Up Next
Back to Show
Otherwords
Is "R" a Vowel?
Season 3
Episode 2
There's a good argument that the letter R is, at least sometimes, not a consonant at all, but a vowel. Does that mean your 1st grade teacher was lying to you? Not exactly. R is an incredibly weird letter, with so many different sounds and functions, it's a wonder that we use one symbol to represent them all. And how people pronounce that one letter can speak volumes about their history and social
Sign up now for inspiring and thought-provoking media delivered straight to your inbox.
Support Provided By
7:00
English has more words than most other languages, but there are still gaps.
7:24
Why is gossip an integral part of human social structure?
5:56
Pronouns may be little, but they say a lot, and they're always changing!
7:50
The English spelling system is a MESS... arguably more than any other language.
6:19
Adaptable clichés called "snowclones" are EVERYWHERE but they're older than you think.
6:08
There's evidence that sweating may be good for your psyche.
7:11
The word "Death" has a lot of euphemisms in virtually every language.
7:21
We explore some of the popular words authors have created that are now in our lexicon.
11:23
Here are the deep misconceptions about African-American English (AAE).
11:26
Is it really "language," or just a digital illusion?
6:59
We'll have to figure out what the word "word" really means...
8:00
What can we learn about our relationship to monsters?