Up Next
Back to Show
Otherwords
The Mysterious Origins of Abracadabra and Other Magic Words
Season 5
Episode 6
Since ancient times, humans have believed in the special power of words to change the world around them... and they might be right!
Support Provided By
12:13
We take a deeper look as to why sign language was banned for decades.
8:57
Besides being annoying, what if the grammar police are actually... wrong?
7:46
It shouldn't matter what a food is called as long as it tastes good, right? Well...
9:41
Current studies with children show show new insight into bilingualism.
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.