Our very first episode, answering real language questions from real listeners! And boy do we live up to our no-research policy. (What is the truth about bubblers? TEACH THE CONTROVERSY!)

Jump right to:

• 00:43 Thing of the Day: Ambiguity (...or is it?)


• 04:28 In the English word ⟨scent⟩, is the ⟨s⟩ or the ⟨c⟩ silent?


• 11:50 Has our study of linguistics caused us to consciously change how we talk?


• 25:48 How should you pluralize superhero names?


• 34:37 Can "informal" mean "giving information to the reader" along with "not formal"?


• 39:30 The Puzzler: Can you find a word that has three double letters in a row?

Covered in this episode:

• Fun with affixes!


• English “soft c” spelling rules


• Awkward teenage spelling reform phases


• A hot take not taken


• Obligatory (incorrect) citation of the Martha’s Vineyard accent study


• How to tell if you should study linguistics


• Obligatory mention of “bubbler”


• Why is “bubbler” localised SO SPECIFICALLY?


• Everyone needs to see Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse


• Hot takes on Spider-Men, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Attorney General


• In-laws and Sinlaws


• Obligatory Latin-based explanations


• ⟨bassoon⟩ and ⟨balloon⟩ are basically the same word

Links and other post-show thoughts:

• We have no link to back up Sarah’s assertion that ⟨sc⟩ makes an [ʃ] sound in Late Latin and modern Italian, despite a wide search. However, ⟨conscious⟩ is an English word where ⟨sc⟩ makes an [ʃ] sound, so that's almost as good.


• The Nantucket study, which was actually done in Martha’s Vineyard (no research, y'all)


• Confirmed: Kohler is a town named after the company named after the founding family


• Bubbler is related to a Kohler trademark 


• Bubbler is not related to a Kohler trademark 


• I don't know what to think about bubbler anymore (They exist in Portland, OR, too!)


• Fun fact: Sarah heard “Spider-Mans” in the wild the week after we recorded this podcast, explaining that "Into the Spider-Verse" has six total “Spider-Mans”. Native speaker intuition for the win!


• Etymologies of inform versus informal


• Turns out that ⟨informative⟩ ALSO used to be an inflammable-style contranym! (Well, sort of. It used to mean ⟨formative⟩. What even.)

Ask us questions:

Send your questions (text or voice memo) to questions@linguisticsafterdark.com, or find us as @lxadpodcast on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Credits:

Linguistics After Dark is produced by Emfozzing Enterprises. Eli edits, Jenny transcribes, and Sarah does show notes. Our music is "Covert Affair" by Kevin McLeod.

Thanks for listening!