podcasts

Beth Golay visits with documentary filmmaker, Rose Smith, about her debut novel.

We look at the differences between words that appear to be almost exactly the same. Historic vs. Historical, Classic vs. Classical, Fantastic vs. Fantastical... Are they always the same? Are they ever the same?

Beth Golay visits with author August Lamm about her book, "You Don't Need a Smartphone."

Just in time for the spoookiest day of the year (Election Day), we take a look at the ways politicians talk to us and try to win us to their side. We look at axiology in language, antithesis, epistrophe, deixis, and chiasmus, among other devices.

Beth Golay visits with author Mary Beth Keane about her new novel, "Whale Harbor."

We talk about one of the scariest of things: words that seem like they should mean the same thing but actually don't. Is a hobgoblin just a fancy goblin? What's the difference between a coffin and a casket? And why do people keep saying "autobiography" when they mean "memoir?"

We look at the origins of some fall-related and autumn-related words. Which, to be clear, are the same thing.

Beth Golay visits with author Elizabeth Castellano on her new novel, "Proof of Progress." And she also reviews "After Midnight: Thirteen Tales for the Dark Hours" by Daphne du Maurier.

We're talking about how we understand each other even when we're using techniques we don't realize we're using, and how we work together to communicate. We'll dive into Grice's Maxims of Conversation and the importance of implicature in everyday conversation.

On this episode, Beth Golay visits with Pulitzer Prize–winning author, Hernan Diaz, about his new novel "Ply."