Claim OwnershipThat's What They Say
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That's What They Say is a weekly segment on Michigan Public that explores our changing language. Each week University of Michigan English Professor Anne Curzan will discuss why we say what we say with Michigan Public Weekend Edition host Rebecca Kruth.
57 Episodes
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Of all the topics we could cover this week on That's What They Say, we chose these ones over those ones.
A sea change can now be caused by many things other than the sea, and some of its dramatic effects have been lost in the process.
We're going to try not to touch the third rail, but we are going to talk about it.
Major League Baseball playoffs and football tailgate season both mean the smell of hot dogs is in the air.
We don't encounter petards very often anymore. That’s unless we’re being, metaphorically speaking, “hoisted with our own petard.”
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."
There’s the “yea” in voting “yea” or “nay," and then there’s the celebratory “Yay!" Oh yeah, there's also "yeah."
Whoa, whoa, whoa. There are a lot of ways to spell "whoa."
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.
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?
The sign at the grocery store said “can goods,” not “canned goods.”
We keep track of things, we lose track of things, we run track, and listen to tracks. Sometimes though, we confuse “track” with “tract.”
Alls our listener wanted to know is what's going on with the “alls” in “alls I know.”
Technically, not everyone you buy real estate from is a realtor.
The summer sped by and the car sped off, but perhaps we speeded up the process.
A bare-faced lie may also be bald. Sometimes, it may even be bold.
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.
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.
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.
All right, all right. It's time for us to start talking about whether "alright" is all right.
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