Linguist Geoff Nunberg comments on Simon Winchester's new book "The Professor and the Madman." It details the true story of the American psychopath who played a major role in compiling the Oxford English Dictionary in the mid 1800s.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg reflects on our use of the term "postmodern" to describe everything from art to architecture. But Nunberg wonders when exactly modernism began and ended.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg looks at the current debate surrounding black vernacular in school, which the Oakland school board has dubbed "Ebonics."

Despite the advice of grammarians, linguist Geoff Nunberg believes in the usefulness of the passive voice.

Nunberg talks about idiomatic expressions like "on the up and up." What does it mean when people interpret these sayings differently?

In his essay "On Liars," philosopher Michel de Montaigne famously wrote that the truth has a single face, while its opposite has "a hundred thousand faces."

Linguist Geoff Nunberg says the word "sensitive" was complicated long before it was political. These days, "sensitivities" can be a stand-in for a lot of different attitudes -- some more defensible than others. Our modern stress on sensitivities, he says, probably set back cultural understanding as much as it has advanced it.

Language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg reflects on the year 2000, what it used to mean and how it resonates today.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg comments on false etymologies and race.

Political analysts have been dividing the country into red states and blue states for several elections now, but it's only in the last year or two that the distinction has really caught on with the media and the public. As our linguist Geoff Nunberg points out, the odd thing is that the new usage seems to reverse the traditional political meanings of red and blue.

Seven-year-old Jakelin Caal died in U.S. custody in December. Linguist Geoff Nunberg says her death might have been prevented had border agents spoken the Mayan language Q'eqchi'.

Nunberg considers profanity and how certain words, in certain eras, have had the power to offend.

Geoff Nunberg discusses the difference between progressives and liberals.

Language commentator Geoffrey Nunberg comments on his young daughter's use of the exclamation "YESSSS!"

Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on the evolution of World Wide Web naming conventions, such as attaching "e" or "cyber" in front of everything Internet.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg tells us what words he would like to see us get rid of for the year 2000.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg reflects on Europanto, a form of language aimed at allowing Europeans to talk with each other without using English all the time.

Linguist Geoffrey Nunberg discusses the word "clarity."

Language critic Geoffrey Nunberg talks about the accuracy of automatic grammar checkers included with computer word processing programs like Microsoft Word.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, linger in our thoughts, but not so much in our speech. Linguist Geoff Nunberg says "it's striking that 9/11 and its aftereffects have left almost no traces in the language of everyday life."