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Geoffrey Nunberg

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05:49

Taboo Revival: Talking Private Parts In Public Places.

Earlier this month, there was a national uproar when a Michigan state legislator was disciplined for using a clinical sexual term during a debate. According to linguist Geoff Nunberg, it was just one of many such incidents that reflect a trend he calls the New Reticence.

Commentary
05:42

The Word 'Hopefully' Is Here To Stay, Hopefully

When The Associated Press said it would no longer condemn the use of the adverb "hopefully" in its style guide, most people shrugged. But the announcement was a red flag to people who have made the adverb the biggest bugaboo of English usage over the past 50 years.

Commentary
06:44

Slut: The Other Four Letter S-Word

Rush Limbaugh said a number of things about Sandra Fluke that created such a stir that he ultimately had to apologize. But most of the reactions focused on that once word: slut. Linguist Geoff Nunberg observes that our reaction to the word says a quite a lot about the society we live in.

Commentary
06:44

Steve, Myself And i: The Big Story Of A Little Prefix.

The "i" prefix began as an abbreviation for the word "Internet," but ended up being much more than that. "By the time i- was fleshed out, Apple had transformed itself from a culty computer-maker to a major religion," says linguist Geoff Nunberg.

Commentary
06:07

Unlike Most Marxist Jargon, 'Class Warfare' Persists.

Words like "proletariat" and "masses" have largely left the lexicon, but linguist Geoff Nunberg says "class warfare" is a specter that haunts the English language — whenever there are appeals for making the rich pay more.

Commentary
05:31

No Language Legacy: Where's The Sept. 11 Vocab?

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."

Commentary
05:52

What The Word 'Compromise' Really Means.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg says the compromises we refuse to make say the most about our character. "Sometimes we stand on principle for the heady satisfaction of showing that we can't be pushed around," he says.

Commentary
05:25

Bad Apple Proverbs: There's One In Every Bunch

The phrase "a few bad apples" is much more popular now than it was decades ago. Linguist Geoff Nunberg says the phrase may owe its popularity to a change in meaning -- and The Osmond Brothers.

Commentary

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