Grant Barrett
@grantbarrett.com
Linguist, lexicographer, broadcaster, editor, writer. Co-host of fun coast-to-coast US radio language show/podcast "A Way with Words." @waywordradio.org. +1 646 286 2260 [email protected] #linguistics #lexicography #etymology #podcasting #writing
Reposted by Grant Barrett
Hi it’s me your favorite YouTuber, speaking into a cricket’s ass
November 9, 2025 at 3:00 AM
Hi it’s me your favorite YouTuber, speaking into a cricket’s ass
Reposted by Grant Barrett
we gotta stop with the tiny microphones. get a full size mic like an ADULT. you look like you’re at tea with a mouse
November 9, 2025 at 1:50 AM
we gotta stop with the tiny microphones. get a full size mic like an ADULT. you look like you’re at tea with a mouse
The Man in the Yellow Hat and Curious George went to San Diego Comic-Con! @thecomicon.bsky.social. PBS kids! @pbs.org @kpbssandiego.bsky.social
July 25, 2025 at 12:32 AM
The Man in the Yellow Hat and Curious George went to San Diego Comic-Con! @thecomicon.bsky.social. PBS kids! @pbs.org @kpbssandiego.bsky.social
Reposted by Grant Barrett
Reading Update 35 of GDoS to a less than appreciate mob. No matter.
jonathongreen.substack.com/p/gdos-upgra...
jonathongreen.substack.com/p/gdos-upgra...
GDoS Upgrade 35
Another trimester, another buncha goodies
jonathongreen.substack.com
July 4, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reading Update 35 of GDoS to a less than appreciate mob. No matter.
jonathongreen.substack.com/p/gdos-upgra...
jonathongreen.substack.com/p/gdos-upgra...
Reposted by Grant Barrett
I had so much fun chatting with @readersdigest.bsky.social's @joannliguori.bsky.social about the origins of slang terms like cap, simp, extra, and cringe. Check out her full list, which also features insights from the brilliant @grantbarrett.com.
www.rd.com/list/origins...
www.rd.com/list/origins...
The Surprising Origins of Your Favorite Slang Words
Love them or hate them, these colorful phrases let us speak in shorthand. Check out the origin of slang words—and how to use them.
www.rd.com
July 1, 2025 at 4:49 PM
I had so much fun chatting with @readersdigest.bsky.social's @joannliguori.bsky.social about the origins of slang terms like cap, simp, extra, and cringe. Check out her full list, which also features insights from the brilliant @grantbarrett.com.
www.rd.com/list/origins...
www.rd.com/list/origins...
Just for spit and giggles I let an autonomous coding agent go ham on a project. It whizzed through everything like a five-year-old with a bank card in a video game store. Of course, like the kid, it did the equivalent of buying a used Xbox 1, PS2 discs, and Atari controllers. But das blinkenlights!
May 28, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Just for spit and giggles I let an autonomous coding agent go ham on a project. It whizzed through everything like a five-year-old with a bank card in a video game store. Of course, like the kid, it did the equivalent of buying a used Xbox 1, PS2 discs, and Atari controllers. But das blinkenlights!
“Sending these to shareholders in the annual report isn’t quite what we meant by preparing a self-review.”
May 24, 2025 at 4:55 PM
“Sending these to shareholders in the annual report isn’t quite what we meant by preparing a self-review.”
What a fine time I had discussing changing US dialects with Maxx Fuller, Adam Llorens, and Paul Millgate, on Fox 9 in Eden Prairie, MN, using this article filled with the linguists who did the actual work as a springboard. Video: www.fox9.com/video/1643884 Springboard: apnews.com/article/migr...
May 20, 2025 at 3:41 PM
What a fine time I had discussing changing US dialects with Maxx Fuller, Adam Llorens, and Paul Millgate, on Fox 9 in Eden Prairie, MN, using this article filled with the linguists who did the actual work as a springboard. Video: www.fox9.com/video/1643884 Springboard: apnews.com/article/migr...
“Ice piracy” is when a glacier "steals" ice from a neighboring one, a multi-decade change. It is considered fast in the context of ice sheets, which move at glacial speeds and geological scales, after all. tc.copernicus.org/articles/19/...
May 14, 2025 at 12:45 PM
“Ice piracy” is when a glacier "steals" ice from a neighboring one, a multi-decade change. It is considered fast in the context of ice sheets, which move at glacial speeds and geological scales, after all. tc.copernicus.org/articles/19/...
Somebody somewhere besides me should be delighted that my wordhunting scripts automatically picked up on the new but fake words invented by researchers and then mentioned in this article. www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-05...
Like humans, ChatGPT favours examples and ‘memories’ – not rules – to
A new study, published in PNAS, led by researchers at the University of Oxford and the Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) has found that large language models (LLMs) – the AI systems behind chatbots like
www.ox.ac.uk
May 12, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Somebody somewhere besides me should be delighted that my wordhunting scripts automatically picked up on the new but fake words invented by researchers and then mentioned in this article. www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-05...
My favorite programming term of the week is the walrus operator from Python. := It lets Python grab a value and give it a short‑term label in one move, inside another action.
May 12, 2025 at 12:44 PM
My favorite programming term of the week is the walrus operator from Python. := It lets Python grab a value and give it a short‑term label in one move, inside another action.
In word-hunting this week, came across a Hindi idiom: उन्नीस‑बीस का फ़र्क़ (unnīs‑bīs kā farq), also expressed as उन्नीस‑बीस का अंतर होना, which literally means “the difference between nineteen and twenty.” It's a quick way to say “there’s hardly any difference” or “only a hair’s breadth separates the two.”
May 11, 2025 at 2:53 AM
In word-hunting this week, came across a Hindi idiom: उन्नीस‑बीस का फ़र्क़ (unnīs‑bīs kā farq), also expressed as उन्नीस‑बीस का अंतर होना, which literally means “the difference between nineteen and twenty.” It's a quick way to say “there’s hardly any difference” or “only a hair’s breadth separates the two.”
Somebody had legible index cards.
May 9, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Somebody had legible index cards.
Reposted by Grant Barrett
"You take a complicated subject that everyone THINKS they understand and explain it in a way that people REALLY understand." @grantbarrett.com on a huge value of linguistics and lingcomm training
#LingComm25
#LingComm25
April 9, 2025 at 3:11 PM
"You take a complicated subject that everyone THINKS they understand and explain it in a way that people REALLY understand." @grantbarrett.com on a huge value of linguistics and lingcomm training
#LingComm25
#LingComm25
Reposted by Grant Barrett
@marthabarnette.bsky.social and @grantbarrett.com, I blushed. I'm so glad you appreciated what I was trying to do, and thank you!
May 5, 2025 at 7:33 PM
@marthabarnette.bsky.social and @grantbarrett.com, I blushed. I'm so glad you appreciated what I was trying to do, and thank you!
Reposted by Grant Barrett
Yup. This is every "dream job": 10% doing the thing, 90% doing everything else required to get to do that 10%.
I've got a photographer friend, and so many folks think it must be lovely to just show up, take a few pictures and get paid, without considering the thousands of hours that go into self promotion, handling finances, networking, and all the many things that aren't taking pictures.
March 31, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Yup. This is every "dream job": 10% doing the thing, 90% doing everything else required to get to do that 10%.
It was lovely to sit down with Adam Greenfield of "The Written Scene" podcast and have his thoughtful questions lead us into an interesting conversation. Lots of languagey tidbits! thewrittenscene.transistor.fm/episodes/epi...
The Written Scene | Episode 75: Grant Barrett
Lexicographer and linguist Grant Barrett grew up with an insatiable need to read and the bigger the books, the better. In this episode of The Written Scene, Grant talks about how a focus on langua...
thewrittenscene.transistor.fm
January 13, 2025 at 9:09 PM
It was lovely to sit down with Adam Greenfield of "The Written Scene" podcast and have his thoughtful questions lead us into an interesting conversation. Lots of languagey tidbits! thewrittenscene.transistor.fm/episodes/epi...
Reposted by Grant Barrett
Happy new year, fuckers! It's time for the Tuckers! …with your host @benzimmer.bsky.social stronglang.wordpress.com/2024/12/31/t...
The 10th Annual Tucker Awards for Excellence in Swearing
How in the absolute fuck can this be the tenth installment of the annual Tucker Awards recognizing excellence in swearing? Somehow, it’s true: feast your eyes on the nine previous installment…
stronglang.wordpress.com
January 1, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Happy new year, fuckers! It's time for the Tuckers! …with your host @benzimmer.bsky.social stronglang.wordpress.com/2024/12/31/t...
December 15, 2024 at 3:50 AM
Reposted by Grant Barrett
If you missed our live video event, catch it on the free YouTube replay! youtu.be/yYRmG9oJbXw And give us some cabbage/cheddar/dough/food-money metaphor while you are about it: waywordradio.org/donate
December 15, 2024 at 12:57 AM
If you missed our live video event, catch it on the free YouTube replay! youtu.be/yYRmG9oJbXw And give us some cabbage/cheddar/dough/food-money metaphor while you are about it: waywordradio.org/donate
Reposted by Grant Barrett
Ryan Starkey makes wonderful, well-researched maps about dialects and accents in Great Britain.
But sometimes he gets silly.
But sometimes he gets silly.
December 5, 2024 at 11:52 AM
Ryan Starkey makes wonderful, well-researched maps about dialects and accents in Great Britain.
But sometimes he gets silly.
But sometimes he gets silly.
Reposted by Grant Barrett
Join us for a *free* live "A Way with Words" "Ask Us Anything" video event! December 12, 4:30 p.m. PST. Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett of the popular public radio show/podcast will lead a linguistic Q&A romp. You must register to get the video link! waywordradio.org/ask-us-anyth....
December 1, 2024 at 10:42 PM
Join us for a *free* live "A Way with Words" "Ask Us Anything" video event! December 12, 4:30 p.m. PST. Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett of the popular public radio show/podcast will lead a linguistic Q&A romp. You must register to get the video link! waywordradio.org/ask-us-anyth....
Reposted by Grant Barrett
Frogs! In! Space! waywordradio.org/space-frogs/ Plus: virtuous names, fight the good fight, meteoric rise, one side or a leg off, polypoton, er er word quiz, main strength, sixth as "sikth", Irish omadhuan, tall cotton, and lots more.
November 25, 2024 at 1:37 AM
Frogs! In! Space! waywordradio.org/space-frogs/ Plus: virtuous names, fight the good fight, meteoric rise, one side or a leg off, polypoton, er er word quiz, main strength, sixth as "sikth", Irish omadhuan, tall cotton, and lots more.
Reposted by Grant Barrett
Did you catch these two recent brand new episodes? Cut the Mustard: waywordradio.org/cut-the-must... and Kitten Britches: waywordradio.org/kitten-britc... #language #podcast
Cut the Mustard (episode #1646) – A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language
Do people who work together sound alike? Yes! Over time, they may begin to develop similar patterns of speech, or what might be called an "occupational
waywordradio.org
November 22, 2024 at 12:37 AM
Did you catch these two recent brand new episodes? Cut the Mustard: waywordradio.org/cut-the-must... and Kitten Britches: waywordradio.org/kitten-britc... #language #podcast
Reposted by Grant Barrett
A professional book which is a MUST read for anyone in Language and Literacies!
7/20
#BookSky📚💫
#BookChallenge
7/20
#BookSky📚💫
#BookChallenge
November 19, 2024 at 2:00 PM
A professional book which is a MUST read for anyone in Language and Literacies!
7/20
#BookSky📚💫
#BookChallenge
7/20
#BookSky📚💫
#BookChallenge