What’s New
That still doesn’t mean what you think it means, part 2 Regimen vs regime, hysterical vs hilarious, the REAL meaning
of prodigal vs its current use, & other words that are changing even as we use them. (Culled from our book That Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means, just out as an audiobook!) (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR)
of prodigal vs its current use, & other words that are changing even as we use them. (Culled from our book That Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means, just out as an audiobook!) (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR) .
That still doesn’t mean what you think it means A look at some of the words we wrote about in That Doesn’t Mean What You Think it Means that continue to confuse people — from ambivalent to chronic, pristine to random, emigrate to immigrate, not to mention e.g. and i.e. (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR)
A lot of slang words only last a year or two, but others stick around. We take a look at some that have stood the test of time, and it turns out a lot of them are older than we realize. (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR)
Penguin-Random House This Is the Author Podcast We talk about recording the audio books of You’re Saying it Wrong, That Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means, and Awkword MomentsSearching for meaning in Gen Z slang The old people try their hand at sussing out the meanings of Gen Z slang words, although we all remain skeptical that actual people in Gen Z use any of these words. Groovy! (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR)
Gray Area for Gray Matter: On the Time Einstein’s Brain was Stolen — A Quest for the Biological Basis of Genius (excerpt on LitHub from our book A History of the World Through Body Parts)The Most Mispronounced Words of 2022 It’s an episode we look forward to each January, as we take a look back at the most mispronounced words of the previous year. Even the dinosaurs said one of these wrong! (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR) Want to sound more confident? Ditch these 10 phrases that make you look ‘insecure’ and ‘arrogant’ Some problematic language choices you should drop from your conversation if you want to sound more self-assured and likable (CNBC) 
Wait, THESE are the words of the year?? The words of the 2022, as chosen by various dictionaries and lexicographers. Kathy and Ross take major issue with various choices for words of the year for 2022. What makes for a good word of the year? Can anyone please our experts? (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR)Will We Ever Learn? While recording the audio versions of their books, Kathy and Ross discover there are words they’ve written about that they STILL say wrong, even after all these years. A look at some of the most commonly mispronounced words in English. (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR)Come Sit With Us a Spell A look at the most commonly misspelled words in English. After we puzzle over some words Kathy and Ross recently found in the news, we’ll tackle a list of the English language’s most misspelled words. Two billion tweets can’t be wrong, can they? (Yes, they can, and are.) (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR)
Get My Agentive Suffix On the Phone! Turns out agentive suffixes are popular! We tackle a number of listener questions we got after our first episode on the topic, and Kathy gets VERY excited about a couple of the words that come up. (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR) Secret Agentive Suffix Man! A listener asks why some words end in -er, while other similar words end in -or, like “seller” vs. “vendor,” or “supervisor” vs. “manager.” (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR)Happy Spooky Season! It’s the spoooookiest episode we’ve ever had, as we dive into the roots of the scary words we hear each Halloween. Vampires! Werewolves! Witches and Warlocks! (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR)Want to sound and feel more confident? Ditch these 11 phrases from your vocabulary, say psychologists A rundown of the phrases that can undermine your attitude (CNBC)
An interview on Seattle’s KIRO Newsradio, in which we weigh in on the persistence in calling Oregon (ORE-uh-gn to those who live there) Ore-uh-GONE. (And where’d the name come from anyway? )Brains, Breasts, Bowels, and Bladders: A History of the World Through Body Parts: Kathryn and Ross Petras in Conversation with Andrew Keen on Keen On (LitHub)Separated by a Common Language, Part 2: We continue our discussion of spelling differences between American English and British English, including the nuances of “get,” “got,” and “gotten.” (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR)What Happened to Anne Boleyn’s Heart?: Inside the strange medieval custom that separated the famed queen’s most essential organ from her body. (excerpted on LitHub’s CrimeReads from A History of the World Through Body Parts) 
Separated by a Common Language: On one side, you have people spelling it “realise,” on the other, it’s “realize.” And the poor Canadians are caught right in the middle. A listener question from Spain prompts us to dig into why Americans and Brits spell so many words differently when they’re supposed to be using the same language. (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR)Wait… Is There a Difference? Part 2: After we take another (brief) run at the lie/lay problem, we continue our discussion of words we often use interchangeably that might actually have different meanings. (You’re Saying it Wrong podcast on NPR)Our podcast You’re Saying It Wrong wins 1st place award for podcasts from the PMJA(Public Media Journalists Association)