I was going to say this was “fabulous,” but then I was going to switch it to “very good,” but that didn’t work, either. I literally can’t say how good it is!

@noelward8047

Жыл бұрын

Clever Haha

@666t

Жыл бұрын

Figuratively

@eekee6034

Жыл бұрын

@@666t Oh, I'm sure he literally meant literally. :>

@chilldude30

Жыл бұрын

I'm bemused by this comment 😂

@tookiecar1

Жыл бұрын

Good spectrum _____________ Furries Trash Hated Bad Overrated Manly Eh Medium Good Great Very good Excellent Fabulous Marvelous Granted TREMENDOUS UNREAL ❤ 👍

I used to collect dictionaries. I recall one instance on an internet message forum many moons ago, with an argument between one American, a Canadian (me) and an English person. The Englis person and the Canadian were trying to explain to the American that something someone had said was not in fact an insult, but he would have none of it. So, I got out my trusty Canadian Gage dictionary, my Miriam Webster American dictionary, and my pocket OED. It turned out that the American usage of the word in question (which I don't remember now 20+ years later) was completely opposite of how the same word is used in Canadian and English English. Dictionaries are fun! I also loved the book "The Professor and the Madman". Highly recommend!

@josueveguilla9069

Жыл бұрын

Awesome. Thank you for the sauce, Musing With Reba.

@jcortese3300

Жыл бұрын

I remember hearing this of the word "homely." If you call someone that in the UK, it means something like "cozy" but in the US, it means "ugly," as in someone so unattractive that they probably don't want to go outside much.

@musingwithreba9667

Жыл бұрын

@J Cortese yes, we use it both ways here in Canada. Our language is heavily influenced by being next-door neighbours to America. I still refuse to drop the "u" in neighbour though 😁

@MrVvulf

Жыл бұрын

I will never part with the dictionary my father passed down to me. It's a 1959 Webster's "New International Dictionary, Second Edition (Unabridged)". It's massive. 12" tall, 9.5" wide, and 5" thick. My father rescued the dictionary from being discarded by the NSA library in the late 1980s, where he worked as a Principal Linguist.

@musingwithreba9667

Жыл бұрын

@@MrVvulf wow, that's awesome!

It's a fun coincidence that he's talking about how a corpus tends to underrepresent words for the human body when the word "corpus" itself is the Latin word for the body.

As I love language, I love this channel. You have the most important quality of a teacher, the ability to instill your enthusiasm to your students.

i never thought a lexicographer would be such a joyful and amazing person 😄😄

@Loctorak

Жыл бұрын

Why not? Weirdly niche prejudice to hold against a group of people. 🤔

Unforgettable Blackadder: Baldrick's definition of "Sea"="Big, blue, wobbly thing, that mermaids live in" Always useful when I'm sailing.

@sophitsa79

Жыл бұрын

I love that they didn't include water in the definition

@gary.h.turner

Жыл бұрын

For such a definition, may I offer him my most enthusiastic contrafibularities! 📕

@smack80

Жыл бұрын

AARDVARK!!!!!

@DavidSmith-vr1nb

11 ай бұрын

​@@smack80 Aardwolf 😉

I was fascinated by him talking about the limitations imposed on the dictionary by concerns about paper, cost, fonts etc, and it hit me that his speech patterns seem to have incorporated that too. He speaks very fast, yet is clear and concise: every syllable is as precious as every letter in his new font. A great communicator.

@mahna_mahna

Жыл бұрын

He's no sesquipedalian.

@Loctorak

Жыл бұрын

Fun fact: the reason "italics" exists is for that exact purpose. Italian scholars realised they could fit more text on a page without sacrificing legibility if they slanted the letters the same way, hence we call it "italics". (This sounds like a lie, i know, but it's not)

As a non-native English speaker, it is more important to understand the meaning of the sentences than to get stuck on a word.

@elizabethclark394

Жыл бұрын

This is also important for a native English speaker, for interpreting the meaning or possible meaning of the word in the complete sentence when you receive it for the first time

@castlering

Жыл бұрын

Meaning is far more important when interpreting from English to another language, which I do regularly with BSL, as is context.

@dead2selfShema

Жыл бұрын

I am assuming when u said "stuck on a word"? That u mean get too deep on the word? Due to without understanding basic info of each word in a sentance; it would be difficult to understand the sentance.

@miniepicness

Жыл бұрын

@@dead2selfShema getting stuck on a word makes sense its like taking one word's meaning too seriously instead of trying to understand the meaning of the sentence as a whole

@Loctorak

Жыл бұрын

This is true. I think there must come a point (like any language) where the broad meanings of sentences will give way to nuances and things natives take for granted, but it's obviously at quite an advanced level that this happens. In the mean time it's absolutely more important that you understand someone is saying "look out for that speeding car!" Than wondering if they were right to call it a "car" because it looks more like a van and then you get squished while deliberating over redundant semantics.

Becoming a lexicographer is a fascinating career choice. How many kids do you think grow up wanting to write dictionaries for a living?

@mnemosynevermont5524

Жыл бұрын

I would have. I wonder how many kids are told that it's an option?

@caseygreyson4178

Жыл бұрын

I’m currently a student studying linguistics, with a focus on morphology (how words are assembled) and my dream is to create dictionaries for endangered languages that do not have them (like many Native American languages). Growing up, I wasn’t aware that I could even study linguistics. I was really good at algebra and language classes, but I hated having to study all the subjects I was uninterested in like history and science. It wasn’t until my senior year of high school that I discovered the field of linguistics through a college anthropology class that was NOT THROUGH MY HIGH SCHOOL. I had to seek out the class and pay for it on my own. My high school even made it extremely difficult for me to get credit for it, even though it was an accredited university. This summer, I’m working with a college on creating a introductory class to linguistics that could be taken by high school students. My dream is to show other kids like me that this field exists.

@cocoj126

Жыл бұрын

I would have loved going into that field. 1

@shiranp6

Жыл бұрын

At least 3

@Svensk7119

Жыл бұрын

​@@caseygreyson4178 Bless you! Enjoy your career! I hope it goes well. I only had the vague idea of being an English Major in college because I could only vaguely imagine writing books. Life happened, and I never finished school. I did recently publish a fantasy book,. Hopefully, I will get enough credits to become an English Colonel 😂!

I recall Winston Churchill made fun of the idea, that a sentence shouldn’t end in a preposition. He said, “that is the sort of thing, up with which, I will not put”. Haha.

@allendracabal0819

Жыл бұрын

Unfortunately, that's one of those quotes that gets attached to a famous person, despite them not ever having said it.

@johnp515

Жыл бұрын

@@allendracabal0819 How do you know he didn’t say it?

@allendracabal0819

Жыл бұрын

@@johnp515 There are reliable websites which investigate quote attributions and debunk a lot of the misinformation out there.

Doing this interview was a fantastic idea. Thank you so much! That man is living my dream. Back in school, my German teacher (I'm German) told me to go work at Duden, the main German dictionary publisher. I was raised by a family who doesn't believe in career, so I didn't have the courage and never set foot on that path, but to this day I keep wondering how things would have been if I had gone to Duden.

@allendracabal0819

Жыл бұрын

They don't believe in career?? What was their future hope for you?

@sirknight4981

Жыл бұрын

This sort of thing is always so sad and yet we can't all do what we want to do, huh? I really hope you enjoy what you are doing now and your life more generally! Best wishes.

@scelestion

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! Rereading my comment, I think I worded the career part a bit awkwardly. The thing is that I grew up as a Jehovah's Witness, and they refrain from following career paths in the now. They prefer giving their now-life to god and learning something that will be useful/relevant in paradise. They see following career dreams and even things like studying for a scientific degree as useless, and growing up in such a mindset, I only ever thought I will end up doing something simple and something that is useful according to that mindset. I thought focusing on things I enjoy is futile, but I also never had any idea what I should do or become. In the end, when I grew up, I left religion behind and took the next best job opportunity. Nowadays, I have actually studied and gotten a bachelor's degree. However, I had no financial support from home (not their fault, they don't have much money) and had to live on student loans. So after finishing my degree, I again took the next best thing, as I had to start earning something again quickly. It was then that I remembered I could go to Duden or other dictionary publishers, but with publishers, at least in Germany, you have to start with a traineeship for two years or so, with very low pay, so it wasn't an option unfortunately. Right now I'm working in the management of my university, which is cool. But I just know I would have done a very good job with Duden, and seeing this man from Merriam-Webster being absolutely iconic in my opinion, it does hurt a bit. Best wishes to you too!

@allendracabal0819

Жыл бұрын

@@scelestion Wow, it was interesting to read your story. Thank you for sharing, and being so open. I wish you the best of luck going forward. Don't be afraid to take risks in order to try to find and pursue your passion. It's not too late. If you have a highly logical mind, software development is always a good option, because it is a skill you can learn on your own at home with minimal expense, and is always in demand.

@scelestion

Жыл бұрын

@@allendracabal0819 Thank you! I'm actually looking into learning about programming and coding. :) All the best to you too!

No cap, Rob is a great interviewer. Great job letting the guest speak for himself. Excellent questions, fantastic editing, overall just awesome content. Really enjoyed having my morning coffee with you guys.

Thank you for this!! One of the best interviews I have watched. Please have him on again. I take the dictionary for granted. It is nice to see what kind of work goes into updating it.

@carolinejames7257

Ай бұрын

I agree. I'm a relative newcomer to the channel, hence the lateness of this reply, and I have enjoyed all of the videos (so far) and find them variously interesting and entertaining. A few, such as this one, stand out as something extra special. Plus, the interviewee was knowledgeable, but also eloquent and engaging.

What a fascinating interview, or rather discussion. As an aside, I love that Peter speaks so quickly yet with such clarity. He obviously loves his career choice. Bravo!

Very interesting segment. Never heard of ‘word bleaching’ but the concept is familiar. Words like horrific & terrific were similar originally but now they are opposite.

@K1lostream

Жыл бұрын

They can be opposing but are commonly still synonymous. "The statue toppled and came down with a _______ crash". You could use either in the blank and the meaning is the same.

@ragnkja

Жыл бұрын

"Terrible" and "terrific" come from the same origin, but the meaning of the root and its derivatives has shifted in the past centuries, so that "terrible" has become very negative and "terrific" has become more positive. Presumably, "terror" and "horror" were once further apart in meaning.

@josueveguilla9069

Жыл бұрын

@@K1lostream Awesome. Thank you.

@setharnold9764

Жыл бұрын

​@@josueveguilla9069 "awesome" is one of my favorite examples of the meaning of a word shifting over time. Well played :)

@josueveguilla9069

Жыл бұрын

@@setharnold9764 Thank you.

This man is a gem. This is a wonderful video.

Did not know the etymology of very. ¡Peter’s breakdown is not only captivating, but hilarious at points! I love this!!!!

@thomaswilliams2273

Жыл бұрын

I knew that truth in Latin was veritas but I never made the connection.

@jonrolfson1686

Жыл бұрын

🤔The truthfulness (truthy or truthiness) element of the word ‘very’ can be approached and mentally manipulated from the word ‘Veritas’ on a Harvard University T-shirt, or via the verb ‘to verify,’ or the adjective ‘verifiable.’ The modern function of ‘very’ as an intensifier will, of course, be the first stop on the usage trail.

@cee8mee

Жыл бұрын

Isn't it like 'verily'?

@jonrolfson1686

Жыл бұрын

@@cee8mee You’re right; ‘verily’ is another related specific word-form. According to Google’s N-gram viewer, ‘verily’ was the most used form from the early 1600s until it was overtaken, or at least equaled in popularity in the mid 20th century.

@wordytoed9887

Жыл бұрын

@@jonrolfson1686 Jon, thanks so much for sharing! This thought got me thinking about the ways words sound. English, French, German, and Spanish link up, lots, over and over. It really is fun to get to make these connections, and so I thank you for bringing this thinking to my attention by helping me better learn the word: "very". I *need* to get around to learning French.

Rob, the Most Fascinating discussion. Your questions were on point, your guest was eloquent, precise and delightfully verbose. You didn't waste time in self adoration - I loved your style. That was a wonderful session and I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart.

@diegoreckholder945

Жыл бұрын

that's why I love to learn Words with Rob

@hanster.gun.3438

Жыл бұрын

Nerd

@noelward8047

Жыл бұрын

@@hanster.gun.3438 Don't be so hard on yourself.

@jonrolfson1686

Жыл бұрын

@@hanster.gun.3438 🤔Nerd has evolved, nerd has been verbed. It is now part of a slangy verb phrase, ‘to nerd out’😱

A lexicographer's work is never done. Literally.

Such an eye opener when the language we use without thinking is put under the microscope. Great exploration.

I enjoyed that more than I'd ever be prepared to admit in public. Thank goodness no one ever reads these comments.

@chickadeeacres3864

Жыл бұрын

Sorry! I do! 😉 Same here!

Peter has managed to - just casually! - give so many examples that I, as a German, will have to listen to this interview several times to let it all soak in. Fabulous! ;-)

@captainyulef5845

Жыл бұрын

I'm learning German, and I wanted to say that it's very nice that feels quite literate ^^ Germans are also some of the kindest people I know

You videos are very entertaining and informative. I especially like that you dive into roots of the english language, germanic and french roots. .

That was literally very fabulous!

In 1956 I was a high school senior in Albany, New York and I was working part time at the New York State reference library. It was the first time I came across the word sesquapedalian. It was in this context: "sesquapedalian pomposity." That expression has served me well in the many years since then. David Silverman Antalya, Turkey on the Mediterranean Coast

What a DOCUMENT this interview is! Starting with…oh…my German teacher then and moving on to J.R.R. Tolkien, I have become something of a philologist over the decades. You and a few other KZreadrs have been simply excellent in revealing etymological and philological “secrets” of the English language, and it brings me such satisfaction to my sense of wonder about…words. Thanks to you, I should perhaps refer to only Professor Tolkien’s words as …”fabulous.” 😂😅 All the rest of the philologists are “clear” and “fit to purpose.” LOL! Mahalo for your work from your admirers out here in Hawai’i. Aloha!

I really enjoyed Peter's answer about the *non-literal* use of "literally", because I, while being a huge fan of etymology and "what a word really means" have always thought that people who received the intended message with the "incorrectly" used words were being annoying pedants. But him reminding himself that they only care bc they ALSO care deeply about words gave me some important perspective. (I still think I'm correct, though, dang it!) 😂😂 Edit: then of course Peter continues to spit truth after truth, finally arriving at the true key of it all that I mentioned previously-- clarity!! ❤❤❤ What a great interview

@annoloki

Жыл бұрын

And technically, a word doesn't really mean, as to mean is to intend, that's what it means to mean something, it means to intend it, and a word is incapable of having intention... it is the speaker who means something, and uses words to convey the meaning, so the meaning can never be "wrong" or "incorrect" by the choice of word. However, if the goal is to be understood, then you can ask: was the choice of word helpful? People who complain about the rhetorical use of the word "literally" are never confused by it, they're always able to infer the speaker's meaning correctly, so the choice of word did not get in the way of the speaker communicating meaning. By saying "that's not what the word means", the listener is proving that they knew otherwise. So, I just wait for them to use the word "really" during a metaphor or otherwise speaking figuratively to point out the double standard hehe

@rosiefay7283

Жыл бұрын

"I, while being a huge fan of etymology and "what a word really means" have always thought that people who received the intended message with the "incorrectly" used words were being annoying pedants." I utterly disagree. It really does happen that a speaker intends one meaning but conveys another meaning or is unclear. It really does happen that a listener is misled or confused. It is an unfair generalisation to suppose that listeners are "people who received the intended message". If someone raises an issue it doesn't imply that they received the intended message. Perhaps they were unsure which of a couple of possible meanings the speaker intended, and the intended one happened to be one of them. Annoying pedants? The annoying people are those who don't take enough care to convey their meaning. I agree with your last point, though. The importance of clarity.

@dasdiesel3000

Жыл бұрын

@@rosiefay7283 I tried to make sure to clarify that the condition must be met that the intended meaning was received and understood first. Second, words are made-up or changed in usage & meaning all the time it's gotta start somewhere. 3rd, with context, I find it hard to believe that someone who isn't profoundly autistic or something similar wouldn't be able to understand what was trying to be said on the fly without having to stop for semantic clarification. Lol but like you said you utterly disagree so I suppose we are at an impasse? Sorry Miss Fay 😭😂

@Loctorak

Жыл бұрын

Damn straight! You think i ENJOY getting blasted by salty teenagers calling me cringe and pathetic and sad just cause i try to teach someone the correct spelling of a word THEY CHOSE TO USE? Primarily just so they don't keep repeating it everywhere they go and making themselves look like a moron? I don't. It sucks. But for reasons i can't explain, it's something I'm extremely passionate about to a point where it always overrides that stuff. People can get as offended by me posting facts as they want - as long as Ive given them that opportunity to learn then that's my job done. Because i always think maybe no one has before, you know? Everyone deserves to have opportunities to better educate themselves and its up to the individual whether they want to take advantage of that or stay ignorant. 🤷‍♂️

@EnigmaticLucas

10 ай бұрын

Fun Fact: words that have contradictory definitions are called contronyms or autoantonyms. A non-controversial one is “to sanction”.

I'm less than 40 seconds in and I can say with certainty the opening is the funniest one Rob's done yet! 😂😂 "Heh, Nouns! ...Oh! You just caught me reading a dictionary ...." Made me pause to laugh and type this out before continuing

@parkman29

Жыл бұрын

Technically every book is a remix of the dictionary

As a writer, I use the dictionary all the time. And I found it truly fascinating to learn some of the nuances used when defining a word. And how lexicographers keep up with our dynamic language. Thank you!

FABULOUS video!! 😂😂 Thank you, Rob. This was a fascinating conversation. ❤

Of course it is. Expression in a living language means change. Amazing videos! Love the exploration!

The Dutch word for fabulous is fabelachtig, which actually means like from a fable.

A literally fabulous discussion - lol. Thank you both, I really enjoyed this video.

Good job, Rob. This was a fantastic interview from start to finish. Hopefully one day I'll bump into you in the park reading your dictionaries.

My main problem with the hyperbolic use of "literally" is that it makes it harder to say that you mean something _literally._ "Fabulous", "fantastic" and that sort of word doesn't make it harder to describe something as fable or fantasy, and the alternatives for "very" really (see what I did there?) are synonyms of it even in the strict etymological sense.

@Arqane

Жыл бұрын

All you have to say to get them to know what you mean is that you "very literally" mean what you're saying.

@frankbrennos

Жыл бұрын

I honestly can't think of a situation in which you wouldn't be able to tell whether "literally" is being used for emphasis or, well, literally. If there's any doubt, context alone should be enough to clear it out.

That was wonderful! I could hear you both talking for hours... and I will definitely check out his podcast. And as a translator/editor, I was very glad to hear his comment that language is and will always be a human thing. Bless you for your great videos!

*_"Irregardless"_* drives me up a wall! In my instance, it is because the prefix and suffix cancel each other out. _Literally_ as a hyperbolic term? Not a problem. Using _math_ or _adult_ as a verb? Unfazed. I use them myself. Language evolves, it's the hallmark of a living tongue. But using *_irregardless_* in cold blood like a psychopath, nah. This was fascinating!

@666t

Жыл бұрын

I like irregardless as it has more weight to it, I use their there and they're a lot speaking with a friend as they wince thinking I'm spelling it wrong in my head

@nicholasvinen

Жыл бұрын

"Inflammable means flammable? What a language!" - Dr Nick Riviera

Wonderful guest! I read a graduate level book on Lexicography. It was hard core, but fascinating!

Rob, Thank you for choosing Peter Sokolowski. Quite the engaging guest! So excited to share his knowledge. The only disappointment I felt was that the conversation was not longer.

I love how excited Rob was the whole time; really fun video!

What a great interview! The questions you asked about AI were interesting and pretty tough to answer. I would have liked to hear more about how words are defined - do the lexicographers figure out the definition themselves by looking at many examples, do they interview experts, laypersons, the coiner of the word, some combination? That's also an area that AI could help with, it can digest a big block of text and answer questions about it.

It's always interesting to hear these kinds of talks from those in the research and study of language. It's that more personal part of anthropology that connects the lives from people in the past and make their experiences valuable to us today.

Thank you for inviting Peter to contribute to your page RobWords. Such an interesting and amiable man.

Semantic bleaching. Very interesting. Didn't know about the word 'very'. And I included 'very' in my commentary without thinking about it.

It is refreshing to hear a sensible expert.

Incredibly clear from the very first minute that your guest expert was not a language snob. This was a very insightful and thoroughly enjoyable video to watch.

Excellent and profoundly educative interview, Mr. Sokolowski shows a lovely intricated personality and pristine clarity on concepts uneasily comprensibles to a self-taught English speaker. As always, Rob's shining interventions are beyond Words. Gratitude!

What a great interview! I love seeing others that are just as fascinated by linguistics as I am!

Totally agree with Peter’s comments about ‘literally’ being used to increase emphasis. I have family members and colleagues who use it like that and it drives me up a wall. 😏

@kellydalstok8900

Жыл бұрын

Especially in the “literally dying”, as if describing laughing really hard as “dying” isn’t silly enough.

This was a very interesting conversation. Thanks for sharing it. A couple of other words like fabulous are “terrific”, originally meaning something that inspires great terror, or “awesome”, meaning something that inspires an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear.

Thank you for this absolute treat of an interview.

Amazing interview AND amazing editing! I can only imagine how much work went into all those explanatory little and big edits, making them so seemless and effortless to take in without pausing the video. Super well done!

Wow! What a great discussion! But now I have so many more questions!! Hope you do some more videos like this! Loved it!

An amazing and wonderful interview! Thank you.

How you just let the guy talk.. nodding, smiling, never interrupting.. awesome. Great job, most interesting video.

This is a great format. You should do more of these!

Love this conversation!

3 minutes in...Hit pause,open phone, find Word of the Day. Ive never subscribed to a podcast so quickly! Great interview.

I did my MA thesis on Samuel Johnson. I would have loved to be a lexicographer. You were right this is a very special episode. I taught how to use a dictionary when I was a teacher( uni/college).

Fascinating! Thank you for this, Rob. Another great Robwords!

This was such a compelling video. Thank you to you both.

I've always said my favorite word is sesquipedalian! Glad to know there's a kindred soul out there.

@diegoreckholder945

Жыл бұрын

i only knew the sesquipedialiophobia version 😅

@space.tel-e-grams

Жыл бұрын

​@@diegoreckholder945 If there's a phobia is there also a sesquipedalophilia?

@jonrolfson1686

Жыл бұрын

@@space.tel-e-grams Sesquipedaliaphilia might be regarded as kinky in a rather big way🙄

Great post, Rob. I usually shy away from half-hour videos, but this one held my attention to the end. Very interesting.

Besides the Merriam Webster Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary, there is also the American Heritage Dictionary. In junior high (now called middle school), my parents gifted me a big red desk college-level version of the AHD, which included a long article on the history and origins of English and the Indo-European languages, with a long appendix of "Photo-Indo-European" (PIE) roots used in Modern English, and an endpaper chart of the family tree of Indo-European languages, together with sound correspondences across the languages. This, along with my first foreign language class became a huge interest and key in my love of languages. I wish things like that were readily included in dictionaries and in teaching about languages and usage and grammar. How we went along this several thousand year journey, and the linguistic and cultural cousins we have because of it, are fascinating and important, and for students or amateurs or professionals, something to fire the imagination and eve of language usage and learning.

I could listen to hours of this conversation!

This is such a good conversation and well conducted interview! Hats off!!

Have to pick up on the “very” being etymologically “truly”. You can still say “I had a truly good lunch, the “very” is acting on the next adjective to make you realise that it is not hyperbolic, but actually means what it is supposed to mean, If you get my meaning!

@ragnkja

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, replacing "very" with "really" or "truly" doesn't change anything because they really _do_ all mean the same thing.

@thomaswilliams2273

Жыл бұрын

I've made a joke that awe is something you can have too much of: if you have some you're awesome, but if you're full of it you're awful. Now I realize that I could say I had an awesome lunch or an awfully good lunch and mean the same thing.

@martinstent5339

Жыл бұрын

@@thomaswilliams2273 Tricky! The awfully good lunch: It's the good that is magnified by the awfull, not the lunch, but in the awesome case, it is the lunch directly that is awesome!

@frankbrennos

Жыл бұрын

I thought the same thing, especially since in French the adverb "vraiment" ("truly") is also used for emphasis ("c'est vraiment bon" = "it's truly good", literally). So since "very" comes from "vrai", then its current meaning makes sense to me.

What a wonderful interview! Thank you!

The bit about looking up a word to find out what preposition usually follows it struck a chord with me, because for the last few years I've really been wondering about the constructions "different from" and "different to." For most of my life I've heard the former, but it seems like for the last few years all I hear is the latter. The shift came so suddenly that it has a Twilight Zone feel for me...like I went to bed one night in a world where everyone said "different from" and woke up the next morning in a parallel world where everyone says "different to." Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just me?

@caeruleusvm7621

Жыл бұрын

I haven't noticed it per se, but it interests me too. Americans usually say "different than", which is strange, but I think in more formal speech and writing they would mostly say "different from". The British and much of the rest of the English-speaking world seems to have (in my lifetime, anyway) preferred "different to." But I'm not certain of this, and would welcome others' opinions.

@shangobunni5

Жыл бұрын

I absolutely noticed, and I agree that as you said, it seemed to happen overnight. I even brought it up in conversation with a friend several months after I first noticed it (approx. 3-4 years ago). It was somewhat disorienting to have heard and read "different from" for my whole life up to that point, and then to suddenly see and hear "different to" almost exclusively from a certain mysterious date onward. I'm in California, btw.

Loved this, riveted 🧐 more, please 😊

this was an excellent interview and kind of expanded my mindset around language and words, really appreciate all the work you do and Peter was a great interviewee!

This is a delightful interview!

This was such a fun and informative episode!

That was 'wonderful', thanks Rob

A wonderful conversation! Thank you!

Brilliant Rob What an amazing deep dive into the use of long words😊👍

Thank you. An excellent discussion.

Rob, this is a great new direction for Rob Words. Thank you. Please consider more guest interviews. And of course you must be in no doubt how popular your other content is too. 👍

You host a VERY😅 gracious and informative interview, Rob. Thank you for sharing it with us. ❤

I'm both amused and confused about bemused!!😊

Thank you! Loved this.

This is great. Thank you for such a smart and tantalyzing topic.

Absolutely love this!

Damn that was fascinating ! Thanks everyone for this video.

I found this so captivating. English is changing so much. Thank you and let's do it again.

Thanks Rob for another informative video. The way in which you present literary discovery is engaging, entertaining and easy to grasp!🤓

I love his enthusiasm. I wonder how often he gets to geek out in an interview like this. I always appreciate people who care about what they do.

That was literally fabulous, thank you VERY much!

How not to love Rob? Literally literally! ❤

A great interview, thank you.

I thorough enjoyed that chat, Rob. Thank you for sharing. 🌞

This is such an awesome video! I could listen to this guy talk all day. I'll have to check out that Word of The Day podcast, thanks Rob!!

In my high school yearbook someone wrote that I read the dictionary between classes. I love words and knowing their origins, entonces I love your channel. Thank you for all the information presented in your inimitable entertaining style.

Excellent, Rob and Peter. Thank you from England.

Two very likable people talking about something I find fascinating. Lovely.

This was a very fascinating interview. Sequels & expansions could be nice. You've interviewed a U.S. Miriam-Webster lexicographer. How about an U.K. Oxford and/or Cambridge counterpart? Perhaps, a debate or an expounding on the different missions (prescriptive vs. descriptive) & approaches (current vs throughout time) with their merits/issues, strengths/limitations, best/worst times to use, etc. would be nice.

What an enjoyable video, Rob! Thanks a lot.

12:00 irregarding😅 the completeness of the lexical lists you provide, thank you so much for including that public service in your dictionaries! ☺️

Thank you for this interview, it was interesting to listen to a first-hand experience

Really interesting interview. Thank you!