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Learned vs. Learnt

Are we tested on what we’ve learned, or what we’ve learnt? Grant explains how efforts to replace the “t” verb ending with “ed” gradually took hold in the United States, but not in Britain. Affiliated nations, such...

Early Language Acquisition

How do children acquire language? Do they start with nouns, like “Mama” and “cat,” then graduate to verbs and other parts of speech? Grant explains that language acquisition starts even earlier, with children simply emulating...

It’s in My Wheelhouse

What was your first word? Grant and Martha talk about how children acquire language. Also, if you say that something’s in your wheelhouse, you mean that it’s within your area of expertise. But why “wheelhouse”? And what does...

Can’t See a White Cat

More great color idioms, this time from Serbo-Croatian: In that language, a phrase that translates as “I can’t see a white cat” means “I’m very tired,” and to “stare like a calf at a colorful door”...