Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

1163. This week, we look at what it’s like to be a "language detective" with Sali Tagliamonte and how she used her own teenagers as a research lab. We look at a 25-year study on how the phrase "be like" became a permanent fixture of English, why the word "very" is suddenly making a comeback with younger generations, and what happens to our language when we spend all day talking to AI.

Sali Tagliamonte, University of Toronto

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Linda Cox

Laurel Paul

Russ Skinner

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| HOST: Mignon Fogarty

| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.

Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend, Maram Elnagheeb

Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings

Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson

Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian

Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb

| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.

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1162. This week, we look at why some names just "feel right" while others don't and how vowels like "ee" create associations with smallness and sweetness while back vowels like "ah" sound bigger and more serious. Then, we look at dependent clauses and when it's OK to start a sentence with "because."
The baby names segment was written by Valerie Fridland. 
🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.
🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)
🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.
🔗 Take our advertising survey. 
🔗 Get the edited transcript.
🔗 Get Grammar Girl books. 
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend, Maram Elnagheeb
Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.

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1161. Today, we look at the history of writing in all-uppercase letters. Tech historian Glenn Fleishman explains how capitals transitioned from a sign of importance to a convention for shouting. Plus, we discuss his research tracking the association between yelling and capital letters back to 1856 and why early newspapers used all capitals to make tiny type seem larger.
Glenn Fleishman's website.
🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.
🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)
🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.
🔗 Take our advertising survey. 
🔗 Get the edited transcript.
🔗 Get Grammar Girl books. 
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend, Maram Elnagheeb
Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com
for information about our collection and use of personal data for
advertising.

1160. This week, we look at why "mogul" means both a ski bump and a powerful person. Then, we tackle when to use "awhile" versus "a while," with a trick to help you remember.
🔗 Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.
🔗 Share your familect recording in Speakpipe or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)
🔗 Watch my LinkedIn Learning writing courses.
🔗 Subscribe to the newsletter.
🔗 Take our advertising survey. 
🔗 Get the edited transcript.
🔗 Get Grammar Girl books. 
| HOST: Mignon Fogarty
| Grammar Girl is part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.
Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend, Maram Elnagheeb
Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings
Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson
Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian
Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb
| Theme music by Catherine Rannus.
| Grammar Girl Social Media: YouTube. TikTok. Facebook. Threads. Instagram. LinkedIn. Mastodon. Bluesky.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.