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The Most Extreme Place Names

The Most Extreme Place Names

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Otherwords

How the Colors Got Their Names

Season 3 Episode 9

In some ways, colors are the ultimate example of language's power. The earliest humans didn't have words for colors. They had words for objects and actions, and it took tens of thousands of years for those words to evolve into the names of the colors we use today. In this episode, we’ll answer that age-old question, which came first: orange the fruit or orange the color?

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Why Do These Words Get Mispronounced So Much?
8:32
There are many words you say incorrectly but don’t know you are saying incorrectly.
How Language Nerds Solve Crimes
8:59
Linguists use language everyday to solve crimes. Let’s take a look the most famous ones!
The Most Extreme Place Names
7:11
Join us as we find out how certain places got their names.
Why Does Texting Feel Different from Talking?
6:48
Why does switching from texting to talking feel like you’re trying to speak a different language?
What Brain Damage Reveals About Language
8:43
How do our brains process language?
How Queer Communities Created Secret Languages
6:38
What are "argots" or what some call "verbal jazz", and how is it used across the globe?
The Weird History of Invented Languages
10:07
Can you really invent a language? So how does one...do it?
How English Took Over the World
6:35
How did English become the most widely spoken language in the world?
Where Alcoholic Drinks Got Their Names
7:17
Let’s take a deep dive into the etymology of alcohol.
Is "R" a Vowel?
6:41
R is an incredibly weird letter; it's a wonder that we use one symbol to represent them.
How Brands Ruin Slang
8:01
What makes a word slang, and why does it sound so weird when companies use it?
Why Sign Language Was Banned in America
12:13
We take a deeper look as to why sign language was banned for decades.
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