Since 2008, Big Think has been sharing big ideas from creative and curious minds. The Think Again podcast takes us out of our comfort zone, surprising our guests and Jason Gots, your host, with unexpected conversation starters from Big Think’s interview archives.
Kory Stamper is a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster, often seen on their “Ask the Editor” video series. Her funny and fascinating book Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries is about the how the sausage of dictionaries is made, and about the slipperiness of words themselves. This is not a “prescriptivist” manifesto, fussily criticizing people’s misuse of apostrophes or words like “irregardless.” On the contrary, like any lexicographer worth her salt (and salt, as Kory will tell you, was once so valuable it was used as money, which is where we get the word “salary” from…) Kory’s a professional “descriptivist”, painstakingly trying to pin down how words are actually used even as they try to wriggle away from her.
Surprise conversation starter interview clips:
Adam Mansbach on the term "political correctness" and Rob Bell on the word "Hell"
Listen to Slate’s show about young women getting their tubes tied, last week’s date rape episode of Louie, and Seventeen magazine’s new photo touch-up policy.
44 Min
Jul 12, 2012
A new report from ATTOM Data Solutions finds home sellers realized the highest profits on average in nearly decade. But, as ATTOM senior VP Daren Blomquist tells us, many homeowners opted not to sell.
7 Min
Apr 27, 2017
Gerrymandering, bathroom bills, and big money from the Koch brothers: Reid Wilson walks us through the state of state and local races.
29 Min
Sep 19, 2016