Lexicon Valley

During an appearance on The Gist with Mike Pesca, we discussed the curious backstory of, you guessed it, the word gist. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A prolific writer on men's fashion, Guy discusses the vocabulary of outerwear and why dress is a form of social language. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The world was shocked by a controversial article published by "John McWhorter." Here, he sets the record straight. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Raise a glass to browned bread ... now you're toast! X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oxford English Dictionary editor Fiona McPherson talks to Mike Vuolo about the terms that caught her attention in 2025. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author John Koenig talks about inventing words for those subtle emotions that hitherto had no name. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gobbledygook sounds like one of those words that somebody just made up — so is it? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our parents were cringe-inducing but we're just cringe. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValleylley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Good is no longer good enough. Everyone is awesome, superlative or just great. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Returning as the primary hosts of Lexicon Valley, Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield speak to John McWhorter about understatement and hyperbole in Black English. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Vuolo and Bob Garfield interview Richard Tofel on his book Sound the Trumpet: The Making of John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, revealing the startling authorship behind JFK’s most famous words. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lexiconvalley.substack.com

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. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What did English sound like during the Revolutionary War? John has a number of fascinating observations about the way the language was spoken back then — including the accents! X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Over isn’t just the opposite of under and off is not necessarily the opposite of on. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John talks about the subject of his new book by Avery Publishing — Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Thai words for fire, die and rim sound an awful lot like the English words fire, die and rim. How could that be? X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Words like thence and thither are all but obsolete in English, but they were actually quite useful! X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you know the difference between a rabbit and a hare? And what then is a bunny? Follow John through the etymological warrens of these furry creatures. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It may seem apparent how we got from busyness to business, but the origins of the word “busy” itself are shrouded in mystery. X: @lexiconvalleyFacebook: facebook.com/LexiconValleyWebsite: booksmartstudios.com/LexiconValley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices