There are pundits who really don't like it if people call them "pundents." As a listener pointed out to us, this mispronunciation isn't uncommon. Susan Serafin Jess says, "The otherwise fastidious Jim Lehrer said ['pundent' for 'pundit'] throughout his tenure on the PBS News Hour. I have heard other journalists misuse this, including on WUOM."

That's What They Say

TWTS: Pundits have thoughts about "pundents"

This week we looked at two words that have nothing to do with each other, aside from the fact that they both begin with “p.” At least they’ve got one thing in common. Our first “p” word is “pound.” Our listener Jay Winegarden often hears people use the phrase “pounding beers” or something similar when relaying a drinking story.

TWTS: Two "p" words with nothing in common

We keep track of things, we lose track of things, we run track, and listen to tracks. Sometimes though, we confuse “track” with “tract.” Recently, a graduate student who works closely with Professor Anne Curzan pointed out a job posting for a “tenure tract” position.

Keeping track of “track” and “tract”

Our listener Susan Lessian is a Boston transplant who says she still struggles with some "midwesternisms," despite having moved here years ago. She says, "The one that disturbs me the most is the use of 'can't hardly' for 'can hardly.' Isn't this actually a double negative?" Susan is right that many usage guides have classified "can't hardly" as a double negative. But the situation is more complicated than that.

TWTS: "Can hardly" or "can't hardly"? It hardly matters

Many of us were taught that a sentence should never end with a preposition. However, some sentences just sound better when they do.

TWTS: A rule about which we should be asking questions

Generally, the word “either” is pronounced either with a long “I” sound or a short “I” sound. People on both sides have pledged loyalty to their particular pronunciation. Either way, we think there’s a more interesting debate to be had over this word.

TWTS: By "either," do you mean "either" or "either?"

The rule about when to use "between" and when to use "among" seems straightforward, until you look more closely. Then it's not straightforward at all. Our listener Lowell Boileau wanted to know what we think about this rule: "My understanding is that 'between' is for 'between two parties' and 'among' is for 'among three or more parties.' Yet I hear and read 'between' frequently used in reference to three or more." Many of us grew up with this exact same rule, but Lowell is right. Not everyone follows it. For example, let's say you're looking over the menu at a restaurant. You've narrowed it down to two options, so you say, "I'm trying to choose between the steak or the lasagna." That's two things, so you use "between." If you haven't narrowed it down to two, you might say, "I'm trying to choose among the many entrees on the menu," because there are more than two options. However, the fact is that you will hear people say, "I'm trying to choose between the many options on the menu," and

TWTS: Just between us, sometimes we say "between" when the rules say use "among"

When we describe someone as “obtuse,” there are clear negative connotations. The scope of those connotations has been expanding, perhaps because of the word “abstruse.” “Abstruse” came on our radar recently when Professor Anne Curzan received an email with this subject line: “I thought this word was a joke: abstruse.”

TWTS: An "abstruse" takeover

On this week's That's What They Say, English Professor Anne Curzan fills us in on the American Dialect Society's annual "Word of the Year" vote. The fact that this year's selection was the first ever to be held virtually should give you a big clue about the winner.

TWTS: The American Dialect Society's "so 2020" Word of the Year

If someone tells you to leave your keys on the dash, you probably know right where to leave them -- on top of the panel in your car that displays controls and information, i.e. the dashboard. A listener recently pointed out to us that the "board" part of this compound sort of makes sense, but what's going on with "dash"? It's tempting to assume it has something to do with speed, but that's not the case.

TWTS: Dashing through the snow ... or mud

You’re probably familiar with the phrase “batten down the hatches,” especially if you’ve ever turned on the Weather Channel before a major storm. A colleague of Professor Anne Curzan recently asked us though, can “batten” pair with anything else? Good question.

TWTS: How many things can you batten?

Last week on That's What They Say , we talked about a peeve over "exasperate" getting used in place of "exacerbate." This week, we looked at two more words that often get entangled, "trammel" and "trample." Professor Anne Curzan ran across "trammel" while researching last week's show. While we're very familiar with things like "untrammeled access" or "untrammeled nature," "trammel" on its own raised a flag.

TWTS: When the distinction between "trammel" and "trample" gets trampled

The words "exacerbate" and "exasperate" look and sound very similar. That could explain why people sometimes say "exasperate" when they mean "exacerbate," as our listner Judy Nikolai has noticed. "Once or twice I've even heard reporters or interviewees on NPR employ what I believe is this incorrect usage," she says.

TWTS: Don't let "exasperate" and "exacerbate" exasperate you

Some words sound similar but don't have anything to do with each other. Others sound similar and have everything to do with each other. When a listener asked us about "ornery," we had no idea that it fell into the latter category, alongside "ordinary." They do sound similar, but how are they related?

TWTS: The not-so-ordinary world of "ordinary" and "ornery"

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s election, we found ourselves wondering about the history of “aftermath.” A listener named Sybil Kolon put "aftermath" on our radar a couple of weeks ago. This past week, we noticed people from all over the political spectrum using it in discussions of a post-election world.

TWTS: No calculator required for the math in "aftermath"

That's What They Say is a weekly segment on Michigan Radio that explores our changing language. Each week University of Michigan English Professor Anne Curzan will discuss why we say what we say with Michigan Radio Weekend Edition host Rebecca Kruth.

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