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.
276
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!
How an American Revolutionary War figure spawned a new name for a very old game.
25 min
277
The Blaccent: What Does It Mean to Sound Black?
Linguist John McWhorter argues that it makes perfect sense for the speech of black and white Americans to have subtle differences.
26 min
278
A Wild Goose Chase that Stinks from Fish
How did Clupea harengus come to signify a diversionary tactic?
22 min
279
Defecation Presentation
The earliest known citation for “shit show” is from an English-language translation of a 1970s criminal trial in Germany. But what was the word or phrase being translated?
27 min
280
Take This Episode with a Grain of Salt
A phrase with roots in Ancient Rome has confounded English speakers for centuries.
29 min
281
The Full, Firm, Valiant, and Heavy-Hearted Trump
Donald Trump calls people (and publications) he doesn’t like sad. When did that word become an insult?
28 min
282
A British Insult Fit for Trump
A peculiar insult from the north of England has the Oxford English Dictionary stumped.
32 min
283
They Had a Good Year
A pronoun that English borrowed from its Scandinavian neighbors gets new life as a gender neutral alternative to he and she.
35 min
284
The Curious Case of a Conspiratorial Coinage
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk about a mystery word or phrase with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
36 min
285
Tears of Joy, Identity, and a Prism of Isms
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to editors at Oxford, Merriam-Webster, and Dictionary.com about their picks for Word of the Year.
32 min
286
Sleeping Hobos in a Tent, Rush 'Em!
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the early 20th-century origins of a bizarre food-industry code with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
29 min
287
Snoozefest
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the energetic history of the word sleep.
28 min
288
Woody Guthrie's Folk Etymology
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a word that was popularized during the 1940s folk movement with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
27 min
289
A Cat, a Coward, and Female Genitalia
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the etymological quirkiness of the word "pussy."
32 min
290
A Drone, a Bell, and a Suffix
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a piece of old American slang with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
28 min
291
Seven Centuries of F--ks
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to Jesse Sheidlower, author of The F-Word, about a recent discovery in the history of one our most enduring expletives.
31 min
292
An Ambitious Enterprise, Quixotic and Unavailing
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a mystery word or phrase with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
30 min
293
How New York Became the Big Apple
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the true story behind the most famous municipal nickname.
22 min
294
Why Do Latin Americans Call English Speakers Gr...
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the origin of a Spanish-language pejorative with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
33 min
295
What Do You Mean What Is It Like?
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss "A literary history of the strange expression 'what is it like?'"—an article by lexicographer Anne Seaton.
29 min
296
LinguaFile XIV | Heebie Jeebies
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a mystery word or phrase with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
37 min
297
What's the Deal with Translating Seinfeld?
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to journalist Jennifer Keishin Armstrong about the classic American sitcom Seinfeld and why it falls flat in other cultures and languages.
41 min
298
LinguaFile XIII | Bozo
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a mystery word or phrase with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
24 min
299
The Pollyanna Hypothesis
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss what it means that language has a "positivity bias."
46 min
300
LinguaFile XII | Kibitz
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a mystery word or phrase with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
37 min