I recently started learning French, and the process has made one thing clear to me: There’s a lot I don’t understand about how languages work. So, I turned to John McWhorter, a linguist who has dedicated his career to demystifying the roughly 7,000 languages spoken around the world. When he isn’t busy <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/17151107.John_McWhorter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writing books</a>, John is a professor at Columbia University, host of his own <a href="https://slate.com/podcasts/lexicon-valley" target="_blank" rel="noopener">podcast</a>, and frequent lecturer for <a href="https://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/john-mcwhorter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Great Courses</a>. He helped me understand why English is so irregular, what the ideal language would look like, why all dialects are created equal, and more.
Show notes:
John’s books: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/17151107.John_McWhorter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Books by John McWhorter (Author of Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue) (goodreads.com)</a> 
Lexicon Valley: <a href="https://slate.com/podcasts/lexicon-valley" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lexicon Valley with John McWhorter. (slate.com)</a> 
John’s Great Courses: <a href="https://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/john-mcwhorter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John McWhorter (thegreatcourses.com)</a> 
Pronoun Trouble from Looney Tunes: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e1hZGDaqIw&ab_channel=ariel141" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rabbit Seasoning &#8211; Pronoun Problem &#8211; YouTube</a> 
Muldoon the Bassoon from A Child’s Introduction to the Orchestra: <a href="https://youtu.be/C_ipa4JzNNc?t=545" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://youtu.be/C_ipa4JzNNc?t=545</a>

Bill Gates

Episode 4: John McWhorter

I recently started learning French, and the process has made one thing clear to me: There’s a lot I don’t understand about how languages work. So, I turned to John McWhorter, a linguist who has dedicated his career to demystifying the roughly 7,000 languages spoken around the world. When he isn’t busy writing books, John [&hellip;]

Unconfuse me with Bill Gates Episode #4

Episode 4: John McWhorter