The Republican vice presidential pick wants to take another look at programs like Medicare and Social Security. Fresh Air's resident linguist parses the word "entitlement" in its political and nonpolitical contexts.
Linguist Geoff Nunberg considers the proper terminology for describing white-collar fraudster Bernie Madoff, from the Dickensian "scoundrel" to the plebeian "scumbag."
How many words are in the English language? 500,000? 1 million? Our linguist says there is no way to really count all the words. What's more, he wonders why people even care.
Language commentator recalls how he learned Italian by watching dubbed American movies while studying abroad, and considers why Italian filmgoers prefer dubbing over subtitles.
The Kansas board of Education decided recently to leave evolution out if its required curriculum. Linguist Geoff Nunberg examines how the language of the controversy has changed over the century.
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.
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."
Linguist Geoff Nunberg comments on the way films like Star Wars have influenced the language of corporate culture. Enron picked names such as Jedi Capital and Obi-1 Holdings, Inc. to hide funds offshore.
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.
