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lingthusiasm.com
Lingthusiasm
@lingthusiasm.com
8K followers 1.6K following 4K posts
A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics! By @gretchenmcculloch.com and @superlinguo.bsky.social

"Fascinating" -NYT
"Joyously nerdy" -Buzzfeed

lingthusiasm.com

Not sure where to start? Try our silly personality quiz: bit.ly/lingthusiasmquiz
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lingthusiasm.com
Day 25 of #ThatsMyJam!

Salted Caramel, with What words sound spiky across languages? Interview with Suzy Styles

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about how language interacts with your other senses like vision and touch here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Salted Caramel’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of large and small and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘What words sound spiky across languages? Interview with Suzy Styles’
December 26, 2025 at 10:02 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 23 of #ThatsMyJam!

Rhubarb & Strawberry, with You heard about it but I was there - Evidentiality

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about how we come to know things, and how different languages let us talk about this, here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Rhubarb & Strawberry’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of speech bubbles and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘You heard about it but I was there - Evidentiality’
December 23, 2025 at 11:29 PM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 23 of #ThatsMyJam!

Raspberry & Lychee, with On the nose - How the nose shapes language

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about the nose here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Raspberry & Lychee'. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of biscuits and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘On the nose - How the nose shapes language’
December 23, 2025 at 11:17 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 21 of #ThatsMyJam!

Strawberry & Passionfruit, with Love and fury at the linguistics of emotions

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about the layers of language that are involved in emotions here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Strawberry & Passionfruit’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of hearts and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘Love and fury at the linguistics of emotions’
December 22, 2025 at 10:06 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 20 of #ThatsMyJam!

Peach, Blackcurrant, & Sichuan Peppercorn, with Whoa!! A surprise episode??? For me??!!

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about surprise here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Peach, Blackcurrant, & Sichuan Peppercorn’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of flowers and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘Whoa!! A surprise episode??? For me??!!’
December 22, 2025 at 9:46 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 19 of #ThatsMyJam!

Italian Mandarins, with The science and fiction of Sapir-Whorf

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about the science and fiction of linguistic relativity, popularly known as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Italian Mandarins’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of stars. Below that is white text that says ‘The science and fiction of Sapir-Whorf’
December 20, 2025 at 11:50 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 18 of #ThatsMyJam!

Cherry & Pink Peppercorn, with Real swear words vs pseudo swears

You can listen to our extra special bonus edition from the vault, where we get enthusiastic about our first sweary episode, for free on Patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/131301...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Cherry & Pink Peppercorn’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of cacti and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘Real swear words vs pseudo swears’
December 18, 2025 at 10:51 PM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 17 of #ThatsMyJam!

Pear, Clementine, & Cinnamon, with Emoji are Gesture Because Internet

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about emoji, and how gesture studies can bring us to a better understanding of these new digital pictures, here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Pear, Clementine, & Cinnamon’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of hearts and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘Emoji are Gesture Because Internet’
December 18, 2025 at 5:55 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 16 of #ThatsMyJam!

Orange, Yuzu, & Grapefruit, with Writing is a technology

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about writing systems, and how the structure and history of a language contribute to the massively multigenerational project of devising them, here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Orange, Yuzu, & Grapefruit’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of exclamation marks and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘Writing is a technology’
December 17, 2025 at 1:54 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 15 of #ThatsMyJam!

Orange, Guava, & Lime, with Urban Multilingualism

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about the hundreds of languages many cities are host to that don't show up on official records here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Orange, Guava, & Lime’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of flowers and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘Urban Multilingualism’
December 16, 2025 at 1:34 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Did you know you can buy a membership to our Patreon to give to someone else?

Makes a great last-minute gift for you or someone else who's enthusiastic about linguistics!
www.patreon.com/lingthusiasm...
Create a gift Give anyone access to Lingthusiasm's work and community by gifting them a membership. Tier selection: Ling-thusiast ($7/month) Membership duration: 1 year (save 8%) 1 month Custom months: 3 Quantity: 1 Send this gift to Lingthusiasm to share with their community (y/n) Card preview: Lingthusiasm logo Add custom message (optional)
December 15, 2025 at 7:05 PM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 14 of #ThatsMyJam!

Mango & Ginger, with A hand-y guide to gesture

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about Lauren’s new book, Gesture: A Slim Guide from Oxford University Press here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Mango & Ginger’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of hands making a love heart gesture, and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘A hand-y guide to gesture’
December 15, 2025 at 12:18 PM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 13 of #ThatsMyJam!

Apricot with Honey, with The history of the history of Indo-European - Interview with Danny Bate

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about the process of figuring out Proto-Indo-European with @dannybate.bsky.social here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Apricots with Honey’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of flowers and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘The history of the history of Indo-European - Interview with Danny Bate’
December 14, 2025 at 1:59 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 12 of #ThatsMyJam!

Raspberry Redcurrant, with Word order, we love

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about how languages put words in a particular order here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Raspberry Redcurrant’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of curly arrows and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘Word order, we love’
December 13, 2025 at 12:15 PM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 11 of #ThatsMyJam!

Pineapple, Rum, & Vanilla, with A hundred reasons to be enthusiastic about linguistics

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about 100 of our favourite fun facts about linguistics here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Pineapple, Rum, & Vanilla’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of cupcakes with a candle, and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘A hundred reasons to be enthusiastic about linguistics’
December 13, 2025 at 7:56 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 10 of #ThatsMyJam!

Blueberry & Lychee with Rose, with No such thing as the oldest language

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about what people mean when we talk about a language as being old here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Blueberry & Lychee with Rose’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of bunches of roses and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘No such thing as the oldest language’
December 11, 2025 at 6:59 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 9 of #ThatsMyJam!

Vanilla Caramel, with Kids these days aren’t ruining language

You can listen to us explore how far back we can trace complaints about the language of Kids These Days, and celebrate linguistic innovation while it’s happening, here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Vanilla Caramel'. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of ice cream cones and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘Kids these days aren’t ruining language’
December 10, 2025 at 11:46 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 8 of #ThatsMyJam!

White Nectarine, Peach, & Lemon Verbena, with What If Linguistics - Absurd Hypothetical Questions with Randall Munroe of xkcd

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about absurd hypothetical linguistic questions with guest @xkcd.com here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘White Nectarine, Peach, & Lemon Verbena’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of interrobangs and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘What If Linguistics - Absurd Hypothetical Questions with Randall Munroe of xkcd’
December 9, 2025 at 1:16 PM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 7 of #ThatsMyJam!

Coffee Caramel, with The linguistic map is not the linguistic territory

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about the complications that come with trying to map languages and dialects here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Coffee Caramel'. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of steaming cups of coffee and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘The linguistic map is not the linguistic territory’
December 8, 2025 at 12:47 PM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 6 of #ThatsMyJam!

Apricot & Lavender, with Translating the untranslatable

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about how we translate different kinds of meaning here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Apricot & Lavender’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of lavender sprigs and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘Translating the untranslatable’.
December 7, 2025 at 7:07 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Listen to the bonus episode a patron just called "one of the most delightfully weird topics Lingthusiasm has ever covered"
Carolynn T - 19hr ago I think this is one of the most delightfully weird topics Lingthusiasm has ever covered. I can understand why people are so fascinated by this manuscript. Even if it is gibberish, it had to have been FOR something, right? But what??
December 6, 2025 at 6:35 PM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 5 of #ThatsMyJam!

Apple, Caramel & Cinnamon, with Word Magic

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about how the word magic systems are set up differently in three recent fantasy books we like here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Apple, Caramel & Cinnamon’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of pie slices and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘Word Magic’
December 6, 2025 at 8:47 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 4 of #ThatsMyJam!

Cherry & Violet, with Colour words around the world and inside your brain

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about what linguistic typology and psycholinguistics can tell us about colour words here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Cherry & Violet’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of flowers and stars. Below that is white text that says ‘Colour words around the world and inside your brain’
December 5, 2025 at 10:37 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 3 of #ThatsMyJam!

Plum, Peach, & Anise, with Tea and skyscrapers - When words get borrowed across languages

You can listen to us get enthusiastic about borrowing and loanwords here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Plum, Peach, & Anise’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of leafs and stars. Below that is white text that says 'Tea and skyscrapers - When words get borrowed across languages’
December 4, 2025 at 5:58 AM
lingthusiasm.com
Day 2 of #ThatsMyJam!

Fig & Cardamom, with Why do we gesture when we talk?

You can watch us get enthusiastic about gesture here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8dH...

And listen here: soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Green background with white text that says 'That's My Jam! A Lingthusiasm episode pairing for every day of the Bonne Maman Jam Advent Calendar'. A photo of a tiny jam of jar with a red gingham lid and cursive French script on a colourful background, set in a polaroid frame, with navy blue text that says ‘Fig & Cardamom’. The photo is surrounded by line drawings of leafs and stars. Below that is white text that says 'Why do we gesture when we talk?'
December 3, 2025 at 2:18 AM