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lingthusiasm.bsky.social
Lingthusiasm
@lingthusiasm.bsky.social
7.8K followers 1.4K following 3.9K posts
A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics! By @gretchenmcc.bsky.social and @superlinguo.bsky.social

"Fascinating" -NYT
"Joyously nerdy" -Buzzfeed

lingthusiasm.com

Not sure where to start? Try our silly personality quiz: bit.ly/lingthusiasmquiz
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lingthusiasm.bsky.social
Just found out we've made this list of "real, credentialed experts thinking outside the ivory tower and making occasionally opaque topics like history, philosophy & science accessible and engaging for the general public" from @ceaubin.com on @pocketcasts.com!

blog.pocketcasts.com/2025/09/03/d...
Lingthusiasm (hosted by Dr. Lauren Gawne & Gretchen McCulloch) If you’re like me, you find words fascinating. If you’re not like me, this podcast will convince you that they’re fascinating. Every week, Lauren and Gretchen do deep-dives into the origins and thought processes behind language that always leave me feeling like I really learned something new. Highly recommend the episodes on swearing and whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich.
November 21, 2025 at 1:54 AM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
💚 LAST CALL 💚

If you want to get this sticker in the mail to show off your enthusiasm for linguistics, you have ONE MORE DAY to sign up to be a patron at the Ling-thusiast tier or higher!
patreon.com/lingthusiasm
Lingthusiasm: a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics in white on a green background, with assorted small objects drawn in a question mark/glottal stop shape. Drawings include a coffee cup, a rabbit, an alien, a peace sign handshape, a planet, a rainbow, a potted plant, a maple leaf and bottlebrush flower, a lightbulb, and assorted squiggles and sparkles, plus two silhouettes one with shorter wavy hair and another with longer curly hair
June 30, 2025 at 7:11 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
Words change their meanings over time, and when we remind ourselves that etymology isn't destiny, we can also remember we're free to grow and change too

You can now contemplate this fun and liberating idea regularly in our stylish merch!

redbubble.com/i/sweatshirt...
Photo of two models wearing black sweatshirts with rainbow cursive script that says 'Etymology isn't Destiny'. Green border with white details.
June 20, 2025 at 5:35 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
We've made a tongue-in-cheek quiz that transforms your answers to questions like "You're about to start a massive Lingthusiasm listening marathon. You need to stay fortified and hydrated. Pick a beverage to sustain you" into a Highly Accurate Window Into Your Personality

bit.ly/lingthusiasm...
White text with a dark blue drop shadow on a bright green background reads 'Which Lingthusiam Episode Are You?'. Surrounded by dark blue stars. Smaller white text below that reads 'A Highly Scientific™ quiz that tells you which episode of the podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistic matches your personality best!'. White Lingthusiasm logo in bottom right corner.
June 15, 2025 at 5:40 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
A rabbit scurries by, and someone points at it and says "Gavagai!" Do they mean "rabbit", "scurrying creature", or even "lo, undetached rabbit parts!"? Pay tribute to this classic linguistic thought experiment from WVO Quine in our Gavagai merch

redbubble.com/i/pouch/Gava...
Photo of a black zippered pouch with a cream illustration of a leaping rabbit. Text surrounding the rabbit says 'GAVAGAI' and 'lo, an un-detached rabbit-part!'. Green bordered with white hearts and a Lingthusiasm logo.
June 11, 2025 at 5:37 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
Wait, what? This wearable/portable version of the classic comparative illusion sentence "More people have been to Russia than I have" is sure to make people give you a double-take

www.redbubble.com/i/mug/More-p...
photo of a black mug with white text that says 'More people have read the text on this mug than I have'. Green decorative border with white and blue squiggles.
May 30, 2025 at 5:15 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
How many times do you kiss on the cheek when greeting a friend in France? Check out this map from Buzzarena's guide (and get ready for up to 5 smooches in Corsica!)

For more on the linguistics of kissing, check out our latest bonus ep: www.patreon.com/posts/127782...

buzzarena.com/comment-bien...
A map of France broken up into regions and showing major cities, titled 'When you greet a friend, how many time do you kiss?'. There is a colour key showing orange = once, yellow = twice, green = three times, blue = four time, and pink = five times (18% of Corsica). The map is mostly blue in the north, with two predominately orange regions to the north west. The central, east, and south west sections are mostly yellow, and the there is a green section in the southern central region. The island of Corsica at the bottom right of the image is a mix of colours.
May 19, 2025 at 5:05 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
We're sending out ONE of these two images as a sticker to all patrons at the Lingthusiast tier and higher as of July 1st...which one should it be? 👀

Let us know your thoughts below or if you're a patron (free or paid), ✅ VOTE in the official poll here:
www.patreon.com/posts/vote-f...
The name "lingthusiasm" in white on a bright green background. A white squiggle is set off to the right that is ambiguously an ear, question mark or stylised glottal stop. The squiggle is made up of many small hand-drawn images referencing topics from the show, including a Gavagai rabbit, some handshapes and International Phonetic Alphabet symbols, tea, cake, and others. Along the bottom is a tagline in white sans serif font that says “a podcast that is enthusiastic about linguistics”. Left, nestled between the name and the logo, is a line drawing of the silhouettes of two women, one with curlier hair, one that is slightly taller. The name "lingthusiasm" in white on a bright green background. A white squiggle is set off to the right that is ambiguously an ear, question mark or stylised glottal stop. The squiggle is made up of many small hand-drawn images referencing topics from the show, including a Gavagai rabbit, some handshapes and International Phonetic Alphabet symbols, tea, cake, and others. Along the bottom is a tagline in white sans serif font that says “a podcast that is enthusiastic about linguistics”. This version doesn't have the line drawing of the silhouettes of two women nestled between the name and the logo; instead, that drawing is as tiny as the other drawings and is located inside the large squiggle, towards the stem of the question mark.
May 2, 2025 at 1:48 AM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
From our latest episode 'A hand-y guide to gesture'

lingthusiasm.com/post/7811323...
White text on a green background reads "“This kind of gesture research has happened predominantly with English speakers and a few other European languages, but it is worth remembering that we haven’t come across a culture yet where there are no gestures that accompany speech. It is something that appears to be an unavoidable part of the package of the way humans communicate and that we are trying to be helpful to the people we’re speaking to – if they can see us – by giving them more gestural information.”. Blue rectangle at bottom of image has white text that reads "Episode 103: A hand-y guide to gesture"
April 28, 2025 at 5:05 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
Lingthusiasm is brought to you in part by Pippin and subapical retroflex click [!˞] lingthusiasm.com/supporters

Become a patron to take our ~*super scientific*~ ‘Which Character of the IPA are you?’ quiz and sponsor your favourite character! patreon.com/lingthusiasm
Dark blue text on bright green background reads 'Lingthusiasm is brought to you in part by...'. Below is the white Lingthusiasm logo. White square with navy text reads '[!˞] subapical retroflex click Pippin’
April 21, 2025 at 5:48 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
A rabbit scurries by, and someone points at it and says "Gavagai!" Do they mean "rabbit", "scurrying creature", or even "lo, undetached rabbit parts!"? Pay tribute to this classic linguistic thought experiment from WVO Quine in our Gavagai merch

www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/1627...
A cream line drawing on a black background of a rabbit in motion surrounded by the text 'GAVAGAI lo, an un-detached rabbit-part!'. Featured on (clockwise from top left) a mousepad, a sticker shown on a water bottle, a cushion, and a t-shirt shown on two models. Photo array is on a green background with white hearts and Lingthusiasm logo in bottom right corner.
April 16, 2025 at 5:40 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
Wear your linguistics fandom on your sleeve, or rather around your neck, with our range of fun IPA and esoteric symbol ties

www.zazzle.com/store/lingth...
A photo of two ties, tolled up and sitting on a wooden surface. On the left is a blue tie with white IPA symbols, and on the right is a black tie with neon green esoteric symbols. Photo is framed by a green checkered boarder.
March 31, 2025 at 5:40 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
From our latest episode 'The science and fiction of Sapir-Whorf'

Find us in your favourite podcast app, or check out our shownotes page for more: lingthusiasm.com/post/7785882...
Green background with white text that reads 'Gretchen: We do have a word for “north.” Lauren: It’s called “north.” Simply having the word doesn’t unpack the skill of knowing where north is. That’s the language and the language prioritising spatial reference. The language is selected by the community and maintained by the community has this agreed upon habit that trains everyone to habitually be aware of where north, south, east, and west are.' Blue box with white text below reads 'Episode 102: The science and fiction of Sapir-Whorf'
March 28, 2025 at 5:35 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
Words change their meanings over time, and when we remind ourselves that etymology isn't destiny, we can also remember we're free to grow and change over the course of our lives too

'Etymology isn't Destiny' kids tshirts available in 1-12yo sizes

www.redbubble.com/i/kids-t-shi...
White background with a navy blue tshirt with rainbow cursive script that reads 'Etymology isn't Destiny'. Green boarder with blue stars and white Lingthusiasm logo.
March 26, 2025 at 5:04 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
Push back against language peevery, promote the idea that language can be analyzed scientifically, and amuse the heck out of your fellow linguists with this sturdy, snarky notebook

www.redbubble.com/i/notebook/N...
photo of a navy blue notebook with white text that says 'not judging your grammar, just analysing it'. Green background with white squiggles and Lingthusiasm logo.
March 21, 2025 at 5:50 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
In our latest episode, we referenced this adorable illustration of The Smallrus by ursulav (aka @tkingfisher.com). Listen to us get enthusiastic about linguistics from the micro to macro perspective here:
soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...

Original artwork:
www.deviantart.com/ursulav/art/...
a green background with an illustration of a tiny a walrus, a smallrus if you will, in a garden beneath two brown mushrooms. To the right of the smalls is white text that reads ‘The Smallrus by ursulav. The smallrus is the tiniest of the seal family, not much larger (and rather similar in shape) to the garden slug. They prefer damp areas with large amounts of water, like well-watered gardens with fish ponds, and can often be seen sporting in puddles and bird baths, making their typical call (a sort of squeaky bellow.) Any gardener is generally delighted to see the smallrus appear, as the occasional nibble of a leaf is more than made up for by their ability to keep down the number of mosquito larvae and other small aquatic nuisances.’ White stars around the image and text, white Lingthusiasm logo is in the bottom right corner.
March 10, 2025 at 5:50 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
From last years episode where we got enthusiastic about aspect

lingthusiasm.com/post/7563903...
Green background with white text that says: "Gretchen: And the perfect is a fun and useful aspect that you’ve already used, in fact, at the beginning of this episode. Do you remember what you said? Lauren: Yes, “I had already embroidered the IPA when we started this podcast.” Gretchen: He we have “had already embroidered,” which is an event that happened in the past before another event that also happened in the past. We started this podcast. You HAD already embroidered the IPA. This double extra perfective, it’s a completed event before another completed event – it’s perfect! It’s so complete. It’s the most complete ever." Blue rectangle with white text at bottom of page says: 'Episode 94: The perfectly imperfect aspect episode'.
March 7, 2025 at 6:47 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
Skip the small talk and help people get right into an interesting linguistics conversation with you with this fun and stylish tote bag!

www.redbubble.com/i/tote-bag/A...
Photo of white tote bag that has a stylised red stickers that says 'ask me about linguistics' on a bright green background
March 5, 2025 at 6:21 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
We've designed a subtle, minimal version of the IPA chart that's more like weird-yet-stylish nerd art and less like a diagram from an academic paper!

redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/Ae...
Photo on a green background of a model wearing a black tshirt emblazoned with a stylised IPA chart
February 28, 2025 at 6:27 PM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
10 places to get even more!

@superlinguo.bsky.social
bsky.app/starter-pack-short/UUM7Gcx
February 26, 2025 at 11:45 AM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
7 blogs, newsletters, and magazines about linguistics, and 6 linguistics-related events and physical spaces!

@lynneguist.bsky.social @sesquiotic.bsky.social @languagehat.com.web.brid.gy @babelzine.bsky.social @planetworddc.bsky.social
7 blogs, newsletters, and magazines about linguistics 1. Nancy Friedman’s substack — A professional name developer (that’s a thing!) weighs in on trends 2. Language Log — One of the longest running linguistics blogs: a few professors discuss their interests 3. Separated by a Common Language — "Observations on British and American English by an American linguist in the UK" 4. Sesquiotica — Riffs on etymology and meaning 5. Language Hat — Another longtime classic, featuring literature, translation, and lexical curiosities 6. @official-linguistics-post — Sharing posts and conversations of linguistic interest from around Tumblr 7. Babelzine — A print magazine of language and linguistics, great for school libraries to subscribe to 6 linguistics-related events and physical spaces 1. Planet Word (Washington, DC, USA) — An immersive language museum 2. Mundolingua (Paris, France) — A hands-on museum with exhibits on many branches of linguistics 3. The COSI language pod (Columbus, OH, USA) — Participate in linguistics experiments inside this science museum 4. The SLIYS summer camp (Columbus, OH, USA) — The Summer Linguistic Institute for Youth Scholars introduces high school students to linguistics 5. Kletskoppen Festival (Nijmegen, Netherlands) — A festival about language and language development for children, and their adults 6. International Linguistics Olympiad (2025 in Taipei, Taiwan) — An annual puzzle-solving competition for secondary school students, with many national editions in various countries
February 26, 2025 at 11:45 AM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
8 linguistically-inspired videogames and board games, and 9 linguistically-inspired movies and tv shows!
8 linguistically-inspired videogames and board games 1. Heaven’s Vault (video game) — Decode a mystery hieroglyphic language as a space archeologist traveling with her trusty robot sidekick 2. Chants of Sennaar (video game) — puzzle your way through uncoding the language and world of The Tower 3. Tunic (video game) — You don’t need to decode the writing system to enjoy exploring this video game as an anthropomorphic fox, but some people have enjoyed the additional challenge of cracking the writing system Cypher & Epigraph (video game) — Test and grow your cryptographic 4. skills with these increasingly feendish puzzles 5. Wavelength (board game) — A relaxed and silly party game featuring comparatives and scales. Very fun for a flexible-sized group. 6. Xenolanguage (board game) — An ethereal storytelling game about communicating with aliens featuring a unique ouija-board inspired gameplay mechanic 7. The Gostak (interactive fiction) — A classic text adventure you need to decipher a secret language to play 8. IPA Scrabble (board game) — Do-it-yourself instructions for making your own International Phonetic Alphabet Scrabble tiles 9 linguistically-inspired movies and tv shows 1. Atlantis: The Lost Empire — A linguist protagonist meets a conlang plot device 2. Arrival — The most linguistic fieldwork you’ll ever see in a sci-fi blockbuster 3. Darmok — The Star Trek episode that launched a thousand linguistics memes 4. CODA — The biggest names in ASL theatre in a multilingual movie 5. Avatar — The sci-fi epic that gave us Na'vi, one of the best loved conlangs 6. We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân — A documentary about the Wampanoag scholar who revived her nation’s language 7. My Fair Lady — A classic musical about dialect, social class, and (of course) love 8. The King’s Speech — Based on a true story: a speech-language pathologist helps King George VI overcome his stammer 9. Talking Black in America — A documentary series on African American English, Black ASL, and more
February 26, 2025 at 11:45 AM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
11 shortform video channels about linguistics (tiktok/reels)!

@etymology.substack.com.web.brid.gy @linguisticdiscovery.com @jesszafarris.bsky.social @cmfvoices.bsky.social @mixedlinguist.bsky.social @landontalks.bsky.social @sunnmcheaux.bsky.social @dextermp4.bsky.social
11 shortform video channels about linguistics (tiktok/reels) 1. etymologynerd — Internet speak, etymologies and more! (reels) 2. linguisticdiscovery — Writing systems, language families, and more (reels) 3. jesszafaris — Fun facts about words, etymologies, and more (reels) 4. cmfvoices — An audiobook director talks about the linguistics of voice acting (eels) 5. mixedlinguist — A linguistics professor comments on the language of place, identity, politics, technology, and more (reels) 6. landontalks — Linguistic quirks of the US South (reels) 7. sunnmcheaux — Language and culture from Harvard’s first and only professor of Gullah (reels) 8. dexter.mp4 — Talks about many branches of science, but loves linguistics enough to have a linguisticsy tattoo (reels) 9. danniesbrain — Linguistics and psychology from a researcher who studies both (reels) 10. wordsatwork — Quick facts on languages, families, and linguistic concepts (reels) 11. the_language — The Ojibwe language — plus food, dancing, and more
February 26, 2025 at 11:45 AM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
13 nonfiction books about linguistics and 6 linguistically-inspired novels!

@juliesedivy.bsky.social @korystamper.bsky.social @GastonDorren.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy @felicitymeakins.bsky.social @rfkuang.bsky.social @novicsara.bsky.social @mdunn1.bsky.social @sueburke.bsky.social @annleckie.com
13 nonfiction books about linguistics 1. Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch (Amazon; Bookshop) — A linguist shows how the internet is transforming the way we communicate 2. How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning and Languages Live or Die (Amazon; Bookshop) by David Crystal — A journey through the different subsystems of language 3. That’s Not What I Meant!: How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships by Deborah Tannen (Amazon; Bookshop) — A pioneering researcher on conversations gives advice on how they can go wrong 4. Memory Speaks: On Losing and Reclaiming Language and Self by Julie Sedivy (Amazon; Bookshop) — Scientific and personal reflections on nostalgia, forgetting, and language loss The Art of Language Invention: From Horse-Lords to Dark Elves to Sand Worms, the Words Behind World-Building by David J Peterson (Amazon; Bookshop) — an accessible guide to making your own conlang 5. Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don’t Rhyme—And Other Oddities of the English Language by Arika Okrent (Amazon; Bookshop) — The history behind English’s many oddities 7. Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language by Amanda Montell (Amazon; Bookshop) — A well-researched pushback on sexist language ideology 8. Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper (Amazon; Bookshop) — A lifelong lexicographer discusses the job and the things she’s learned along the way 9. Lingo: Around Europe in Sixty Languages by Gaston Dorren (Amazon; Bookshop) — A quick, funny tour of the quirks of 60 European languages 10. Bina: First Nations Languages, Old and New by Felicity Meakins, Gari Tudor-Smith, and Paul Williams (Amazon; Bookshop) — The story of Australian indigenous languages’ resistance and survival 11. Says Who?: A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words by Anne Curzan (Amazon; Bookshop) — A writers’ style and grammar guide focused on real usage, not made-up rules 12. The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book: A World Tour of Languages and Alphabets in 100 Amazing Puzzles by Alex Bellos (Amazon; Bookshop) — Solve puzzles about writing, grammar, and meaning drawn from real and fictional languages 13. Poems from the Edge of Extinction: An Anthology of Poetry in Endangered Languages (Amazon; Bookshop) — An anthology of poems in endangered languages, with commentary 6 linguistically-inspired novels 1. Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution by R.F. Kuang (Amazon; Bookshop) — Imagine a world where linguistics was as vital — and as ethically compromised — as engineering is in ours 2. True Biz by Sara Nović (Amazon; Bookshop) — Love, friendship, and struggle at a residential high school for the Deaf 3. Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by by Mark Dunn (Amazon; Bookshop) — “A progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable” full of wordplay and weirdness 4. Semiosis by Sue Burke (Amazon; Bookshop) — Human space colonists communicate with sentient plants 5. Translation State by Ann Leckie (Amazon; Bookshop) — What does life look like for a perfectly genetically engineered alien–human translator? (Spoiler: weird, that’s what.) 6. Stories of your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (Amazon; Bookshop) — Includes the long short story that became Arrival, plus other reflections on humanity and change
February 26, 2025 at 11:45 AM
lingthusiasm.bsky.social
17 podcasts & 14 youtube channels!

@vocalfriespod.bsky.social @englishhistpod.bsky.social @becauselanguage.com @allusionistshow.bsky.social @subtitle.bsky.social @lexitecture.bsky.social @waywordradio.org @thecrashcourse.bsky.social @tomscott.com @langfocus.bsky.social @biblaridion.bsky.social
17 podcasts about linguistics 1. Lingthusiasm — A podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics! 2. The Vocal Fries — Language discrimination and how to fight it 3. The History of English — From Proto-Indo-European to Shakespeare in 180 episodes (and still running!) 4. A Language I Love Is — Guests (some linguists, some not) talk about languages they love and why 5. En Clair — Forensic linguistics and literary detection 6. Because Language — New guests every episode discuss their linguistic interests 7. The Allusionist — Stories about language and the people who use it 8. Subtitle — A podcast about languages and the people who speak them 9. Field Notes — Five seasons on linguistic fieldwork 10. Tomayto Tomahto — Language meets cog sci, politics, history, law, anthropology, and more 11. Word of Mouth — A long-running and wide-ranging linguistics program on BBC 4. 12. Words Unravelled - A new and very well edited etymology podcast with popular creators RobWords and Jess Zafarris 13. Something Rhymes with Purple — Learn the background behind another word or phrase each episode 14. Lexitecture — A classic etymology podcast with a huge back catalogue 15. A Way with Words — A “lively and upbeat” public radio call-in show about language and culture 16. Språket — A radio program in Swedish answering listener questions about language. We don’t speak Swedish, but this was the most-mentioned non-English content in our listener survey! 17. Living Voices — A podcast in Spanish about endangered languages of the Amazon 14 linguistics youtube channels 1. Crash Course Linguistics — A whole linguistics course in 16 videos 2. Tom Scott’s Language Files — Pithy language facts explained quickly and clearly 3. NativLang — Language reconstruction and the history of writing 4. Geoff Lindsay — Facts (and some scholarly opinions) about regional English pronunciation 5. The Ling Space — An educational channel all about linguistics 6. langfocus — A language factoid channel that digs deeper than many 7. K Klein — Language quirks, spelling reform, and a little conlanging 8. biblaridion — Teaching about conlanging and worldbuilding, with lots of linguistics along the way 9. RobWords — "A channel for lovers and learners of English" 10. Otherwords — "the fascinating, thought-provoking, and funny stories behind the words and sounds we take for granted" 11. LingoLizard — Widely spoken languages and their quirks, comparisons, and history 12. linguriosa — Spanish linguistics (in Spanish), including learning tips and linguistic history 13. human1011 — Quick accessible facts about linguistics (and sometimes other things) 14. Simon Roper — Language evolution and historical English pronunciation
February 26, 2025 at 11:45 AM