LingusiticDiscovery.com or on his Substack.Links to Get One Month Free of

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00:15:24

'Pride and prejudice' before Jane Austen. Was Parson...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2025/12/16

1142. This week, we look at the history of the phrase "pride and prejudice," which was used frequently before Jane Austen’s 1813 novel. Then, we look at whether Parson Brown from “Winter Wonderland” was a real person, and why his name is sometimes replaced with a “circus clown.” Links to Get One Month Free of the Grammar Girl Patreon (different links for different levels)Order of the Snail ($1/month level): https://www.patreon.com/grammargirl/redeem/687E4Order of the Aardvark ($5/month

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00:25:27

The 'sheeple' incident, with Stefan Fatsis

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2025/12/11

1141. We look at the controversy that caught Stefan Fatsis by surprise when he defined the word "sheeple" for Merriam-Webster, leading to public complaints. We also look at the origin and purpose of the obscure "Backward Index" invented by Webster's Third editor Philip Gove and how quickly Merriam added COVID-related words to the dictionary.Find Stefan Fatsis on his website, Bluesky or Facebook. Get the book, Unabridged.🔗 Share your familect recording via Speakpipe or by calling

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00:14:04

The rise of the 'hamster wheel.' The many names of...

Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers. ·

2025/12/09

1140. This week, we look at the difference between the modern phrase "hamster wheel" and the older "rat race," and why the former gained popularity. We also look at the similar concept of the hedonic treadmill. Then, we look at the many names for Santa Claus, including the Dutch "Sinter Klaas" and the German "Christkindlein."The Santa Claus segment originally appeared on The Conversation and was written by Valerie Fridland, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno and the

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