Gretchen McCulloch
@gretchenmcculloch.com
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
she/her 🌈
Montreal en/fr 🇨🇦
gretchenmcculloch.com
Pinned
Hello! I'm an internet linguist!
I wrote a book called Because Internet about how we use language online gretchenmcculloch.com/book
I make @lingthusiasm.bsky.social, a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics
And I maintain a linguistics starter pack here: go.bsky.app/UUM7Gcx
I wrote a book called Because Internet about how we use language online gretchenmcculloch.com/book
I make @lingthusiasm.bsky.social, a podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics
And I maintain a linguistics starter pack here: go.bsky.app/UUM7Gcx
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
One of my fantasy novel pet peeves is a single "common tongue" being something all of the poor and/or non-nobility speak, while the rich nobility speak a variety of languages fluently.
I also dislike "the old tongue" when it has current speakers because they were mostly isolated from the world.
I also dislike "the old tongue" when it has current speakers because they were mostly isolated from the world.
I have been reading the Anne McCaffrey Pern novels for the first time yeah I don't know why I hadn't read them before and I don't know why I'm inhaling them so fast now
BUT importantly I know they're not trying to actually do linguistic worldbuilding but BOY do I have linguistics thoughts anyway
BUT importantly I know they're not trying to actually do linguistic worldbuilding but BOY do I have linguistics thoughts anyway
September 20, 2026 at 5:18 PM
One of my fantasy novel pet peeves is a single "common tongue" being something all of the poor and/or non-nobility speak, while the rich nobility speak a variety of languages fluently.
I also dislike "the old tongue" when it has current speakers because they were mostly isolated from the world.
I also dislike "the old tongue" when it has current speakers because they were mostly isolated from the world.
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
Absolutely brilliant - and a lovely introduction to the ideas in Ong and their relevance for today.
You know who HAS read Ong on Orality?
Ted Chiang, that's who
I'll wait while you read this utterly devastating short story
Ted Chiang, that's who
I'll wait while you read this utterly devastating short story
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling by Ted Chiang — Subterranean Press
When my daughter Nicole was an infant, I read an essay suggesting that it might no longer be necessary to teach children how to read or write, because speech recognition and synthesis would soon rende...
devonzuegel.com
September 20, 2026 at 4:10 PM
Absolutely brilliant - and a lovely introduction to the ideas in Ong and their relevance for today.
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
I think about this short story at least once a week since I read it almost ten years ago.
You know who HAS read Ong on Orality?
Ted Chiang, that's who
I'll wait while you read this utterly devastating short story
Ted Chiang, that's who
I'll wait while you read this utterly devastating short story
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling by Ted Chiang — Subterranean Press
When my daughter Nicole was an infant, I read an essay suggesting that it might no longer be necessary to teach children how to read or write, because speech recognition and synthesis would soon rende...
devonzuegel.com
September 20, 2026 at 1:01 PM
I think about this short story at least once a week since I read it almost ten years ago.
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
This is an interesting story on technology and people and memory, though I like the version without highlighting at richardcolby.net/writ2000/wp-... better
September 20, 2026 at 12:56 PM
This is an interesting story on technology and people and memory, though I like the version without highlighting at richardcolby.net/writ2000/wp-... better
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
I’m going to be thinking about this astounding short story for YEARS.
You know who HAS read Ong on Orality?
Ted Chiang, that's who
I'll wait while you read this utterly devastating short story
Ted Chiang, that's who
I'll wait while you read this utterly devastating short story
The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling by Ted Chiang — Subterranean Press
When my daughter Nicole was an infant, I read an essay suggesting that it might no longer be necessary to teach children how to read or write, because speech recognition and synthesis would soon rende...
devonzuegel.com
September 20, 2026 at 12:31 PM
I’m going to be thinking about this astounding short story for YEARS.
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
The scene where the computer tells Master Robinton it’s adjusting “to account for linguistic drift” and he’s terribly crestfallen because the Harper Hall has tried so hard to “to keep the language pure” certainly hits a lot different for me now than it did when I was 13! 🤣
September 20, 2026 at 5:26 AM
The scene where the computer tells Master Robinton it’s adjusting “to account for linguistic drift” and he’s terribly crestfallen because the Harper Hall has tried so hard to “to keep the language pure” certainly hits a lot different for me now than it did when I was 13! 🤣
I have been reading the Anne McCaffrey Pern novels for the first time yeah I don't know why I hadn't read them before and I don't know why I'm inhaling them so fast now
BUT importantly I know they're not trying to actually do linguistic worldbuilding but BOY do I have linguistics thoughts anyway
BUT importantly I know they're not trying to actually do linguistic worldbuilding but BOY do I have linguistics thoughts anyway
September 20, 2026 at 4:28 AM
I have been reading the Anne McCaffrey Pern novels for the first time yeah I don't know why I hadn't read them before and I don't know why I'm inhaling them so fast now
BUT importantly I know they're not trying to actually do linguistic worldbuilding but BOY do I have linguistics thoughts anyway
BUT importantly I know they're not trying to actually do linguistic worldbuilding but BOY do I have linguistics thoughts anyway
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
Open access: “Play It Again, Sam: Repetition in the Arts” by Samuel Jay Keyser (2025) direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
Play It Again, Sam: Repetition in the Arts
Why we enjoy works of art, and how repetition plays a central part in the pleasure we receive.Leonard Bernstein, in his famous Norton Lectures, extolled re
direct.mit.edu
September 19, 2026 at 3:46 PM
Open access: “Play It Again, Sam: Repetition in the Arts” by Samuel Jay Keyser (2025) direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
This month's bonus episode is a Behind the Zines with our technical editor Leah Velleman about the process behind making the first four Lingthusiasm zines!!
Help us keep the show running and get access to over 110 bonus episodes by becoming a patron:
Help us keep the show running and get access to over 110 bonus episodes by becoming a patron:
It can be sort of hard to make the podcasts you're into leap off your phone and into people's hands, so we've made some Lingthusiasm zines!
In this bonus episode we go Behind the Zines with our technical editor Leah Velleman about the process behind making the first four Lingthusiasm zines
In this bonus episode we go Behind the Zines with our technical editor Leah Velleman about the process behind making the first four Lingthusiasm zines
Bonus 115: Behind the Zines - Interview with Leah Velleman | Lingthusiasm
We've been hearing from people that you're trying to get others to be as enthusiastic about linguistics as you are, but it can be sort of ha
www.patreon.com
September 18, 2026 at 3:36 AM
This month's bonus episode is a Behind the Zines with our technical editor Leah Velleman about the process behind making the first four Lingthusiasm zines!!
Help us keep the show running and get access to over 110 bonus episodes by becoming a patron:
Help us keep the show running and get access to over 110 bonus episodes by becoming a patron:
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
Missed the previous episode?
Check out our episode about the many ways that languages are irregular in their patterns here:
Check out our episode about the many ways that languages are irregular in their patterns here:
Talk, talked. Walk, walked. Go...went?
In this episode we get enthusiastic about the many ways that languages are irregular in their patterns!
soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
In this episode we get enthusiastic about the many ways that languages are irregular in their patterns!
soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
119: Irregularity is all over the place
Talk, talked. Walk, walked. Go...went?
In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about the many ways that languages are irregular in their patterns! We talk ab
soundcloud.com
September 18, 2026 at 3:37 AM
Missed the previous episode?
Check out our episode about the many ways that languages are irregular in their patterns here:
Check out our episode about the many ways that languages are irregular in their patterns here:
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
You can read the transcript for 'How (not) to kill a language - Interview with Sophia Smith Galer' here:
Transcript Episode 120: How (not) to kill a language - Interview with Sophia Smith Galer
This is a transcript for Lingthusiasm episode ‘How (not) to kill a language - Interview with Sophia Smith Galer’. It’s been lightly edited for readability. Listen to the episode here or wherever you g...
lingthusiasm.com
September 18, 2026 at 3:39 AM
You can read the transcript for 'How (not) to kill a language - Interview with Sophia Smith Galer' here:
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
Narratives about smaller languages often focus on the death side, but there's less on why this happens and how communities are fighting back
In this episode we get enthusiastic with @sophiasgaler.bsky.social about her new book, How to Kill a Language
soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
In this episode we get enthusiastic with @sophiasgaler.bsky.social about her new book, How to Kill a Language
soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
120: How (not) to kill a language - Interview with Sophia Smith Galer
Narratives about smaller languages often focus on the death and endangerment sides of the story. There's generally less on the social and political reasons why some languages are favoured at the expen
soundcloud.com
September 18, 2026 at 3:33 AM
Narratives about smaller languages often focus on the death side, but there's less on why this happens and how communities are fighting back
In this episode we get enthusiastic with @sophiasgaler.bsky.social about her new book, How to Kill a Language
soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
In this episode we get enthusiastic with @sophiasgaler.bsky.social about her new book, How to Kill a Language
soundcloud.com/lingthusiasm...
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
In this bonus episode, we get enthusiastic about the relationship of language and music!
🎹 How languages with tone deal with musical pitches
🥁 Mapping drums and whistles onto sounds to communicate across long distances
🗣️ Physical scans of genres of music like opera and beatboxing
🎹 How languages with tone deal with musical pitches
🥁 Mapping drums and whistles onto sounds to communicate across long distances
🗣️ Physical scans of genres of music like opera and beatboxing
Bonus 41: Tones, drums, and whistles - linguistics and music | Lingthusiasm
Both speech and music can involve making sounds using the human body, but they also have differences -- for example, music is generally more
www.patreon.com
September 17, 2026 at 3:30 AM
In this bonus episode, we get enthusiastic about the relationship of language and music!
🎹 How languages with tone deal with musical pitches
🥁 Mapping drums and whistles onto sounds to communicate across long distances
🗣️ Physical scans of genres of music like opera and beatboxing
🎹 How languages with tone deal with musical pitches
🥁 Mapping drums and whistles onto sounds to communicate across long distances
🗣️ Physical scans of genres of music like opera and beatboxing
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
This is a good interview of my colleague. Kudos to @ctvnewscalgary.bsky.social and @ctvmarkvillani.bsky.social. Journalists duly report on things we linguists say, but imo it’s rather uncommon to see what we actually do in the news. There’s even a bit of video with Dennis at one of his eye-trackers.
So I got to talk about structural ambiguity and other issues in the Alberta referendum questions (snappy video and longer form text) www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/arti...
September 16, 2026 at 3:46 AM
This is a good interview of my colleague. Kudos to @ctvnewscalgary.bsky.social and @ctvmarkvillani.bsky.social. Journalists duly report on things we linguists say, but imo it’s rather uncommon to see what we actually do in the news. There’s even a bit of video with Dennis at one of his eye-trackers.
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
The instrumental -el suffix (now spelled -le) is also found in spindle, ladle, treadle, handle, thimble, whittle
Not to be confused with the frequentative suffix -el "often denoting diminutive, repetitive, or intensive actions or events" as in nestle, wrestle, trample, draggle, struggle, twinkle
Not to be confused with the frequentative suffix -el "often denoting diminutive, repetitive, or intensive actions or events" as in nestle, wrestle, trample, draggle, struggle, twinkle
-el - Etymology & Meaning of the Suffix
"appliance, tool," from Old English -ol, -ul, -el, representing PIE *-lo- (see -ule). In… See origin and meaning of -el.
www.etymonline.com
September 15, 2026 at 4:10 AM
The instrumental -el suffix (now spelled -le) is also found in spindle, ladle, treadle, handle, thimble, whittle
Not to be confused with the frequentative suffix -el "often denoting diminutive, repetitive, or intensive actions or events" as in nestle, wrestle, trample, draggle, struggle, twinkle
Not to be confused with the frequentative suffix -el "often denoting diminutive, repetitive, or intensive actions or events" as in nestle, wrestle, trample, draggle, struggle, twinkle
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
TIL: gird one's loins or to gird oneself for battle is literally to belt one's loins/oneself
It's the same root as girdle (originally a belt, sash, cord with which one girds oneself)
Both from the Proto-Indo-European root *gher- to grasp, enclose, with the instrumental suffix -el on girdle
It's the same root as girdle (originally a belt, sash, cord with which one girds oneself)
Both from the Proto-Indo-European root *gher- to grasp, enclose, with the instrumental suffix -el on girdle
Gird - Etymology, Origin & Meaning
"put a belt or girdle around; encircle; bind with flexible material; invest with… See origin and meaning of gird.
www.etymonline.com
September 15, 2026 at 4:04 AM
TIL: gird one's loins or to gird oneself for battle is literally to belt one's loins/oneself
It's the same root as girdle (originally a belt, sash, cord with which one girds oneself)
Both from the Proto-Indo-European root *gher- to grasp, enclose, with the instrumental suffix -el on girdle
It's the same root as girdle (originally a belt, sash, cord with which one girds oneself)
Both from the Proto-Indo-European root *gher- to grasp, enclose, with the instrumental suffix -el on girdle
TIL: gird one's loins or to gird oneself for battle is literally to belt one's loins/oneself
It's the same root as girdle (originally a belt, sash, cord with which one girds oneself)
Both from the Proto-Indo-European root *gher- to grasp, enclose, with the instrumental suffix -el on girdle
It's the same root as girdle (originally a belt, sash, cord with which one girds oneself)
Both from the Proto-Indo-European root *gher- to grasp, enclose, with the instrumental suffix -el on girdle
Gird - Etymology, Origin & Meaning
"put a belt or girdle around; encircle; bind with flexible material; invest with… See origin and meaning of gird.
www.etymonline.com
September 15, 2026 at 4:04 AM
TIL: gird one's loins or to gird oneself for battle is literally to belt one's loins/oneself
It's the same root as girdle (originally a belt, sash, cord with which one girds oneself)
Both from the Proto-Indo-European root *gher- to grasp, enclose, with the instrumental suffix -el on girdle
It's the same root as girdle (originally a belt, sash, cord with which one girds oneself)
Both from the Proto-Indo-European root *gher- to grasp, enclose, with the instrumental suffix -el on girdle
New favourite example of structural ambiguity
September 15, 2026 at 1:23 AM
New favourite example of structural ambiguity
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
tbh I’d have said this was most German words, which is why it’s German and not some other language
September 13, 2026 at 11:11 AM
tbh I’d have said this was most German words, which is why it’s German and not some other language
I non-ironically love this rhetorical move when it's done well
thinking about this tweet again, and the fact that it's got such a hold on me that I genuinely think about it whenever I write a feature because I don't want to do "the hot dog thing"
September 14, 2026 at 7:43 PM
I non-ironically love this rhetorical move when it's done well
This is a fun little multilingual vocab quiz for anyone who's looking for some Saturday morning entertainment
taketest.xyz/multilang-vo...
taketest.xyz/multilang-vo...
Multilingual Vocabulary — TakeTest
A vocabulary test across 15 European languages. Each screen shows ten words from one language and ten English meanings; pair them up. Click a word, then click its meaning.The ten words are the...
taketest.xyz
September 12, 2026 at 3:25 PM
This is a fun little multilingual vocab quiz for anyone who's looking for some Saturday morning entertainment
taketest.xyz/multilang-vo...
taketest.xyz/multilang-vo...
New and disconcerting example of presupposition
For fucks sake Mercury, we've got other shit going on right now
Mercury Is Shrinking, and Faster Than We Thought
New estimates using the planet’s surface wrinkles show that our smallest planet is growing even smaller, at a faster clip than expected.
www.nytimes.com
September 12, 2026 at 4:40 AM
New and disconcerting example of presupposition
Uh hi and it's in my colours???
I don't know who exactly, but I feel confident that some of you want to know about this skirt with a design showing development of the Proto-Sinaitic script into many descendant scripts, including modern Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, and Hebrew scripts. princess-awesome.com/products/adu...
Adult "Prototype" Writing Systems Origins Skirt With Pockets
Description Specifications In this design featuring the development of writing systems from Proto-Sinaitic to the present, the evolution of letter forms spirals out from the mother script (Proto-Sinai...
princess-awesome.com
September 11, 2026 at 7:36 PM
Uh hi and it's in my colours???
Reposted by Gretchen McCulloch
Liu (@diliu.bsky.social) and Feigenson (2026) found that infants understand surprise as a response to information that is new to the observer. Unlike happiness, repeated surprise from the same person suggests multiple new discoveries #infancypapers onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Infants Understand That Surprise Is Caused by Novel Information
Infants use others' emotional expressions to make inferences about the world, for example by inferring candidate causes of their happiness or sadness. However, one emotion—surprise—is less clearly li...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
September 10, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Liu (@diliu.bsky.social) and Feigenson (2026) found that infants understand surprise as a response to information that is new to the observer. Unlike happiness, repeated surprise from the same person suggests multiple new discoveries #infancypapers onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Linguistics, it's helpful for real life!
September 10, 2026 at 2:52 AM
Linguistics, it's helpful for real life!