Fancy a language podcast that's not afraid to swear? Listen to Lexicon Valley!

I subscribe to a large number of podcasts and try to keep up by listening to some during my journey to and from work. Reviews of other podcasts I listen to can be found here.

Slate Magazine is one of my regular reads and so when they started podcasting I was keen to listen. Slate now produces a large number of podcasts covering a wide-range of subjects. I don't intend to review them all but want to highlight some of my favourites. I have reviewed the Culture Gabfest but now want to look at Lexicon Valley...

Show: iTunes    Website    Twitter

Hosts: Bob Garfield     Mike Vuolo

Lexicon Valley is a podcast about language. There have been a couple of "seasons" of fortnightly podcasts. Each episode lasts ~30 minutes and covers one theme - including the meaning of a word (such as "dude" or "orange", grammatical rules (e.g. demonstrative pronouns), or famous texts (e.g. JFK inaugural address). The latest episode (19 October 2014) was about the word "snark" - exploding in use since 2002 but with a history that includes Lewis Carroll and having germanic roots. 

The hosts are entertaining. Bob Garfield plays the normal guy who uses language but doesn't know the history of the words he uses. Mike Vuolo plays the kindly professor who either knows the answer or knows someone who does and is happy to explain. They regularly have guests who have written a book or article so can (and do) have an informed discussion.

This is an american podcast so focussed on american english although the discussions regularly lead into other english dialects (including proper British english) and other languages.

Some particularly memorable episodes have included:

• The meaning of the word faggot (can it be reclaimed or will it remain an insult?)
• When nouns have genders (i always struggled with this when learning German)
• The phenomenon of vocal fry (aka creaking on purpose)
• The history of swearing (obviously an nsfw episode)
• What makes phrases go viral (including the "manic pixie dream girl" in movies - a phrase i hadn't really heard but totally understood as soon as i heard it)

This is not a show just for grammar nazis. It is for anyone that is interested in the past, present and future of languages. I'm neither a linguist, nor a historian, nor american, but the hosts keep me listening and i feel i have learnt something after each episode.

In summary, if you like informed and engaging (and occasionally sweary) conversations about language, listen to Lexicon Valley.