Best Nerd Forensics Podcasts (2025)

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TWTS: Presumptions and assumptions about "presume" and "assume" 5:19

1d ago5:19

5:19

We can presume things, which may or may not be presumptuous. We can also assume things, which then raises the question of whether things can be "assumptuous."By Anne Curzan, Rebecca Kruth

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TWTS: Taking a whack at "whack" 4:57

11d ago4:57

4:57

For those of us of a certain age, if we whack a tennis ball or a softball too hard or at the wrong angle, we could throw our back out of whack.By Rebecca Kruth, Anne Curzan

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TWTS: How "heist" was lifted for a life of crime 4:53

18d ago4:53

4:53

We sometimes talk about stealing or robbery in terms of "lifting" things, and this is relevant to "heists" as well.By Anne Curzan, Rebecca Kruth

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TWTS: That's what they used to say (we think) 5:12

23d ago5:12

5:12

We will never know some of the informal language that was bandied about among speakers in the time of Beowulf.By Rebecca Kruth, Anne Curzan

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TWTS: Think hard before pointing out language quirks 5:11

1M ago5:11

5:11

There are so many interesting bits of language in the world, we can’t help but notice. The question is, when you notice someone saying something interesting, should you point it out?By Anne Curzan, Rebecca Kruth

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TWTS: When word nerds fight crimes 5:25

1M ago5:25

5:25

In a criminal case, you just might need a linguist.By Rebecca Kruth, Anne Curzan

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TWTS: Why your high school forensics club didn't solve crimes 4:32

1M ago4:32

4:32

There's competitive forensics, but there's also forensic medicine, forensic accounting, and forensic linguistics too.By Anne Curzan, Rebecca Kruth

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TWTS: The expressionless expression of "deadpan" 5:23

2M ago5:23

5:23

The word "deadpan" is on the rise, as multiple parts of speech. That "pan" is related to the historical expression “shut your pan."By Rebecca Kruth, Anne Curzan

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TWTS: Whenever you say "whenever" 5:24

2M ago5:24

5:24

Not all of us use the word 'whenever' in exactly the same way, and people are noticing.By Anne Curzan, Rebecca Kruth

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TWTS: One hundred is worth a hundred 5:14

2M ago5:14

5:14

It’s 100% true that people online are asking about sentences like, “I got an a hundred on the test.”By Anne Curzan, Rebecca Kruth

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TWTS: Not all sounds resonate 5:20

2M ago5:20

5:20

The way some people use "resonate" doesn't resonate with all of our listeners.By Rebecca Kruth, Anne Curzan

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TWTS: When a sweep gets clean 4:49

3M ago4:49

4:49

We can sweep the floor, sweep the board, sweep the stakes, sweep the series – and maybe it will even be called a "clean sweep."By Anne Curzan, Rebecca Kruth

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TWTS: May as well get comfortable with "comfortability" 5:15

3M ago5:15

5:15

While you may not find “comfortability” in many standard dictionaries yet, it is out there in circulation with “comfortableness.”By Rebecca Kruth, Anne Curzan

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TWTS: If you find “the lurch,” don’t stick around 4:55

3M ago4:55

4:55

Sometimes we’re left in the lurch. It’s probably fair to say that most of us don’t know where that lurch is.By Anne Curzan, Rebecca Kruth

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TWTS: Where did that pit in your stomach come from? 5:13

3M ago5:13

5:13

It appears that some of those bad or uneasy feelings we may feel in the pit of our stomach have become a pit in our stomach.By Rebecca Kruth, Anne Curzan