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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!

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Season
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The English spelling system is a MESS... arguably more than any other language.
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We'll have to figure out what the word "word" really means...
The Unexpected Origins of the Word ‘Monster’
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What can we learn about our relationship to monsters?
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5:51
We're gonna have to ask you to go ahead and watch this video. "
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12:22
It's one of the most contentious debates in linguistics!
Why A.I. Struggles with Negative Words
7:05
The ways we use negation in language can be pretty complex, even AI can’t seem to make sense of it.
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