The Slate sports podcast “Hang Up and Listen” discusses “Pigskin Parlance,” the On Language column on football lingo. (Discussion begins at 33:30 in the podcast.)
January 2011
Interview on WCBS Newsradio about the latest lingo from the world of football (Jan. 28, 2011).
Interview on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” about the language of Obama’s State of the Union address (Jan. 28, 2011).
Ben Zimmer, “On Language” columnist for the New York Times and executive producer of Visual Thesaurus and Vocabulary.com, takes a closer look at some of the words and phrases that the president used in his State of the Union speech.
(Show page, streaming audio, download, related Word Routes column)
The New York Times excerpts a clip from the recent Bloggingheads discussion on Obama’s State of the Union speech.
John McWhorter, left, of The New Republic and Benjamin Zimmer of The New York Times discuss the State of the Union address.
Watch the New York Times clip here, and watch the entire Bloggingheads conversation here.
Interview with CBS News Political Hotsheet on the language of the State of the Union address.
Ben Zimmer, who writes the “On Language” column for the New York Times, says one reason the GOP launched the preemptive strike is because they sense the president has rediscovered his linguistic edge in recent weeks.
“Republicans recognize they are at rhetorical disadvantage,” Zimmer said. “Obama has been on an upward path lately with improved popularity and the Tucson speech in part was something that … established Obama as speaking from a position that is really above the fray.”
Read the rest here.
Conversation with John McWhorter for Bloggingheads.tv analyzing President Obama’s State of the Union address.
Interview on “The Conversation” with Ross Reynolds (KUOW Seattle) about Obama’s State of the Union address.
(Show page, RealAudio, MP3, download, related Word Routes column. Segment begins about 11 minutes into the show.)
Interview on WABC’s “The John Batchelor Show” immediately after the State of the Union address (Jan. 25, 2011).
Interview on NPR’s “Morning Edition” previewing President Obama’s State of the Union address (Jan. 25, 2011).
President Obama is not expected to use the word spending in his State of the Union address Tuesday night. Instead, the word of the moment is investment. Ben Zimmer, who writes the “On Language” column in The New York Times Magazine, parses the two terms.
Interview on WCBS Newsradio about autocorrect goofs. (Jan. 14, 2011).