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.
301
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
302
A Wild Goose Chase that Stinks from Fish
How did Clupea harengus come to signify a diversionary tactic?
22 min
303
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
304
Take This Episode with a Grain of Salt
A phrase with roots in Ancient Rome has confounded English speakers for centuries.
29 min
305
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
306
A British Insult Fit for Trump
A peculiar insult from the north of England has the Oxford English Dictionary stumped.
32 min
307
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
308
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
309
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
310
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
311
Snoozefest
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the energetic history of the word sleep.
28 min
312
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
313
A Cat, a Coward, and Female Genitalia
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the etymological quirkiness of the word "pussy."
32 min
314
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
315
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
316
An Ambitious Enterprise, Quixotic and Unavailing
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a mystery word or phrase with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
30 min
317
How New York Became the Big Apple
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss the true story behind the most famous municipal nickname.
22 min
318
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
319
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
320
LinguaFile XIV | Heebie Jeebies
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a mystery word or phrase with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
37 min
321
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
322
LinguaFile XIII | Bozo
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a mystery word or phrase with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
24 min
323
The Pollyanna Hypothesis
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss what it means that language has a "positivity bias."
46 min
324
LinguaFile XII | Kibitz
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo discuss a mystery word or phrase with lexicographer Ben Zimmer.
37 min
325
M'athchomaroon, Zhey Lajak Vezhven!
Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo talk to conlanger David J. Peterson about the art and craft of creating languages for Game of Thrones.
41 min