Lexicon Valley from Booksmart Studios
Lexicon Valley
A podcast about language, with host John McWhorter.
- 19 minutes 53 secondsDerek Guy on the Language of Clothing
A prolific writer on men's fashion, Guy discusses the vocabulary of outerwear and why dress is a form of social language.
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20 January 2026, 6:34 pm - 30 minutes 12 secondsMcWhorter vs. McWhorter
The world was shocked by a controversial article published by "John McWhorter." Here, he sets the record straight.
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6 January 2026, 4:57 pm - 30 minutes 8 secondsA Toast to Toast
Raise a glass to browned bread ... now you're toast!
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30 December 2025, 8:13 pm - 16 minutes 58 secondsAll the Rage Bait
Oxford English Dictionary editor Fiona McPherson talks to Mike Vuolo about the terms that caught her attention in 2025.
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23 December 2025, 8:40 pm - 26 minutes 40 secondsThe Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows
Author John Koenig talks about inventing words for those subtle emotions that hitherto had no name.
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9 December 2025, 10:30 pm - 17 minutes 56 seconds6 7: Everything You Don't Know About the Word of the Year
Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield join Mike Pesca of The Gist to talk about the long, strange journey of 6 7, from rapper Skrilla to the basketball court, from the classroom to the Word of the Year.
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2 December 2025, 9:48 pm - 23 minutes 30 secondsGobbledygook Explained
Gobbledygook sounds like one of those words that somebody just made up — so is it?
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18 November 2025, 9:07 pm - 23 minutes 37 secondsGen Alpha Thinks You're Cringe
Our parents were cringe-inducing but we're just cringe.
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28 October 2025, 7:44 pm - 19 minutes 57 secondsThe Amazing Great
Good is no longer good enough. Everyone is awesome, superlative or just great.
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7 October 2025, 9:03 pm - 24 minutes 17 secondsIt's Been a Minute
Returning as the primary hosts of Lexicon Valley, Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield speak to John McWhorter about understatement and hyperbole in Black English.
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15 September 2025, 8:07 pm - 30 minutes 51 secondsAsk Not?
An interview with Richard Tofel about his book Sound the Trumpet: The Making of John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, revealing the startling authorship behind JFK’s most famous words.
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4 September 2025, 4:00 am - More Episodes? Get the App