Otherwords - Season 5
Season 5
Episodes
How Your Body Parts Got Their Names
Body parts would probably have been one of the first things that ancient peoples gave names to, so not only do we find hundreds of cognates and permutations, but also widespread use in idioms, slang and other figures of speech. Since our bodies have been with us literally from the beginning, we can learn a lot about language by investigating their etymologies.
How Languages Die
Why A.I. Struggles with Negative Words
Researchers and casual users alike have documented that generative AI tools often struggle with negation: the language we use to express absences, untruths, and opposites. Gen AI models may be able to show you what you do want to see, but they're NOT as good at NOT giving you what you DON'T want. Read that last sentence back again and you can understand why. So, how do we understand it ourselves?
Inside the Fiercest Debate in Linguistics
It's one of the most contentious debates in linguistics, and at the heart of what it means to be human!
Where Did Cringey Corporate Jargon Come From?
Why do we use such unusual words for the people we love? From baby to bunny, two thirds of American adults refer to their romantic partners by a pet name. And we've been doing this for a long time—the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary traces terms of endearment over a thousand years. But where do all these pet names come from?
The Mysterious Origins of Abracadabra and Other Magic Words
Since ancient times, humans have believed in the special power of words to change the world around them... and they might be right!
Is Social Media Censorship Unaliving Language?
TikTok users are altering their speech to evade algorithmic filters--but will this harm language in the long run?
Popular Word Origins That Are Totally WRONG.
Sometimes misunderstandings and made-up origins get popular enough to stick around... we call these "folk etymologies"!
Punctuation's Weird Backstory
There was a time when written words were all scrunched together without any spaces or symbols to help the reader make sense of it. How did we get from that to this‽
The Subliminal Messages in Brand Names
Explains how linguists use sounds and patterns (phonetic symbolism) in names like Coca-Cola (CV-CV rhythm) or Febreze (soft sounds) to influence perception, revealing how marketing taps into deep-seated linguistic tricks to make brands memorable and convey qualities like luxury or lightness, drawing on ideas from ancient philosophers like Plato.
Recently Updated Shows
Survivor
Eighteen to twenty castaways will compete against each other on Survivor. All castaways will compete to outwit, outplay, outlast and ultimately be crowned Sole Survivor.
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is an Emmy Award-winning late-night comedy showcase.
Since its inception in 1975, "SNL" has launched the careers of many of the brightest comedy performers of their generation. As The New York Times noted on the occasion of the show's Emmy-winning 25th Anniversary special in 1999, "in defiance of both time and show business convention, 'SNL' is still the most pervasive influence on the art of comedy in contemporary culture." At the close of the century, "Saturday Night Live" placed seventh on Entertainment Weekly's list of the Top 100 Entertainers of the past fifty years.
Lioness
Lioness, inspired by an actual U.S. Military program, follows the life of Joe while she attempts to balance her personal and professional life as the tip of the CIA's spear in the war on terror. The Lioness Program, overseen by Kaitlyn Meade and Donald Westfield, enlists an aggressive Marine Raider named Cruz to operate undercover alongside Joe among the power brokers of State terrorism in the CIA's efforts to thwart the next 9/11.
Doc
Doc centers on the hard-charging, brilliant Dr. Amy Larsen, Chief of Internal and Family Medicine at Westside Hospital in Minneapolis. After a brain injury erases the last eight years of her life, Amy must navigate an unfamiliar world where she has no recollection of patients she's treated, colleagues she's crossed, the soulmate she divorced, the man she now loves and the tragedy that caused her to push everyone away. She can rely only on her estranged 17-year-old daughter, whom she remembers as a 9-year-old, and a handful of devoted friends, as she struggles to continue practicing medicine, despite having lost nearly a decade of knowledge and experience.
