The aggrandizing acronym that was seeded in the 1960s and born decades later.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 304: "The G.O.A.T." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good is no longer good enough. Everyone is awesome, superlative or great.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 280: "The Amazing Great." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A double dose of beautiful words, including the pleasant-sounding mellifluous — which happens to mean pleasant-sounding!

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 303: "The Ethereal Omelet." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Poetry Society of America members have chosen the most beautiful word in the English language. Any guesses?

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 302: "The Most Beautiful Word." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guess the chronological order of these early 20th-century words: paramilitary, paranormal and (drug-related) paraphernalia.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 301: "The Dating Game, Paranormal Edition." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In our age of AI, the word "parasocial" has gained new relevance. Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield trace its rise and discuss other "para" words like paragraph and parachute.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 300: "Parasocial Climbing." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John McWhorter on the hidden logic of "lowkey." Plus, where did all those terms of venery come from? A flamboyance of flamingos?

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 299: "The Lowdown on Lowkey." With John McWhorter. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Play along with our new game and guess the correct chronological order of the following phrases: perfect crime, perfect fit, perfect storm and perfect stranger.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 298: "The Dating Game, Perfect Edition." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"Perfect!" is everywhere. On the evolution and ubiquity of a flawless word.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 297: "A Perfect Episode." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listener Steven wrote: "I’ve been hornswoggled! So, what exactly has happened to me and when did people start getting hornswoggled? Is it painful?" We have answers.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 296: "I've Been Hornswoggled!" With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is there anything particularly loose about a goose — or does that idiom exist only because it rhymes? Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo investigate.

Visit Lexicon Valley. A Booksmart Studios Production. Episode 295: "Loose as a Goose." With Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo. Edited and produced by Mike Vuolo. Produced by Livia Bloom Ingram. All rights reserved.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices