Grammar Girl

For verified host and producer emails, sign up to view.

Why does the U.S. have so many regional accents?

August 04, 2026

1208. This week, linguist Valerie Fridland explains why the U.S. has so many regional accents — tracing New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southern, and Western speech back to where their first settlers came from, and how we can still hear "founder effects" in the way we talk today.Valerie Fridland is a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno and author of "Why We Talk Funny: The Real Story Behind Our Accents." You can find her at valeriefridland.com.🔗 Join the Grammar Girl ...

Why "golly" and "gosh" are going the way of the dinosaur, with Sali Tagliamonte

July 30, 2026

1207. This week, we look at the hidden linguistic history of Ontario with Sali Tagliamonte. We look at why euphemisms like "golly" and "gosh" are going the way of the dinosaur, the surprising connection between Northern Ontario and the Southern U.S., and how Canadian words like "gas bar" and "Muskoka chair" finally made it into the Oxford English Dictionary. This episode ran for Grammarpaloozians in February 2026. To get more bonus content, visit Patreon.com/GrammarGirl.🔗 Join the Gramma...

The secret language of gamers. Plus, why ducks don't ‘duck’ from danger

July 28, 2026

1206. This week, we look at the secret language of video gamers — including why getting "nerfed" is a bad thing and what it means to "rage quit" — and we answer a listener's question about whether the bird "duck" or the verb "duck" came first and whether real ducks actually duck for cover.The duck segment was by Karen Lunde, a career writer and editor [who spent nine years as a video game journalist.] These days, she writes I'll Go First, a newsletter where she shares her story, then hands yo...