Word Matters
By Merriam-Webster, New England Public Media
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Subscribers: 271
Reviews: 2
Episodes: 105
newenergy
Sep 2, 2025
Peter
Apr 1, 2021
Description
Word Matters is a show for readers, writers, and anyone who's curious about the English language. Join Merriam-Webster editors as they challenge supposed grammar rules, reveal the surprising origins behind words, tackle common questions, and generally geek out about the beautiful nightmare that is our language.
| Episode | Date |
|---|---|
|
An Interview with John Morse, Part 3
|
Jul 15, 2025 |
|
An Interview with John Morse, Part 2
|
Jul 11, 2025 |
|
An Interview with John Morse, Part 1
|
Jul 10, 2025 |
|
Episode 100: How did we get here?
|
Aug 03, 2022 |
|
Do we repeat ourselves? Very well then, we repeat ourselves.
|
Jul 27, 2022 |
|
Hackneyed Phrases, Both Old and New
|
Jul 20, 2022 |
|
Tips for Frenchifying Your French
|
Jul 13, 2022 |
|
Eggcorns, Mondegreens, and Spoonerisms—Oh My!
|
Jul 06, 2022 |
|
Traveling Words: Luggage, Baggage, and the Recombobulation Station
|
Jun 29, 2022 |
|
Skunked Words
|
Jun 22, 2022 |
|
When Dictionaries Drop Words
|
Jun 15, 2022 |
|
Wordle Does Not Make Us Nauseous
|
Jun 08, 2022 |
|
The Invention of the Modern Dictionary
|
Jun 01, 2022 |
|
An Interview with Jacques Bailly, Official Pronouncer for Scripps National Spelling Bee
|
May 25, 2022 |
|
Nashe's 8 Types of Drunkards Includes No Octopi
|
May 18, 2022 |
|
Will 'ect.' become an acceptable spelling of 'etc.'? And if it does, will that be unexplainable or merely inexplicable?
|
May 11, 2022 |
|
Corrections, Clarifications, and Grave Transgressions
|
May 04, 2022 |
|
Uncommon Opposites
|
Apr 27, 2022 |
|
George Orwell's 'Politics and the English Language'
|
Apr 20, 2022 |
|
Linguistic Double Dipping
|
Apr 13, 2022 |
|
All About Abbreviations
|
Apr 06, 2022 |
|
The History of 'Whistleblower'
|
Mar 30, 2022 |
|
What does it mean to be 'at large'?
|
Mar 23, 2022 |
|
Dictionary Arcana
|
Mar 16, 2022 |
|
A Pair of Suffixes and The History of 'Ditto'
|
Mar 09, 2022 |
|
On Secretly Gendered Language
|
Mar 02, 2022 |
|
How to Order Adjectives
|
Feb 23, 2022 |
|
When Nouns Act Like Adjectives
|
Feb 16, 2022 |
|
Dipping Into the Mailbag: 'Yeet,' 'Typeface' vs. 'Font,' and 'Lo and Behold'
|
Feb 09, 2022 |
|
The History of the English Language (The Podcast)
|
Feb 02, 2022 |
|
Words That Began as Metaphors
|
Jan 26, 2022 |
|
Inside Our Citation Files
|
Jan 19, 2022 |
|
Getting Philosophical About the Dictionary
|
Jan 12, 2022 |
|
The Newest Words in the Dictionary
|
Jan 05, 2022 |
|
The Year in Words 2021
|
Dec 15, 2021 |
|
Our Word of the Year 2021
|
Dec 08, 2021 |
|
Researching Slang (with Ben Zimmer)
|
Dec 01, 2021 |
|
Why Is There No 'N' in 'Restaurateur'?
|
Nov 24, 2021 |
|
'Decimate': Use It However You Want
|
Nov 17, 2021 |
|
What It Means to 'Call an Audible'
|
Nov 10, 2021 |
|
'Sneaked' vs. 'Snuck'
|
Nov 03, 2021 |
|
The Etymology of Insults
|
Oct 27, 2021 |
|
How Words Are Dropped from the Dictionary
|
Oct 20, 2021 |
|
Words Named After Real People
|
Oct 13, 2021 |
|
Taking an Ax—or Axe?—to the 'Podium' vs. 'Lectern' Debate
|
Oct 06, 2021 |
|
What's a folk etymology?
|
Sep 29, 2021 |
|
'Possum' or 'Opossum'?
|
Sep 22, 2021 |
|
How We Approach Compound Words
|
Sep 15, 2021 |
|
How Language Evolves (with Grammar Girl)
|
Sep 08, 2021 |
|
The Brothers Merriam: An Introduction
|
Aug 18, 2021 |
|
Who was this Webster guy, anyway?
|
Aug 11, 2021 |
|
All About Subject-Verb Agreement
|
Aug 04, 2021 |
|
The Invention of 'Introvert' (with Science Diction)
|
Jul 28, 2021 |
|
The Political 'Dog Whistle': Loud and Clear
|
Jul 21, 2021 |
|
Is 'vice versa' changing? & More Listener Questions
|
Jul 14, 2021 |
|
The Story of a Trending Word
|
Jul 07, 2021 |
|
A Totally Original History of 'Stereotype'
|
Jun 30, 2021 |
|
Is it 'pled' or 'pleaded'?
|
Jun 23, 2021 |
|
What is a word's 'first known use'?
|
Jun 16, 2021 |
|
Different Words for the Same Thing
|
Jun 09, 2021 |
|
The Words We Mispronounce
|
Jun 02, 2021 |
|
The Language of Spy and Detective Stories
|
May 26, 2021 |
|
Is it 'further' or 'farther'?
|
May 19, 2021 |
|
40. A 'Wicked' Good Episode
|
May 12, 2021 |
|
39. A Lexical History of 'Jazz'
|
May 05, 2021 |
|
38. What Is a Learner's Dictionary?
|
Apr 28, 2021 |
|
37. Can You End a Sentence with a Preposition?
|
Apr 21, 2021 |
|
36. On Jane Austen's Use of 'Condescension'
|
Apr 14, 2021 |
|
35. 'Fewer' vs. 'Less'
|
Apr 07, 2021 |
|
34. What Is a 'Retronym'?
|
Mar 31, 2021 |
|
33. Tracing the Origins of Famous Phrases
|
Mar 24, 2021 |
|
32. The Story of the Backward Index
|
Mar 17, 2021 |
|
31. Why Is It Called an 'Adam's Apple'?
|
Mar 10, 2021 |
|
30. How We Wrote Our Bilingual Dictionaries
|
Mar 03, 2021 |
|
29. There Is No Such Thing as "The Dictionary"
|
Feb 24, 2021 |
|
28. The Onomatopoeia Episode
|
Feb 17, 2021 |
|
27. What's the Longest Word in the Dictionary?
|
Feb 10, 2021 |
|
How do you pronounce 'often'?
|
Feb 03, 2021 |
|
25. New Words in the Dictionary
|
Jan 27, 2021 |
|
24. Questions from You
|
Jan 20, 2021 |
|
23. How the Ladybug Got Its Name
|
Jan 13, 2021 |
|
22. Words That Are Their Own Opposites
|
Jan 06, 2021 |
|
A Holiday Greeting
|
Dec 23, 2020 |
|
21. Oops: Words Born Out of Mistakes
|
Dec 16, 2020 |
|
20. Is it a '180' or a '360'?
|
Dec 09, 2020 |
|
19. The Word of the Year 2020
|
Nov 30, 2020 |
|
18. Is 'try and' a proper use? Plus More Listener Questions
|
Nov 25, 2020 |
|
17. How to Read a Dictionary Entry
|
Nov 18, 2020 |
|
16. 'Contact' and 'Impact': Acceptable verbs?
|
Nov 11, 2020 |
|
15. Why are American and British English different?
|
Nov 04, 2020 |
|
14. Everything Is 'Awesome.' Or is it?
|
Oct 28, 2020 |
|
13. What's up with 'biweekly'? And Other Listener Questions
|
Oct 21, 2020 |
|
12. A Collection of Obscure Words for People Who Annoy You
|
Oct 14, 2020 |
|
11. Can something be 'very unique'?
|
Oct 07, 2020 |
|
How *Not* to Start a Sentence
|
Sep 30, 2020 |
|
9. In Defense of 'Like'
|
Sep 23, 2020 |
|
8. A Collection of Obscure Words That Are Pretty Much Useless
|
Sep 16, 2020 |
|
7. 'Matriculate': A Word on the Move
|
Sep 09, 2020 |
|
6. Sorry, But Shakespeare Didn't Create That Word
|
Sep 02, 2020 |
|
'Scofflaw' and Inventing Words for Money
|
Aug 26, 2020 |
|
How do you even pronounce 'antennae' anyway?
|
Aug 19, 2020 |
|
A Collection of Obscure Words That You Might Find Useful
|
Aug 14, 2020 |
|
Ice Tea and Semantic Drift
|
Aug 13, 2020 |
|
'Irregardless': You Don't Have to Like It
|
Aug 12, 2020 |
|
Introducing Word Matters
|
Aug 04, 2020 |