That's What They Say
Sunday at 9:35 AM
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.
Latest Episodes
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It can be a panic-inducing moment when you're asked to say out loud a word that you have primarily or perhaps only encountered in writing—and you’re not sure how to say it. -
It might seem like a fortuitous coincidence is always a good thing, but for some usage commentators, it is at best redundant and at worst misuse.
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A living language like English is changing all the time. Sometimes those changes go unnoticed. Sometimes people react, strongly.
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If you’re within your car, you’re inside it. If you’re without your car, did you leave your car at home or are you standing outside it?
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Expressions like “house and home” and “betwixt and between” are clearly redundant. Don’t cancel them quite yet though -- redundancy isn’t a deal breaker.
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While "passing the mustard" is about handing over the Dijon or spicy brown, "cutting the mustard" is the phrase that means to meet expectations, similar to "passing muster."
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Standard dictionaries have yet to catch up with us as we differentiate "fantastic" and "fantastical."
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A hyphen can mean the difference between resigning from a job or re-signing a contract to keep that job. But style guides don't always agree on which words should get one.
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Do we really need both "infeasible" and "unfeasible?" It's feasible to argue that we don't.
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If you have one staff, as in a stick, and then you add another staff, you now run into the question of whether you have two staffs or two staves.At least,…
