What’s New
We’ll Never Give You the Cold Shoulder .Baby, it’s cold outside! So let’s talk COLD!!! COLD things like shoulders and feet and thin ice and such. Yup, on this week’s You’re Saying It Wrong, we’re looking at winter-related idioms. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg … Canadian English Let’s speak Canadian, eh? This week, in answer to a listener e-mail, we’re talking about that specific kind of English from the Great White North. Get your double double, take off your toque and give it a listen!
People who are ‘emotionally immature’ use these 12 phrases, say communication experts (CNBC Make It) The Norman Conquest of the English Language Let’s talk — or should we say converse? Yes, a Norman and an Old English word for the same idea … which is this week’s topic: how Norman words poured into the English language and won the “sounds classier” sweepstakes. Idioms: They’re Not Rocket Science We take a look at some modern-day idioms, where they came from, and what they could possibly mean.
Get These Words Outta Here! We look at a list of words people want to banish in this new year — the overused, overhyped, and sometimes just plain irritating ones. Some of them we agree with, some of them we won’t let go without a fight!Getting a C on the SAT We continue our alphabetical trip through the most challenging words from the SAT. It’s time for the c’s!T
he Words of 2024 We’ll run through the various dictionaries’ selections for the words of the year. A lot of them are ones you’d expect — from demure (can we stop with that now please?) to brat (ditto!) to brain rot (okay, so that one’s
he Words of 2024 We’ll run through the various dictionaries’ selections for the words of the year. A lot of them are ones you’d expect — from demure (can we stop with that now please?) to brat (ditto!) to brain rot (okay, so that one’sdifferent! to polarization (ditto!) plus other unexpected ones — and we offer up a few of our own.
Just sold to Hachette Book Group — our newest motivational book, You Are More Powerful Than You KnowA Plethora of Plurals! Octopuses or octopi or octopodi? And what’s the plural of Tyrannosaurus? What could be more fun for the holidays than digging into the bizarre world of Latin and Greek plurals? Nothing! That’s what!Is This Socially Acceptable?? We wade into the social media wars as we take a look at some of the most common language mistakes people make when they’re posting online. Woah! We advice you to stay calm and not loose your mind!http://kandrpetras.com/excerpts/bruschetta/Grab-bag Day We hit a number of language-related topics this week, kicked off by a listener question about what the heck a participle actually is.
Grab-bag Day We hit a number of language-related topics this week, kicked off by a listener question about what the heck a participle actually is.Coming out May 2025 from the Hachette Book Group — our book Believe You Can and You’re Halfway There!It’s All Relative This week, Kathy and Ross quiz Fletcher on words that are surprising relatives– and some that are surprisingly not. Emoji and emoticon, miniature and minus, island and isle … and many m ore.Getting a B on the SAT The letter of the week is “B,” as we move on to the second part in our series looking at the hardest words on the SAT. A Little Stress Relief This week, we’re here to help you relax a little bit by telling you that some of those little language mistakes that raise your blood pressure might not actually be mistakes.Electoral Confusion With the U.S. election upon us, Kathy and Ross quiz Fletcher on the pronunciation and origins of some words related to our democratic process.It’s Getting Spoooooky Again Just in time for Halloween, we’re talking about some of the creepy parts of the language world, including ghost words and some horrifying hyphens.Italian Food! We’re looking at the differences between what people in Italy call their food and what they call it in one very specific place in the world (here’s a hint: Tony Soprano has a lot to say about this).
Make No Mistake We return to one of our favorite topics: mistakes that aren’t really mistakes, even though a whole lot of people will tell you they’re mistakes.The “Most” Words A Merriam-Webster poll sets off our conversation today as we make our picks for the most overrated word, the most underrated word, the most pleasant word to say, and a number of other mosts, bests, and worsts.Of Course! A Mere Trifle There are a whole lot of things you can say when someone thanks you for something… But what do they all really mean?The Hidden World of Syllable Stress We continue our fascination with rules we don’t know we know with a look at the importance of where we put the stress when we say words out loud.
Let’s Hop Across the Pond Jump in your estate car and head to the chemist, this week we’re looking at some British equivalents of American English words.
Getting an A on the SAT The letter of the day is “A”! We’re getting you (or your kids) ready for the SATs with some tricky vocabulary from the beginning of the alphabet. Abrogate? Abstruse? Abnegation? They’re all here … and more! Have you got the acumen to know their meanings?We Simply Must Talk About Modal Verbs This episode of You’re Saying It Wrong may change your life! Or, well, it could … We shall see!! Yup, it’s the exciting (!) world of those weird verbs we probably didn’t know were called “modal verbs” but, man, we use them a lot!
Let’s Hit the Beach Grab your swimsuit! Or your bathing suit. That’s up to you. We’re heading to the beach for a look at the language of tides, waves, and other things beachy. Like where did the word “beach” come from anyway? (Spoiler: it has nothing to do with sand or even oceans. )Now is the winter of our discontent made brat summer With Charli XCX sparking a summer phenomenon, we take a look at the nature of slang: who uses it, why we use it, and how we need to be very careful with it. We talk about how slang starts … and how it lasts (or doesn’t). Yes, this episode is definitely brat! (But not cheugy … remember that?!?)Back-formations Baby’s got back … formations! Which came first, burgle or burglar? Upholster or upholsterer? It’s words that came from longer words even though it sounds like the opposite.Today, we look at language rules that are rules sometimes, and rules that don’t make sense. Well, they make some sense. Whatever. They’re rules, anyway.
With the world’s greatest sporting event upon us, we look at the origins of some sports-related words.
Is This a Fossil? Or Just Some Dumb Old Rock? A listener question prompts us to think about words like rehabilitate, revamp, and nonplussed, and whether we can be plussed about habilitating and vamping, or if we’re just talking nonsense.The Ambiguity of English (Is the Name of My Jazz Band) What’s next Monday—the one coming up or the one after that? If something’s biweekly, is it twice a week or every 2 weeks? If you’re here until Tuesday, are you leaving on Tuesday or Monday? It’s ambiguity time — time to look ambiguous words and phrases– sometimes we think we know what we’re saying and sometimes we’re really wrong. It’s a Dead Language, I Always Say Latin may be dead, but we still use it every day. It’s time to see if we REALLY know what those Latin and other foreign phrases mean. Do you have the bona fides to handle it?
t’s a Dead Language, I Always Say Latin may be dead, but we still use it every day. It’s time to see if we REALLY know what those Latin and other foreign phrases mean. Do you have the bona fides to handle it?from the Confusables Department: affect vs effect — the right way to use these two commonly confused words
Cranberry Morphemes Let’s talk cranberries! As in … is there such a thing as a “cran”? A listener asked us about the cran in cranberry which led us to talk about a linguistic thingie called “cranberry morphemes” — those chunks of words (like cran) that only exist in that one word. But it gets a little more complicated than that … Final Exams How well can YOU do on a grab bag of language questions on subjects we’ve covered this year — from how do you pronounce geoduck to what was the initial meaning of “cute” to is saying “my wife and I’s dinner” correct or incorrect? Can you ace the You’re Saying It Wrong final exam?The Defining Words of the Spelling Bee We’re looking back on the amazing end of the 2024 Scripps Spelling Bee and testing ourselves … but not can we spell the words (we cannot), but can we figure out what the heck they mean? A little Latin here, a smidge of logic, perhaps some Greek and some fancy guesswork and … well, it’s tough! 
The Oldest of Old Words We’re talking the oldest — and we mean waaay back to prehistoric times on the steppes — words that we STILL use in English. (Hint for one: What do you like on your bagel with a schmear?)Smooshed-up Words We’re looking at words that were made by smooshing together other words … but that was a looong time ago, so we don’t realize it any more. Like daisy, or good bye. Can YOU figure out the original words? The Rheturn of Rhetoric Some Monty Python, a smidge of Will Shakes, Groucho, and , of course, Iron.Man. (Well, duh.) Yup, all of them — and you too! — are using fancy tricks from ancient Greece. Can YOU figure them out?!?Ye Olde Fossil Words It’s time to dig up some fossil words—words that don’t really exist any more except in certain phrases, like “kith” as in “…and kin”), or “shebang” (as in “the whole …) What did they mean? And what’s with the “ye” in all those “ye olde” signs?If I Were To Talk About The Subjunctive… Were? Or was? Arrgh!! This week it’s time to tackle that pesky mood (yup, mood!) we call the subjunctive. From be that as it may to bless you to so be it … those frickin’ subjunctives are all around us!We are all rhetoricians now Move over, Cicero! Most of us are using rhetorical devices regularly … and might not even know it. This week, that’s what we’re talking about — along with some help from everyone from Churchill to Tolkein, from Shakespeare to Yoda!These Names Have Snob Appeal From Byron’s Don Juan to W.E.B. Dubois to Diane Arbus … names you might not know how to pronounce even though you THINK you do!Shakespeare: He made up a lot of words It’s said that Shakespeare invented or introduced over 1,700 words to the English language, but can you figure out WHICH ones? Yup, it’s the Very Big Shakespeare Quiz on this week’s episode of YSIW!. And now, once more unto the breach, as Will also wrote!Big News! You’re Saying It Wrong is now more than just a podcast; it’s now a weekly public radio show. Let your local NPR station know you’d like them to pick it up!