Slate Debates
A feed from the Slate podcast network featuring episodes with enlightening conversations, opposing views, and plenty of healthy disputes. You'll get a curated selection of episodes from programs like What Next, The Waves, and the Political Gabfest, with deep discussions that go beyond point-counterpoint and shed light on the issues that matter most.
251
One Tongue to Rule Them All
The tantalizing prospect of a universal language.
35 min
252
The Art of the Spiel
A brief history of oratory from the Gilded Age to the Era of Trump.
40 min
253
Lend Me Your Ears: Julius Caesar
Slate's new podcast miniseries Lend Me Your Ears explores how Shakespeare's works speak to our current political era.
0 min
254
Getting to Yes
The making of our compact, workaday affirmative.
33 min
255
The Story of P
The 16th letter of our alphabet is a fancy little thing.
36 min
256
English Spelling Is a Beautiful Mess
John McWhorter on why English spelling is so frustratingly idiosyncratic.
34 min
257
Did the Founding Fathers Have a British Accent?
What we know about what Washington, Franklin and Hamilton may have sounded like.
34 min
258
No-Uh!
John McWhorter on the rise of an exclamatory syllable in English.
32 min
259
The Inner Workings of Out
The rich complexities of a humble preposition.
31 min
260
Words, For Her
John McWhorter on the origin of woman, girl and other lady terms.
32 min
261
What's the Deal with Eleven?
John McWhorter on the etymology and pronunciation of English numbers.
42 min
262
There Are Two N-Words
Like gangster and gangsta, nigger and nigga have become two distinct words.
32 min
263
The Thing Is Is
The problem is, is that we sometimes say "is" twice. Why?
31 min
264
An Accidental Sanctity
Biblical scholar Mark Ward discusses his forthcoming book, Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible.
31 min
265
Thanksgiving Misnomers
Turkey? Pumpkin? Squash? They're all mistakes.
33 min
266
Sometimes Just Because
Language is often at the mercy of pure chance.
29 min
267
Against Strunk & White
It's time to permanently shelve the Elements of Style.
29 min
268
Whence Baby Mama?
John McWhorter answers questions from Lexicon Valley listeners.
34 min
269
Este No Es Parqueo
After parking in front of a garage, John received a note written in Spanish.
33 min
270
From Pidgins to Creoles
John McWhorter discusses the process by which some new languages are born.
34 min
271
Do Languages Simplify Over Time?
Old English was arguably more complicated than Modern English. Is that true of all languages?
28 min
272
Did Cavebabies Say Mama and Papa?
Languages across the world developed similar words for "mom" and "dad." How is that possible?
28 min
273
New Life for Dying Languages
The Language Conservancy's Wil Meya discusses the effort to revive Native American languages.
34 min
274
In the Negative
The history and evolution of "no" and "not."
28 min
275
Why Do Languages Have Contractions?
John McWhorter explains why we love shrinkage.
32 min