An investigation into the nuclear origins of "bang for the buck." Plus, we get buck-naked!

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 315: "Bang for the Buck." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

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An interview with science-fiction author S.L. Huang, whose experience learning languages informed their most recent novella, ⁠⁠The Language of Liars⁠⁠.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 314: "The Language of Liars." With Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

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Was Perry Como the original Mr. Nice Guy? And who again was Perry Como? Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield explain.

Visit ⁠⁠Lexicon Valley⁠⁠. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 313: "No More Mr. Nice Guy." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

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What does a cement mixer and a 1948 Cosmopolitan magazine article have to do with the phrase Nice Guys Finish Last? Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield explain.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 312: "Nice Guys Finish Last." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

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In a bonus segment for all listeners, John McWhorter talks about "arter," a word from Jim's dialect in Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 311: "Happily Ever Arter." With John McWhorter. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

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John McWhorter on the truth behind "am" in Black English.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 310: "Grand Am." With John McWhorter. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

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John McWhorter asks: What did Black New Yorkers sound like in the 1800s? Find out in this first of a two-part episode.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 309: "Haut Corn!" With John McWhorter. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

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A buck is a male deer. Or a dollar bill. Or a strapping lad. Or an old poker term. Are they related?

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 308: "A Quick Buck." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

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What does a Jane Austen novel have in common with a George Carlin routine? Biting commentary on the word nice!

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 307: "Nice of You to Join Us." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

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Play along and guess the correct chronological order of the following phrases: Great White Hope, Great White Shark and Great White Way.

And check out our other *great* episodes:

The Amazing Great: Good is no longer good enough. Everyone is awesome, superlative or great.

The G.O.A.T.: An aggrandizing acronym that was seeded in the 1960s and born decades later.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 306: "The Dating Game, Great White Edition." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

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Legend has it that Samuel Maverick was a 19th-century rancher who refused to brand his cattle — but was he really such a maverick?

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 305: "The Original Maverick." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

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