Hello, everyone. I'm Emily Brewster, host of Word Matters,
a new language podcast from Merriam-Webster in collaboration with New England Public Media.
I'll be joined by fellow Merriam-Webster editors Neil Servin, Amon Shea,
and Peter Sokolowski in exploring the captivating, convoluted creature that is the English language.
We've been taught the fact that it's a wrong word.
We've been taught the reason for objectivity.
We have not really been given an organic reason.
to dislike the word other than we've been told to dislike it.
Yeah, and people very selectively apply logic to language.
It's very convenient, it's great when it works, but of course language isn't logical.
Words catch on, words work when they have a function.
And this word seems to be doing what it's meant to do.
The only problem with this, of course, is that it is not at all true.
But you're telling me he didn't coin all those words?
No, Shakespeare did not coin all those words.
This is what I'm kind of curious about.
What is the difference between dinner and supper.
In theory, there should be nothing wrong with Van being a preposition, right?
In theory.
Yeah, I don't think so,