100 WVIA Way
Pittston, PA 18640

Phone: 570-826-6144
Fax: 570-655-1180

Copyright © 2025 WVIA, all rights reserved. WVIA is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
STAND WITH WVIA: Federal Funding Is Cut, Click Here To Support Our Essential Services Now.

How the Colors Got Their Names

Season 3 Episode 9 | 6m 29s

In some ways, colors are the ultimate example of language's power. The earliest humans didn't have words for colors. They had words for objects and actions, and it took tens of thousands of years for those words to evolve into the names of the colors we use today. In this episode, we’ll answer that age-old question, which came first: orange the fruit or orange the color?

Aired: 09/20/23
Extras
We're gonna have to ask you to go ahead and watch this video. "
It's one of the most contentious debates in linguistics!
The ways we use negation in language can be pretty complex, even AI can’t seem to make sense of it.
Join us as we try to figure out how our body parts got their names.
Children are sponges for language acquisition. Which leads us to ask the question: how much does TV
We already know that English borrows from everybody, but can it be considered a Creole language?
How do you teach children to read? This question is at the heart of a decades-long battle.
The English language is chock full of sailing jargon but why is that?
Latest Episodes
All
  • All
  • Otherwords Season 4
  • Otherwords Season 3
  • Otherwords Season 2
  • Otherwords Season 1
We're gonna have to ask you to go ahead and watch this video. "
It's one of the most contentious debates in linguistics!
The ways we use negation in language can be pretty complex, even AI can’t seem to make sense of it.
Join us as we try to figure out how our body parts got their names.
Children are sponges for language acquisition. Which leads us to ask the question: how much does TV
We already know that English borrows from everybody, but can it be considered a Creole language?
How do you teach children to read? This question is at the heart of a decades-long battle.
The English language is chock full of sailing jargon but why is that?