Gretchen McCulloch

@gretchenmcculloch.com

25742 Followers 4624 Following

Internet linguist. Wrote Because Internet, NYT bestseller about internet language. Co-hosts @lingthusiasm.com, a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics. she/her 🌈 Montreal en/fr 🇨🇦 gretchenmcculloch.com

A text chat: Other person, at noon: a stylized schwa Me, half an hour later: Hahaha schwa OP: This podcast I listen to said it was going to be schwa day today I apparently put a reminder in my calendar when I listened to that episode lol Me: Wait what Is this my podcast OP: Lol yes Me: I completely forgot OP: You said it was the most mid day Me: Hahahaha That's incredible What an excellent joke that apparently my past self made
Eight minizines on a table, with the following titles: 1. How do *you* say it? plus a drawing of an armadillo 2. [a string of coloured shapes followed by a question mark] 3. untangle- -ing with a ball of yarn 4. What is linguistic discrimination? with some stick figures of various shapes and colours 5. A quel point do you speak Canadian? plus a maple leaf 6. Why does my voice sound so WEIRD in recordings? 7. The Wonderful World of the Ontario French Immersion system plus a drawing of an official-looking building 8. Language Documentation and the value of Archiving with LDTC
Solvitur ambulando on Wikipedia Solvitur ambulando (Latin: [ˈsolwitur ambuˈlandoː]) is a Latin phrase which means "it is solved by walking", referring to an anecdotal, practical solution to a seemingly complex philosophical problem. It is often attributed to Saint Augustine in a refutation of Zeno's paradoxes of motion.[1]
A round orange sign saying "passé composé" on the outside of honestly a pretty unremarkable grey brick building, viewed from the sidewalk. You're mostly getting sky reflected off the plate glass windows in front but inside is a restaurant. And it's named after a grammatical construction!
Gretchen: We recently got a great book recommendation from a listener – shoutout to Trish B. – who asked us on Bluesky whether we’d read Hellspark by Janet Kagan and said it was a science fiction murder mystery and one of your top four books ever. Lauren: Also, shoutout to the four other people who immediately replied and said they also loved this book – a book we’d never heard of. Gretchen: With endorsements like that, I had to read it. I can tell you it was great. We are gonna structure a whole episode around it. Lauren: If those initial endorsements weren’t enough, you told me there was a bunch of gesture stuff in it, and so I had to read it. Gretchen: Let’s start with the basic premise of Hellspark. We’re not assuming anyone else has read it. Lauren: Yeah, I guess it’s a murder mystery. Gretchen: [Laughs] I honestly forgot about the murder mystery part. To me, this book was really about cross-cultural communication. We’re on a planet. There’s a survey crew of humans trying to figure out whether this alien species – which I pictured as sort of looking like an emu – is capable of intelligent communication.
Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics 116: Cross-cultural communication (in space!) This is an auto-generated transcript. Its accuracy may vary. Music playing 00:18- From Website Updates to Dreaming of Space Linguists Welcome to Enthusiasm, a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics. I'm Gretchen McCulloch. 00:23- Speaker 2 And I'm Lauren Gaughan, and today we're getting enthusiastic about understanding aliens, fantastical creatures, and perhaps the trickiest group of all other human cultures.
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Lingthusiasm podcast in a podcast app Episode 116: Cross-cultural communication (in space!) Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics Play, mark played, playlist buttons A prominently displayed "view transcript" banner with the "AI sparkles" Description: Sometimes, you're talking with someone and you just seem to click. Other times, you just can't seem to get comfortable: they're standing too close or too far away for comfort, making too much or too little eye contact, touching or not touching you in a way that just doesn't quite feel right. But where do our senses of what feels comfortable in a conversation come from, and how can they be so different from each other?
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english: leather jacket french: veste en cuir [normal translation] Definitions of leather jacket: (Noun) any of a number of tough-skinned marine fishes [wtf???]
- YEAH GRETCHEN YOU CAN’T TAKE A DRINK OF WATER MID SENTENCE
My hand holding a delicious-looking round cylindrical pastry (soft on the hollow inside, crusty with cinnamon sugar on the outside) in a brown paper bag outside a shop window reading: Gâteau Cheminée Kürtoskalács Cozonac Secuiesc Chimney Cake
My hand holding a zoom h4n recorder against some nice foliage, as an instagram screenshot with the caption: New recorder in its natural environment thanks to our supporters on Patreon! 🎧💚🎙️ Datestamp: July 7, 2017
user abbiistabbii: The Germans really cooked making "Hobbyless behaviour" an insult. It is both devastating, applicable to a wide range of people and behaviours, and doesn't resort to swearing. Man ranting on the internet about the Superbowl halftime show or complaining that something is "woke"? Hobbyless Behaviour. Girls mocking another girl for not looking right? Hobbyless Behaviour. Mindless vandalism? Hobbyless Behaviour. It is more powerful than "get a life" or the English "You're Sad" because it gets to the central point of the matter, and that is wonderful. Danke, Deutsch.
William Jones was born in London; his father William Jones (1675–1749) was a mathematician from Anglesey in Wales, noted for introducing the use of the symbol π. The young William Jones was a linguistic prodigy, who in addition to his native languages English and Welsh,[3] learned Greek, Latin, Persian, Arabic, Hebrew and the basics of Chinese writing at an early age.[4] By the end of his life, he knew eight languages with critical thoroughness.[5]
Book cover: Mother Tongue by Sara Nović as black letters with the corresponding ASL letters overlaid in white, on a yellow background. My hand (with thick silver rings on it) is holding it up against some greenery (an indoor plant was the best I could find this time of year)
Name my 2026 lambs after famous language scientists? February 26, 2026 7:08 AM Subscribe Last year I asked for suggestions of famous dancers to name my lambs for, and that was fun, so here I am again, this time looking for names from famous people in all the arts/sciences related to language, this being my "L" year. Linguistics, lexicology, library science, all good. Expecting 30+ lambs so will need quite a few. Looking forward to naming the prettiest boy Tolkien. posted by Rhedyn to Writing & Language (41 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
Book cover reading: Sara Nović, Mother Tongue, the letters in both Roman capitals and ASL manual alphabet handshapes overlaid
A spiky shape in green on a black background
A lot of green dots in clusters with gretchenmcculloch.com circled in the "Linguistics academics and professionals" cluster, adjacent are "Canadian progressive media and politics" and "academic sociologists and demographers" clusters
"More than 3 years ago, the famous Roman emperor Julius Caesar passed away" written over a marble bust of Caesar.
Have you ever misheard a song lyric like "got a long list of ex-lovers" as "Starbucks lovers"? Or maybe you've swapped some sounds around like "well-boiled icicle" for "well-oiled bicycle" or seen Alzheimer's Disease referred to by the more sensical, similar-sounding name "Old-timer's Disease". Mixups like these are not only fun to share examples of, but they also tell us things about how language works in our brains. In this bonus episode of (ahem) Thing-Lusiasm, Lauren and Gretchen get enthusiastic about three of our favourite kinds of linguistic mixups: spoonerisms, mondegreens, and eggcorns. We talk about William Spooner, the Oxford prof from the 1800s that many spoonerisms are (falsely) attributed to, Lauren's very Australian 90s picture book of spoonerisms, the Scottish song "The Bonny Earl of Moray" which gave rise to the term mondegreen, why there are so many more mondegreens in older pop songs and folk songs than there are now, and how eggcorn is a double eggcorn (a mis-parsing of acorn, which itself is an eggcorn of oak-corn for akern).
2026 bingo card B column: read 3 books I already own make book craft reorg books fix bookshelf write things I column: go around park go skating lift heavy things go to contra dancing bike up the Berri hill N column: volunteer make a new friend FREE SPACE have people over to my place sing in a group G column: try new ice cream flavour cabane à sucre themed food party SWIRL with friends make fridge pickles O column: new street fest tour la nuit see live music hang out in the park see a play
Incipit gestis Rudolphi rangifer tarandus Hwæt, Hrodulf readnosa hrandeor – Næfde þæt nieten unsciende næsðyrlas! Glitenode and gladode godlice nosgrisele. Ða hofberendas mid huscwordum hine gehefigodon; Nolden þa geneatas Hrodulf næftig To gomene hraniscum geador ætsomne. Þa in Cristesmæsseæfne stormigum clommum, Halga Claus þæt gemunde to him maðelode: “Neahfreond nihteage nosubeorhtende! Min hroden hrædwæn gelæd ðu, Hrodulf!” Ða gelufodon hira laddeor þa lyftflogan – Wæs glædnes and gliwdream; hornede sum gegieddode “Hwæt, Hrodulf readnosa hrandeor, Brad springð þin blæd: breme eart þu!”
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell next to a tiny pot of salted caramel spread from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie next to a tiny pot of Strawberry Rhubarb jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
The Art of Language Invention by David J Peterson next to a tiny pot of raspberry lychee jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
The Language of Food: A linguist reads the menu by Dan Jurafsky next to a tiny pot of Strawberry passionfruit jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
True Biz by Sara Nović next to a tiny pot of Blackcurrant peach with Sichuan peppercorn jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
Index, A History of the: A bookish adventure from medieval manuscripts to the digital age by Dennis Duncan next to a tiny pot of Italian mandarins jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
Rude Hand Gestures of the World by Romana Lefevre next to a tiny pot of pink peppercorn cherry jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch next to a tiny pot of cinnamon clementine pear jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
Ella Minnow Pea: A novel in letters by Mark Dunn next to a tiny pot of orange yuzu grapefruit marmelade from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York by Ross Perlin next to a tiny pot of orange guava lime jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
Gesture: A Slim Guide by Lauren Gawne next to a tiny pot of Ginger mango jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
Proto: How one ancient language went global by Laura Spinney next to a tiny pot of honey apricot jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
Babel: Around the world in twenty languages by Gaston Dorren next to a tiny pot of Raspberry redcurrant jelly from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith and a tiny pot of pineapple rum vanilla jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
The origin of OK is disputed; however, most modern reference works hold that it originated around Boston as part of a fad in the late 1830s of abbreviating misspellings; that it is an initialism of "oll korrect" as a misspelling of "all correct". This origin was first described by linguist Allen Walker Read in the 1960s.
To Shape A Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose next to a tiny pot of blueberry lychee rose jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
Language Made Plain, a very plain yellowing old school 1970s paperback, by Anthony Burgess, next to a tiny pot of vanilla caramel spread from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
The Language Lover's Puzzle book by Alex Bellos next to a tiny pot of Bonne Maman jam reading Lemon verbena white nectarine and peach and the winter landscape art of the jamvent calendar
The Fifth Season by NK Jemison next to a tiny pot of Bonne Maman caramel coffee spread from the jamvent calendar
The Odyssey by Homer translated by Emily Wilson next to a tiny pot of lavender apricot jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
Babel by RF Kuang next to a tiny pot of Pomme Caramel à la Cannelle (Apple Cinnamon Caramel) spread from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
True Color: The strange and spectacular quest to define color — from Azure to Zinc Pink book by Kory Stamper Alongside the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar with cerise et feuille de violette (Cherry and violet leaf)
Hellspark by Janet Kagen next to Quetsches et Poires à la Badiane (prune plum and pear with anise) jam from the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
Talking Hands by Margalit Fox: In a remote village where everyone speaks sign language, scientists are discovering the essential ingredients of all human language -- and uncovering the workings of the human mind. Book sitting next to a tiny pot of Bonne Maman figue et cardamome (fig cardamom) jam, on a background of the whole Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
Linguaphile: A life of language love book next to a tiny pot of jam saying "Bonne Maman: myrtille et érable (blueberry and maple) on top of the Bonne Maman jamvent calendar
A beautiful purple jacaranda tree in full bloom, featuring lovely lush greenery in the background and no snow whatsoever, goddammit
Closeup on the Bonne Maman jam Advent calendar, with art of snowy trees and penguins on sleds, on top of a blurry floral watercoloury scarf in reds, blues, and white.
A fluffy, flaky snowball on the left, a round, smooth, dense snowball on the right
Surprising ethno-linguistic enclaves around the world. There are German-speaking Mennonites in Kyrgyzstan, a village in the Venezuelan jungle whose inhabitants speak an old fashioned German dialect, Greek-speakers in Southern Italy, and quite a lot of Thai people in Svalbard. We’re interested in pieces about groups like these – how they got there, what life is like for them, and so on – especially if you have photographs and have visited them yourself.
A pumpkin carved with a rounded blobby shape and a sharp, spiky shape.
Book: Talking Hands by Margalit Fox. Subtitle: In a remote village where everyone speaks sign langy, scientists are discovering the essential ingredients of all human language -- and uncovering the workings of the human mind. Book cover has hands signing and a desert image, and is held in my hand with a background view of train tracks and blurry greenery.
A spooky package with a pointy, 3-eyed chocolate monster labelled "Monstre Kiki"
tweet from childish branzino @absflora: timothée chalamet is the new benedict cumberbatch in the sense that you can say ANYTHING and we know who you mean. tiffany chevrolet. timpanogos charlemagne. symphony cabernet. jiminy castaway.
Tweet from Sally Reed @SallyJWReed: This is a #BecauseInternetBook. Now there are two of them. That's right, @GretchenAMcC, I dressed up as your book. Because nerd. With a photo of a smiling person in a yellow shirt with paper pinned to it reading "Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language. Gretchen McCulloch" in yellow and light blue, matching the copy of Because Internet she's holding
Language is mobile and liable to change … a very large number of words have two or more pronunciations current … giving life and variety to language … it is a free country, and a man may call a vase a vawse, a vahse, a vaze, or a vase, as he pleases. And why should he not? We do not all think alike, walk alike, dress alike, write alike, or dine alike; why should we not use our liberty in speech also, so long as the purpose of speech, to be intelligible, and its grace, are not interfered with?