Ray Belli 5/16/21 Ray Belli 5/16/21

Nine Nasty Words: Interview with John McWhorter (EXPLICIT)

In this episode, preeminent linguist John McWhorter discusses topics from his new book, Nine Nasty Words, including the all-important question: What’s the correct past tense of sh*t?

Ray Belli 4/18/21 Ray Belli 4/18/21

Episode 96: Lost Letters: Wynn (Ƿ), Insular G, Yogh (Ȝ)

Before the letter W was invented, English used the rune wynn to represent the /w/ sound. Many Modern English words containing the GH digraph were once spelled with the now extinct letter yogh.

Ray Belli 4/6/21 Ray Belli 4/6/21

Episode 95: Lost Letters: Eth and Thorn ( Ð,ð and Þ, þ)

In Modern English, we use the TH digraph to represent the voiced and voiceless dental fricative sounds. However, English previously had two unique letters that did this same job: eth ( Ð,ð) and thorn (Þ, þ).

Ray Belli 4/6/21 Ray Belli 4/6/21

Episode 94: The Lost Letters of the English Alphabet (General Overview)

You can't have the English language without the ABC's, right? Wrong.