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.
151
Parting Company
How did a word meaning "with bread" come to sprout its corporate connotation?
40 min
152
Wallowing in Negativity
From the evolution of ain't to double negatives, simply saying no is wonderfully complex.
42 min
153
Fossil Hunting in English
Our language contains a trove of buried clues, petrified remnants of its past. But you have to know where to dig.
41 min
154
Why Do Languages Have Gender?
Lots of languages divide words into categories, like male and female. How does that happen?
52 min
155
Forgetting Your Roots
Words have a way of rebelling against their etymological parents, acquiring meanings of their own.
55 min
156
Future English Speaker, Can You Read Me?
That language changes is certain. How quickly or slowly is another matter.
62 min
157
Getting Got
The story of how one little verb developed a seemingly endless capacity to absorb new meanings.
40 min
158
On the Origin of English
A controversial theory holds that English, along with other Germanic languages, was profoundly influenced early on by Phoenician. The evidence is intriguing.
57 min
159
White Author, Black English. Problem?
Mark Twain famously depicted what he called the "Missouri Negro dialect" of Jim. Would that be acceptable today?
52 min
160
Do Cats Have Language?
Animals bark, sing, purr and even gesture, all fascinating but a far cry from human communication.
58 min
161
Sergeant, Corporal, Colonel!
Peculiar linguistic tales of America's soldiers.
36 min
162
To Reason Why
There's more than one way to ask why. How come? What for?
34 min
163
When Talking to Your Mother-In-Law Is a Minefield
From baby talk to formal varieties, languages around the world offer—or even require—different ways of speaking for different situations.
40 min
164
The Incredible Story of the Traveling Creole
Enslaved people developed a hybrid language that sailed from Africa to the Caribbean and—unbelievably—back again.
59 min
165
This Am a Minstrel Stereotype, Right?
A longstanding mystery of Black English may finally be solved.
52 min
166
When Jews Adapted Spanish
Languages of the Ottoman Empire, inspired by historian Alan Mikhail's new book God's Shadow.
44 min
167
Does English Have a Future?
49 min
168
Defund Karen
On the insults, acronyms and sloganeering of America's racial reckoning.
39 min
169
Beyond the Five Ws
The curious grammar of questions in languages around the world.
49 min
170
Tweety Bird and Toddlerspeak
Language acquisition is like magic—how do children do it?!
44 min
171
Coronavirus: Isolation and Aspiration
41 min
172
Our Indigenous Languages
A luxuriance of long words, baroque case endings and irregular everything—the Native American tongues!
58 min
173
I Just Can't!
Host John McWhorter shares some of his longstanding language peeves—yes, linguists have them too!
43 min
174
The Many Meanings of Too
Host John McWhorter finds linguistic inspiration in an 80-year-old musical performance of Rubber Dolly.
39 min
175
Sicko, Whacko, Weirdo
The -o suffix traces back to old comic strip characters with names like Knocko and Groucho. Neato!
40 min