Linguist, writer, and professor Anne Curzan joins co-hosts V.V. Ganeshananthan and Whitney Terrell to discuss how language is constantly changing—and how that’s okay. Curzan talks about how, in her work as an English language historian, she’s learned that people have always been critical of usage changes; Ben Franklin, for instance, didn’t care for colonize as a verb. But, Curzan explains, as much as “grammandos” bemoan the evolution of language, it can’t be stopped—singular “they,” “funnest,” and “very unique” are here to stay. Curzan reads from her book, Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Language.
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This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf.
Anne Curzan
Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words
“‘They’ has been a singular pronoun for centuries. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s wrong.” | October 21, 2021 | The Washington Post
Others:
Grammando
Declaration of Independence
Dreyer’s English: And Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer
The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White
Fiction/Non/Fiction Season: One Episode, 12: “C. Riley Snorton and T Fleischmann Talk Gender, Freedom, and Transitivity”
Antonin Scalia
Will Shortz
Maxine Hong Kingston
The American Heritage Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
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