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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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. -
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.
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Surface roads can be highways, but they don't have to be. Surface roads can also be surfaced, but again, they don't have to be.
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Our fellow word nerds at Merriam Webster are watching the phrase "the Streisand effect." At least one of our listeners is watching it too, and alerted us to the verb "to Streisand."
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Confronted with a long chair on which one longues, some American English speakers call it a "chaise longue" and some call it a "chaise lounge."
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Knowing the different conversational meanings of a phrase like "I'm busy" is an important part of knowing how to use a language.
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When people watch or study something intently, there certainly is an intensity to that. We wouldn't call these words interchangeable though.
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At some point you probably learned that words like "wife" and "life" are spelled with a "v" instead of "f" in plural form. Easy enough, until you found out plenty of other words, like "roof" and "sheriff," don't follow this rule.
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There are upshots and upsides, and there can be upsides to upshots. For some speakers, upshots can even be upsides.
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Frequent listeners of That's What We Say know how we much we love to talk about the constant phenomenon of words changing in meaning and use. This week we tackle three examples, including a question about the past participle of "chide."
