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The Ancient Origins of Body Words

Episode 1 | 8m 36s

Body parts would probably have been one of the first things that ancient peoples gave names to, so not only do we find hundreds of cognates and permutations, but also widespread use in idioms, slang and other figures of speech. Since our bodies have been with us literally from the beginning, we can learn a lot about language by investigating their etymologies.

Aired: 01/29/25
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.
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?
How do we communicate without words? With our bodies. Body language!
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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.
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?
How do we communicate without words? With our bodies. Body language!