Nov 13, 2020
When shopping for vegetables, do you look for “aubergine” or “eggplant”? What you say depends on where you learned English. US copy editor Pam Nelson and UK writer Samantha White discuss the rise of “awesome”, why some seemingly simple words have different pronunciations in the UK and US, and more.
What you’ll learn from this episode:
- How English speakers in different parts of the world pronounce “niche” — apparently there are more than two ways.
- When “awesome” came into regular usage.
- Why one guest says it can feel cathartic to say “gobsmacked”.
- The ways that English speakers in India are contributing to our global lexicon.
- A bit of history about the phrase “chalk up” and how it is sometimes confused with “chock up”.