Entertainment
Language Expert Answers Word Origin Questions | Tech Support | WIRED
University of Cambridge Research Fellow Dr. Stephen Turton joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about the logic (and many quirks) of the English language. Why are so many English words not pronounced the way they’re spelled? Why is the plural of ‘child’ not ‘childs’ but ‘children?’ ‘Foot’ becomes ‘feet’ but ‘boot’ does’t pluralize…
Entertainment
Professional Birder Answers Birding Questions | Tech Support | WIRED
Professional Birder Christian Cooper joins WIRED to answer your questions about birding and birdwatching. How does a birder actually find the birds they’re looking for? How do I attract more birds to my garden? Is it okay to put a baby bird back in its nest? How can I start identifying bird calls I hear…
Entertainment
Former Deputy National Security Advisor Answers Geopolitics Questions | Tech Support | WIRED
Former Deputy National Security Advisor of the United States Ben Rhodes joins WIRED for a super-sized edition of Tech Support to answer the internet’s questions about the geopolitical climate and how we got here. 0:00 Geopolitics Support 0:14 WW3 2:31 China and the AI Race 6:26 Why Iran and The U.S. are at odds 11:02…
Entertainment
Project Hail Mary: Why Is He All Alone?
When Rylan Gosling’s character Dr. Ryland Grace awakens aboard the Hail Mary, the other two astronauts that should be with him have perished. What happened to them? Still haven’t subscribed to WIRED on YouTube? ►► Listen to the Get WIRED podcast ►► Want more WIRED? Get the magazine ►► Follow WIRED: Instagram ►► Twitter ►►…
Quick Start: Setting Up Your Samsung Galaxy Buds4 Pro
Nvidia Invests $2B in Marvell, Deepens Partnership | Bloomberg Tech 3/31/2026
What To Expect From the Artemis II Launch
-
Science & Technology6 years agoNitya Subramanian: Products and Protocol
-
People & Blogs4 years agoSleep Expert Answers Questions From Twitter ???? | Tech Support | WIRED
-
CNET6 years agoWays you can help Black Lives Matter movement (links, orgs, and more) ????????
-
Wired7 years agoHow This Guy Became a World Champion Boomerang Thrower | WIRED
-
Wired7 years agoNeuroscientist Explains ASMR’s Effects on the Brain & The Body | WIRED
-
Wired7 years agoWhy It’s Almost Impossible to Solve a Rubik’s Cube in Under 3 Seconds | WIRED
-
Wired7 years agoFormer FBI Agent Explains How to Read Body Language | Tradecraft | WIRED
-
CNET6 years agoSurface Pro 7 review: Hello, old friend ????
@VilcxjoVakero
October 21, 2025 at 8:00 pm
I remember one of the other English historical linguistics guys doing a pretty convincing video about why the English livestock/French meat pairs actually got differentiated much later than the Norman invasion, and more likely due to enthusiasm for French cookbooks – I forget his name unfortunately
@ayeppp2447
October 21, 2025 at 8:03 pm
I’ve been waiting for this one!!!
@andrewgraves4026
October 21, 2025 at 8:04 pm
Learned a lot today, thanks!
@rachscar
October 21, 2025 at 8:06 pm
Do NOT challenge this guy to a staring contest
@jessegriffin9
October 21, 2025 at 8:06 pm
So it’s always French, isn’t it?
@danmorrison8194
October 21, 2025 at 8:07 pm
8:53 I was not expecting you to drop a Yinz on us!
@Auntee_Sara
October 21, 2025 at 8:07 pm
Delightful, thank you😊
@tonye6284
October 21, 2025 at 8:15 pm
BEECH
Now it makes so much more sense why a beech tree is a buche in german
@TomTom-yu1xp
October 21, 2025 at 8:17 pm
It’s raining cats and dogs. I stepped in a poodle.
@paulafiorotti6108
October 21, 2025 at 8:20 pm
I would loveeeeeeeeeee to be as knowledgeable as this man. Congrats! You are amazing.
@troianoleonardo
October 21, 2025 at 8:28 pm
Talk about The Bluest Eye! I can’t decide if it’s the impeccable delivery, how knowledgeable he is, or those eyes, but Dr. Turton is incredibly attractive.
@jadonkeydonkey
October 21, 2025 at 8:28 pm
in North American English, generally, we dont add an “r”
@giabarrone7422
October 21, 2025 at 8:33 pm
This is the first time I have ever heard the word “kingly”. It sounds like something Donald Trump would say alongside “bigly”.
@iau
October 21, 2025 at 8:41 pm
I think I saw him blink once
@matthewsecord7641
October 21, 2025 at 8:46 pm
I love this nerd.
I mean that nicely.
@JohnnySmacker
October 21, 2025 at 8:48 pm
this was the most fascinating one yet. I love language history and etymology.
@SumNutOnU2b
October 21, 2025 at 8:58 pm
“Superfluity of nuns” seems a lot more reasonable once I realize it is intended as a hunting term
@SquirrelNutkins
October 21, 2025 at 9:01 pm
The question should be “How do question words start with wh?”
@ahunt1054
October 21, 2025 at 9:02 pm
The power of education. Please, never stop producing this series.
@panchorodriguez7246
October 21, 2025 at 9:03 pm
Very cool. Answered questions I had no idea I wanted answers to. Thank you.
@melissapeterson4287
October 21, 2025 at 9:04 pm
I didn’t realize that the civil war deadline was actually THE ORIGINAL deadline. I figured it was much older, and the civil war usage was just a “step” in the word’s usage evolution. Fascinating! In a macabre sort of way!
@GOcha619
October 21, 2025 at 9:05 pm
“Vous” = formal you than “Thou”?
@melsyoutube
October 21, 2025 at 9:16 pm
do this with an ebonics specialist.
@BookishFlamingo
October 21, 2025 at 9:19 pm
I would watch approximately 17 more hours of this man and this topic. Mind blown.
@brahmse9409
October 21, 2025 at 9:24 pm
Me fail english? That’s unpossible!
@foogod4237
October 22, 2025 at 5:52 pm
Regarding the order of letters in the alphabet, it’s actually worth noting that in some languages *there is no standard (universally agreed upon) order* for their characters at all. In Japanese, for example, there are _two_ commonly-used orderings for hiragana/katakana. The most common one (known as the “gojuuon”) is not actually linear, but is just a two-dimensional grid (with no actual “start” or “end” point). The other (“iroha”) is actually based on the words of a famous poem which used all of the characters exactly once, which was sort of the Japanese equivalent of “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog” (imagine if that was how we ordered our letters in English!)
And then for Japanese kanji, there is actually *no defined order at all.* They are often indexed in a variety of different ways, based on certain sub-components or the number of strokes it takes to write them, etc, but what _order_ they’re actually placed in is completely up to whoever’s printing that particular dictionary, etc.
@MKisFeelinSpicy
October 22, 2025 at 5:57 pm
@9:36 Another example is studies on the impact of agentive vs non-agentive language on memory. Agentive language is basically when you specify the “agent” that did or caused something (“Mike broke the window.” Mike is the agent) vs. non-agentive language, when you don’t specify the agent (“The window broke.” Who is the agent? Unclear.). Some studies have shown a slightly better memory of who did the deed when agentive language is used, even when they *saw* the event happen, which could mean that speakers of languages that tend to use less agentive language may have a small impact on their memory to remember who did something.
@14:16 He says Europeans use “apple” as a default for unfamiliar fruits, but it wasn’t only for unfamiliar fruits. It was for any fruit. The word “apple” just meant “fruit”. This is true in other European languages too (e.g., Old French “pom” meant fruit, although today’s French “pomme” means apple). The “forbidden fruit” in the Bible is thought of today as an apple because of this quirk, but centuries ago, religious people used to think of it as a date, grape, pomegranate, or other fruit, because the word was just “fruit”. Now that the same/equivalent word means “apple”, people think of it as an apple. So pineapple is an apple in the archaic sense of the word.
@foogod4237
October 22, 2025 at 5:58 pm
Note: That “masculine” vs “feminine” study you’re referring to has been largely discredited nowadays. People have done a number of other studies that have not shown any correlation between language gender and the way that people actually think about the objects themselves.
That’s not to say that language cannot affect the way people think about things, but that particular example is a pretty bad one, IMHO, which has actually been shown to not really be true.
@Arjay404
October 22, 2025 at 5:59 pm
2:44 Difficult sound you say? Let me introduce you to a Dutch or German person. They love that sound.
@pseminario4279
October 22, 2025 at 6:14 pm
more etymology content, plese! really enjoyed this one
@rorajoey
October 22, 2025 at 6:29 pm
@3:48 “Why do question words (why, who, where, when etc.) all start with wh?” How did you come to that conclusion?
Also, “cool hwip.”
@kcmichelson4528
October 22, 2025 at 6:37 pm
Question for bilingual peeps in the comments: say you grew up in the US and are native to English. But your parents spoke Spanish or another language around the house. What language do you “think” in? Your inner monolog so to speak?
@Boco_Corwin
October 22, 2025 at 6:39 pm
3:18 what about in laughter? Or tougher?
@HweolRidda
October 22, 2025 at 7:20 pm
They are “gh” words. Are you asking for the entire list? Probably a few dozen base words, not counting derivatives like tougher.
@beanie5487
October 22, 2025 at 6:57 pm
8:07 bestie did you say “two second person plural pronouns” 😭
@scottgray4623
October 22, 2025 at 7:00 pm
I love etymology and language in general, but I’m having a difficult time believing the bit about England not having rabbits until after the Norman conquest – specifically, I recall watching a documentary when I was younger that EXPLICITLY showed a reenactment of a group of medieval knights on a quest for a religious artifact who were suddenly and viciously attacked by an enraged rabbit. I forget the name of this documentary, but perhaps someone else in the comment section can help shed a little bit of light on this and corroborate my story, as I’m sure I’m not the only one who remembers this.
@pig3292
October 22, 2025 at 7:10 pm
Spelling reform was mentioned. I learned in library school that Melvil Dewey was a big proponent for that. In fact he spelled his name “Melvil” instead of “Melville” because he got rid of the “unnecessary” letters.
@buschcory
October 22, 2025 at 7:10 pm
GREAT video, this guy is super cool. Thanks as always
@hannnahesss
October 22, 2025 at 7:17 pm
I’m curious how many stories there are about the “break a leg” thing because I was in theatre for years and was always told that the “legs” are what pull the curtains back and forth so if you “break a leg” aka broke one of the curtain legs, it was due to the audience clapping for so long the curtains kept opening and closing for encores.
@HweolRidda
October 22, 2025 at 7:33 pm
An even better proof of the old pronunciation of “night” is that English’s sister, Scots, still says it as it is spelled. (Scots usually spells it nicht.)
@HweolRidda
October 22, 2025 at 7:50 pm
Regarding isle. The s was pronounced in French until recently. That is what the cercumflex indicates in île.
@FranklinXander
October 22, 2025 at 7:58 pm
“How do we make it clear that the speaker is a linguist? I know, we put a letter on the table, genius!”
@Gorilamúsico
October 22, 2025 at 8:01 pm
I might start using alack…
@LiMiT31
October 22, 2025 at 8:04 pm
Turkish version of don’t add fuel to the flames: Ateşe körükle gitme. Which means “don’t go to the fire with the blower”. You know? Like those things we see in old movies which look like an accordion that blows air when pumped and is always by the fire place? Yeah that one, that blower thingy….
@ryanclark1784
October 22, 2025 at 8:08 pm
It cracks me up that most of the questions are about “why do we speak a language that is obviously logically inconsistent) and the etymology answer is “someone was conquered and it changed.
@smergthedargon8974
October 22, 2025 at 8:25 pm
2:40
“Velar fricative”
>does uvular fricative
@michaelnikolaou2351
October 22, 2025 at 8:33 pm
I invite the Fellow to meet the Greek letter Φ, and to correct himself that the ph- construct is a poor attempt to write in Greek what cannot be written in Latin, a derivative.
@T.E.S.S.
October 22, 2025 at 9:04 pm
love this
@ecuadorious
October 22, 2025 at 9:10 pm
Dude, you rarely blink.
@lizsiemens1501
October 22, 2025 at 9:23 pm
Clue. Wow! I love this kind of stuff!
@BZAKether
October 22, 2025 at 9:24 pm
Very interesting, indeed!
@Arhiroukounas
October 23, 2025 at 5:18 pm
20:28 this is wrong,the Greek alphabet has the letter Φ which is pronounced phi,for examble physics is Φυσική (phisiki)
@SJ-ym4yt
October 23, 2025 at 6:12 pm
Yes, but it wasn’t pronounced like F in ancient Greek. It was pronounced like an aspirated P, which is why it has always been transcribed as “ph”. Then the Greek pronunciation changed, but the spelling remained the same
@sirisaacalbertmravinszky2671
October 23, 2025 at 5:21 pm
8:05 is a slip of teh tongue: There were two second-person pronouns, one singular, the other plural (and then also formal singular).
@ornnspammer
October 23, 2025 at 5:34 pm
HOW ABOUT COCKROACHES?🤔
@lilicooper3612
October 23, 2025 at 5:35 pm
Oh I hope you bring him back! He was brilliant and it was all so interesting.
@sirisaacalbertmravinszky2671
October 23, 2025 at 5:44 pm
20:57 The final “R” is a mistake by non-rhotic English speakers. The Latin word is insula.
@Coops1985
October 23, 2025 at 5:45 pm
kluwen is indeed the dutch word (idk if used so often) for a skein of yarn
@stefanoagostinoantognoli8458
October 23, 2025 at 5:46 pm
Motion to give this guy his own section🙋🏼♂️. I would watch 30 + videos oh his explanations
@clippypfp
October 23, 2025 at 6:03 pm
6 7 😂😂😂🎉🎉🎉
@AnastasiaB44
October 23, 2025 at 6:06 pm
3:29 wait you gave the examples of the ‘f’ sound in “rough” “enough” and “tough”….. why does the word “cough” not rhyme with the others????
@Tinyindie
October 23, 2025 at 6:21 pm
Vecna is pretty good with languages.
@erisQ23
October 23, 2025 at 6:36 pm
11:50 I always heard it was to “get cast”, which is the end results of breaking a leg…
@kellyroper5256
October 23, 2025 at 6:41 pm
I learned so much! I actually went back a few times and really absorbed what he was saying.
We need at least one more video on this topic with this speaker.
@Thebestelitejack
October 23, 2025 at 6:42 pm
4:44 Made me remember the Whiskey scene in Hot Rod
@miatx
October 23, 2025 at 6:57 pm
In Netherlands dutch we still have fruits or other kinds of vegetables that end with Appel “Apple in dutch”.
Aardappel “literally earth apple” = potato 🥔
Sinaasappel “china’s apple” = Orange 🍊
@Tovalls
October 23, 2025 at 7:05 pm
This guy Speech stat is 100.
@BlueBird8925
October 23, 2025 at 7:25 pm
Fascinating! Great speaker.
@richhowes2486
October 23, 2025 at 7:25 pm
25:28 you forgot the American R. Look it up, it’s fascinating. If you do accents it’s must know
@dizzy2020
October 23, 2025 at 7:44 pm
OK originating with a General is a new one on me – there’s the “Boston people deliberately mis-spell abbreviations” idea (Oll Korrect) – the idea it’s Choctaw “okeh” and some even more weird concepts…
Imagine the fun linguists will have in another 200 years with the nonsense people say now 🙂
@guillaumeduch
October 23, 2025 at 7:55 pm
14:24 Pineapple (pomme de pin) still means pine cone in french !
@YaShaheed
October 23, 2025 at 7:55 pm
The dog’s bollo*ks
@leobrouk
October 23, 2025 at 8:15 pm
Re “muscle”: Pronounce “sclerotic”, then try explaining again.
@SandbagsYoutube
October 23, 2025 at 8:17 pm
One reason I am a lexophile is that feeling when you hear a word or a phrase you’ve never heard before but because of the context and the breakdown of the word or words it sort of births this idea in you all at once. A personal example of this is when I heard that cicadas practice a survival mechanism called “predator satiation.” I had never heard that term before but it made sense in a way that those two words carried the weight of an entire concept on their backs. Like a tiny pill that unlocked an entire new way of thinking about swarming creatures.
@Triangulum303
October 23, 2025 at 8:26 pm
Hwat!?
@chrisleon5918
October 23, 2025 at 8:35 pm
14:41 if you can’t figure it out you not really a freak like dat tho.
@briangoldberg4439
October 23, 2025 at 8:43 pm
If you want to understand the way that our language influences the way we think, it’s a better example to look at phonetic VS semantic languages (Chinese VS English for example)
@philipusher4282
October 24, 2025 at 3:38 pm
@ 11:18. Yes! Danes and your hygge I’m talking about you😂
@arlabrandsma
October 24, 2025 at 3:40 pm
I love this! As a dutchie I’m really curious how you would describe the word ‘gezellig’ in English. It is famous for not having an english word for it but how would you describe it?
@michellebeeket
October 24, 2025 at 4:02 pm
The german/ spanish study is debunked as far as I know that british guy that always wears a red shirt made a video in which he stated he made a mistake to cite this study in a previous video
@bajubner
October 24, 2025 at 4:05 pm
I find the idea of “changing fashion” of pronunciation so funny. Like some people really just said, “what if instead of rolling our Rs like this, we did it like *this* instead?” and all their snooty friends though oh my goodness Muriel you’re a genius
@brunito_poquito
October 24, 2025 at 4:06 pm
Something about “children” always sounded German to me. Like Uhr, Uhren, Frau, Frauen, Child, Children.. it just kinda fits.
@Thatkat5
October 24, 2025 at 4:06 pm
I would love an episode of WIRED with the Harvard ethymologynerd
@stellatilly9911
October 24, 2025 at 4:44 pm
someone should ask him about the etymology of porcelein…
@nancydaugherty159
October 24, 2025 at 4:55 pm
A leg is a curtain on sides of the stage. To break it is to go on stage
@TiggerIsMyCat
October 24, 2025 at 5:00 pm
As someone with ADHD, deadlines really do feel literal😂
@TiggerIsMyCat
October 24, 2025 at 5:02 pm
This is my dream profession.
@Moncrom
October 24, 2025 at 5:14 pm
So nobility and imperialism are the reasons why English spelling is a nightmare ? Another thing they made worse….great 😂
@Hazezal
October 24, 2025 at 5:36 pm
Him: “For example”
Me “…. Oh here we go” 🤤
@tfd422
October 24, 2025 at 5:52 pm
Dude, blink!
@ChefGoreb
October 24, 2025 at 6:10 pm
I thought actors wished each other to break a leg was because actors hope to get the role and be part of the cast – which is also what you get when u break something. That cannot be a coincidence…
@eraclae
October 24, 2025 at 8:14 pm
it is
@agb.o.b612
October 24, 2025 at 6:10 pm
5:08 no wonder my salary makes me salty
@Neptoid
October 24, 2025 at 6:16 pm
10:11 The study about gender to inanimate objects is criticized, weak and non-replicable. He shouldn’t promote it
@sylverfokx
October 24, 2025 at 6:26 pm
Because it is RED like a HEART so LOVE and therefore you end up with LOVE APPLE. That’s a obvious conclusion and the simplest thing is always usually the answer so I think that this is correct.
@assbalonkerful
October 24, 2025 at 6:37 pm
I saw 2 crows earlier…
Attempted murder
@wforweed665
October 24, 2025 at 6:49 pm
20:28 What do you mean there is no letter F in greek? What does Φ sound like? Φανταστικα – Fantastic (Fantastika in greek pronunciation)
@marcwright8395
October 24, 2025 at 6:53 pm
Banana without the B is just Pineapple
@williamsutton6738
October 24, 2025 at 6:55 pm
Yeah, I got all that, I read beek.
@QuestionEverything79
October 24, 2025 at 7:34 pm
The bees knees.. the dogs bollocks
@KaineFPieri
October 24, 2025 at 8:41 pm
As a language nerd this was heaven.
@lucamontellie4630
October 24, 2025 at 8:43 pm
A Fowler is a “Vogler”? That makes English sound even more like a drunk Dutch person. And Dutch sounds like very drunk German.
@kaylinstephens3169
October 24, 2025 at 8:59 pm
Is it just me or does he have a Jamie Campbell Bower vibe???
@not_potaytoes_hobbit
October 25, 2025 at 11:51 am
As for the question in 11:30 question:
I’ve heard that language affects the way their speaker perceives time and how they respond to others. For example: in Spanish we don’t need to know the full sentence to intuitively guess the ending of that sentence but in German or Japanese, you need to wait until the end of the sentence to know what the person wants to communicate. Of course all countries have different cultures – besides their whole history – and each person is different, but German and Japanese societies are very structured.
Are there studies on that topic?
@yuyayonis8093
October 25, 2025 at 12:08 pm
Really interesting 😊
I liked the video, hope there are other videos about linguistics ❤
@latheunique
October 25, 2025 at 12:39 pm
I studied languages at university and I’ve long been so obsessed with languages in general. So this video feels so calming and fascinating to me. I enjoy every second of it. Dr. Stephen Turton has such a straightforward, engaging delivery it’s hard not to cling to his every word. Just want to let everyone know how much I love this lol
@DimitriMoreira
October 25, 2025 at 12:49 pm
This etymologist is not accounting for tribal languages or oriental languages.
But yeah, some languages definitely cripple our understanding of the world. And this goes back to the koine Greek translation of the old testament in Hebrew.
“Christ” is such an example of “we don’t have a word for this, so let’s invent one”.
@marin7007-c4x
October 25, 2025 at 1:30 pm
He didn’t blink once in this video
@salome1344
October 25, 2025 at 1:48 pm
Soooooo interesting. Thanksss !!
@jack7nine
October 25, 2025 at 2:01 pm
this guy looks like he should be in movies!
@serenityq26
October 25, 2025 at 2:28 pm
he is so pretty. sigh. i need him
@Cliiipy
October 25, 2025 at 2:51 pm
Thanks for sharing with us, Ed Amalagyst.
@paIacce
October 25, 2025 at 2:55 pm
Why does he not blink??
@perry2345
October 25, 2025 at 3:17 pm
4:40 so stewie was right all along, it is cool hwip 🤯
@jossefyoucef4977
October 25, 2025 at 3:30 pm
Does anyone why the pronunciation of the letter T is different based on accent and or word? Sometimes it’s silent sometimes it a soft D
@hanoman78
October 25, 2025 at 3:47 pm
I know a lot of beech 🤭
@michaelcherokee8906
October 25, 2025 at 3:59 pm
That intrusive r is very interesting to me, because my dialect would not say “banary”, we would say “banana-ey”, which is actually hard to say and usually involves using a simple pause between the final a in banana and the -ey tacked on the end. But then again, us Americans are pretty averse to intrusive r on the whole, arent we?
@swedenontwowheels
October 25, 2025 at 5:45 pm
I wonder where etymologists can find a job and if it is financially sustainable. I am very interested in etymology but also always worried about not being able to find a job.
@lordvlygar2963
October 25, 2025 at 5:56 pm
If there is a future episode: Suppose we finally change the name of “W”. What do you think would be the best name? I am happy with “wynn”, but I think “weh”, “wii”, or “aw” also suffice.
@leeroy5529
October 25, 2025 at 6:06 pm
Coincidentally, I’m having gholet-o-ghoti for dinner tonight
@Slitter_the_Dubstep
October 25, 2025 at 6:10 pm
hi- i am steve and i am word.
@Octopusoctopus2024
October 25, 2025 at 6:37 pm
Did people closer to the origin languages understand words more with the word’s individual parts, like Comfortable being more like comfort-able. So like, no dictionary required, the word parts are already the science of the word.
@JulianaLimeMoon
October 25, 2025 at 6:56 pm
At about 10:40, he cites a “study” that’s already been debunked. (That one that claims the genders of words influence how people perceive inanimate objects — it’s already been found out that the person who wrote it altered the results.)
@aimforpetra
October 25, 2025 at 7:43 pm
ALACK
@Squirrelmind66
October 25, 2025 at 8:07 pm
The creators of the Klingon language had a sense of humour: their word for fish is “goti.”
@matthews832
October 25, 2025 at 8:08 pm
He’s spent so much time studying language he’s forgotten to feed himself. 🙁
@BubsyMupsy
October 25, 2025 at 8:25 pm
That was interesting! Thank you!
@kelvincannon3675
October 25, 2025 at 8:44 pm
“Body language’s” so common-sense allegedly, that ppl don’t think twice about how the failure, & or flatout refusal to translate body language “literally” is evolving into a “closed mouth doesn’t get fed,” type of justification(s) of negligence…
…on paper everyone’s innocent until proven guilty but, & or while in reality everyones innocent, & or no one’s ever really guilty of trying to obey the innate human instinct(s), pursuit of “actually” being “secured,” whence society infrastructure failure, & or flatout refuse to accommodate within it’s infrastructure’s blueprints “actually secured personal-space(s)” accessibility foreveryone individual(s)…
…& or no one allows anyone to “cast the first stone,” since everyone’s guilty of failing to evolve the “actual securing” of “personal-space(s)” beyond clothes obsolescence, hence “body language’s” total “normalization(s)” of “vulnerabilities unnecessarily,” & or in plain-sight!
…
@Christian-r6x7z
October 26, 2025 at 1:44 pm
@14:39 In Austria will still call potatos earth-apples (but spelled Erdäpfel) 😉
@TheAncientAstronomer
October 26, 2025 at 1:45 pm
Excuse me?! This is the letter F in greek: Φ For a few thousand years now!
@JohanAulin
October 26, 2025 at 1:54 pm
“Silent letters don’t make any sense”. That guy would faint if he saw French.
@JohanAulin
October 26, 2025 at 2:06 pm
It’s interesting how English kept the “polite” you and removed the more informal thou. Sweden went the other way, with the “du” reform. Calling someone Ni (plural you) was basically allowing others to be above you, like groveling. We’re a pretty equal society, plus we have the Jante law which basically says you’re not more important than anyone else. We decided that everyone is du (singular you). Now if someone calls us “Ni” (sometimes still happens in hospitality) most of us feel like we’re being called old. It’s stuffy and weird.
@jenda386
October 26, 2025 at 2:13 pm
2:16 In my Slavic language, a ball of thread is called “klubko” and the first syllable is pronounced almost the same as “clue”. This word must be ancient.
@einsame_Maria
October 26, 2025 at 2:23 pm
Oh no, they mixed up the word correlation 😢 19:37
@3УФН
October 26, 2025 at 2:30 pm
I heard 6 7👀
@k-isfor-kristina
October 26, 2025 at 2:36 pm
I love etymology but this is a missed opportunity to get the etymology nerd guy on this
@k-isfor-kristina
October 26, 2025 at 2:55 pm
Greek does have a letter f though? Phi? Ф ?
@ddreamfield
October 26, 2025 at 3:20 pm
the clue one is so cool lol
@dryden_drawing
October 26, 2025 at 4:11 pm
There should’ve been note that the masculine/feminene study has been disputed.
@erakfishfishfish
October 26, 2025 at 4:56 pm
Whenever someone complains about a person wanting to be referred to with they/them pronouns, I ask them “thou must be so upset with the singular ‘you’”.
@getahobbydamnit
October 26, 2025 at 5:17 pm
appreciate the linguist reading out the emojis 😂
@annadecaf
October 26, 2025 at 5:22 pm
As huge fan of linguistics I adored this video!! I hope you can make a part two 💞💞
@miorgel3666
October 26, 2025 at 5:39 pm
14:41 there’s a similar name for tomato in my language, though not the same- I’ve been told a tomato is curvaceous and has a strong temptatious red, which associates with love or passion, so “love apple”.
@vhol93
October 26, 2025 at 6:02 pm
Wow super interesting
@chrismatthews8717
October 26, 2025 at 6:34 pm
Thou would have rhymed with you. In the North East, where it and thee are still used, it rhymes with you, not how.
@laisborges513
October 26, 2025 at 6:52 pm
Amazing! I’m a linguist and the video was very informative.
@MrJoelariza
October 26, 2025 at 7:06 pm
Great stories!!
@Netanyadolf
October 26, 2025 at 7:15 pm
in dutch a pinecone is actually called a ”dennenappel”, which literally translates to ”pine apple”, so my guess is that a pineapple looked similar to a pinecone to colonists and that it just got named that trough dutch and possibly other germanic language influence.
@Spikklubba
October 26, 2025 at 7:38 pm
Rabbit is also one of those broadened words like “bird”. Rabbit used to mean the baby animal but overtook the general term “coney” (cognate with a bunch of other european terms for rabbit like kanin, coelho, conejo etc).
@Marcel-W3
October 26, 2025 at 8:15 pm
Konijn in Dutch
@ashhughes2485
October 26, 2025 at 7:41 pm
11:15 Do not speak of Hiraeth Englishman because it is because of you that I have it. I don’t know my own culture, I don’t know my own tongue and I don’t know my own land because of your lot. this is why you don’t get this word. Let God be true, every man a liar, and all worship at Living Word. Fly high Y Ddraig Goch
@volpemarroneveloce5928
October 26, 2025 at 7:50 pm
hes mad cute tho
@dimkissonergis
October 26, 2025 at 8:40 pm
I don’t know how he is claiming that the is no F in the Greek language when we have the letter Φ which is the same sound as F infact all PH words are written with an Φ .
@NellieKAdaba
October 26, 2025 at 9:03 pm
Thank you.
@nayrleinadcm
October 26, 2025 at 9:24 pm
interview with a vampire…
@hamed128s
October 27, 2025 at 6:35 am
plz suuport me
@neelo821
October 27, 2025 at 6:49 am
French helps with English spelling sometimes. 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇫🇷
@NULUSIOS
October 27, 2025 at 7:00 am
20:28 there is a letter for “F” (not to be confused with ancient Greek -now dead- letter F, δίγαμμα) , it is “Φ” and was indeed sounding like PH. Phoenicians did not have this sound I think, but Greeks added it (and the letter).
@jamiegoldenseal3826
October 27, 2025 at 7:07 am
i like the content but i hate the way the editor chopped this up… cant read the text it flashes on screen for 1 second… the zoom ins are distracting …. 2/10 edit
@jasperfk
October 27, 2025 at 7:30 am
10:15 this study has never been replicated and is generally considered to be unreliable amongst scholarly linguists today.
@evaapple255
October 27, 2025 at 9:47 am
in German that gh = ch and is still pronounced (without difficulties) so night = Nacht and Knight = Knecht (which no longer translates correctly) and light = Licht and sight = Sicht and so on
@JojoVisuals
October 27, 2025 at 9:56 am
We need more etymology support!
@muugiiwara3
October 27, 2025 at 9:57 am
So Rod Kimble was actually right when with how he pronounced whiskey. Huh.
@a.lumpia
October 27, 2025 at 10:15 am
Me, a language nerd, already knowing all of this but still watching anyway because language is just so interesting🤩
@CurlyCross
October 27, 2025 at 12:19 pm
Mohr! Moor! More!
@jasondanielfair2193
October 27, 2025 at 1:12 pm
The gender study turned out to be junk. gender doesn’t necessarily mean types of human.
@DMacB42
October 27, 2025 at 1:19 pm
Filthy childses
@sufranklin4439
October 27, 2025 at 1:23 pm
Nobody has heard of a heavy rain being called a toadstrangler? Huh.
@msotic
October 27, 2025 at 1:44 pm
Really bad at answering questions. This guy barely answers anything
@ZarbanDerek
October 27, 2025 at 1:53 pm
3:10 Not really. You only say it’s not allowed because there are no words like that. But “sew” & “ancient” & “timbre” & “bury” & “busy” are the only examples (other than their derivatives) of those spellings used for those sounds. So fish COULD be spelled “ghoti” and it would just be a fact of life that you would accept like those other words.
@volkane24
October 27, 2025 at 2:11 pm
I have infinite respect for the linguist’s knowledge, but the fact that he stared at the camera for 25 minutes without blinking made me shudder.
@Acro_YT
October 27, 2025 at 2:27 pm
10:15 Wasn’t this study not been able to be replicated?
@ashedrose
October 27, 2025 at 3:09 pm
Bring him back immediately
@StarQueenEstrella
October 27, 2025 at 3:12 pm
14:45 perhaps it’s because tomatoes reminded the early Europeans of the human heart?
@StarQueenEstrella
October 27, 2025 at 3:21 pm
21:06 curiously enough, modern French sometimes removes the S after a vowel and represents that S’s former place in the word circumflex accent. So instead of “l’isle” in French, now we write it as “l’île”.
@StarQueenEstrella
October 27, 2025 at 3:25 pm
23:38 technically speaking, “breakfast” is a combination of words. One fasts (that is, does not eat) while sleeping so when one wakes, you break the fast by eating food in the morning.
@douglasnelson3569
October 27, 2025 at 4:29 pm
I’d love to know the origin of ‘blink’. Then I’d like to ask the good Dr. WHY HE NEVER DOES IT! 😀
Great content as ever folks 👍
@samanthawalcott8053
October 27, 2025 at 5:37 pm
As someone who is studying Linguistics and loves etymology this was one of my favourite videos.
@pajaroprecario
October 27, 2025 at 5:44 pm
So many whimsical alterations😮😮
@torsten_dev
October 27, 2025 at 7:43 pm
10:35 Said study failed to reproduce results. Grammatical Gender is a confounding variable since “llave” and “Schlüssel” are onomatopoetically different enough to trigger the bouba–kiki effect.
When accounted for the earlier result disappears meaning the sounds of certain words may effect images we associate with them, while grammatical gender does not.
@Masqueey
October 28, 2025 at 4:30 am
Super interesting the the ‘gh’ sound used to be pronounced as the Dutch ‘g’!
@JosieJo2000
October 28, 2025 at 6:16 am
This dude would be an exceptional dinner guest. Love his enthusiasm
@ArkaidDeims
October 28, 2025 at 6:34 am
I loved this one <3
@abihabib3574
October 28, 2025 at 6:45 am
i learned so much my brain hurts
@TheGreatAtario
October 28, 2025 at 6:59 am
There are way more ways than that to pronounce Rs
@theamazingjay161
October 28, 2025 at 7:35 am
I wonder how many languages Dr Turton speaks?
@ivanstjepan3321
October 28, 2025 at 8:02 am
Is it possible to make the Same Video in comparison with Asian/Arabic Language?
I would really enjoy that cuz i see a lot of potential there
@tamp2377
October 28, 2025 at 8:30 am
I have never learned more in 25 minutes than just now. I believe everything this man says
@michaelmcelligott5074
October 28, 2025 at 10:08 am
14:41 Maybe they thought a tomato looked like a heart? 🤔
@smurfyday
October 28, 2025 at 10:18 am
Linguistic determinism has largely been debunked.
@MEDlC92
October 28, 2025 at 10:30 am
I learned that bto break a leg and be put in a cast, cast being the goal.
@dean345678
October 28, 2025 at 11:20 am
Ghoti=fish is in an episode of Batman (Adam West) it’s something like “ghoti caviar= fish eggs= the villain is Eggman”
@ricalina4371
October 28, 2025 at 11:21 am
It german the expression exists „it‘s hailing cats“, which refers to hail as big as „catheads“ which used to be a specific cobblestone. I could imagine this saying was transferred to rain and emphasized adding the dogs…
@dean345678
October 28, 2025 at 11:23 am
I was under the impression that Roman soldiers were paid in salt, like a sailor’s rum ration
@TomTom53421
October 28, 2025 at 11:49 am
4:43 Stewie’s cool hwip being validated
@azryadam
October 28, 2025 at 11:51 am
cant believe I actually watch full ! love WIRED .. so informative as always
@rojadaki
October 28, 2025 at 12:11 pm
Wait, but Greek has an F! What about φ ?
@real_life_axolotl4876
October 28, 2025 at 1:54 pm
They should mark these videos NSFW for sapiosexuals.
@moonprojections
October 28, 2025 at 4:22 pm
On the topic of linguistic relativity, I have to assume that simply reordering the syntax of sentences lends itself to different thought processes. Adjective placement before or after a noun requires either no ambiguity, or transient ambiguity, respectively.
@RobMedellin
October 28, 2025 at 4:27 pm
11:45 what? I thought “break a leg” was like “give it your all”, and thus thought the origin was about asking them to use maximum physical effort even if it meant breaking a leg because the result was worth it… implying that what they were doing was important.
@bersabelle
October 28, 2025 at 4:54 pm
so most dialogue spoken in shakespeare plays is mispronounced
@RobMedellin
October 28, 2025 at 4:56 pm
16:37 I had heard it was 0k as 0 kills, meaning that they didn’t loose any men that day. So he would signal OK
@giuliofois7285
October 28, 2025 at 7:49 pm
I always thought tomato was originally called “golden apple”, figuring Europeans came to know it in its yellow form. Tomato in Italian is pomodoro, which sounds a lot like golden apple in French “pomme d’or”
@Steppest
October 28, 2025 at 8:18 pm
Left, as in to leave, and opposite to right. Gauche in French also means the opposite of right, and to leave. How?
@lucymilne4086
October 28, 2025 at 8:45 pm
There were no rabbits until the Normans?!
@SWBGTOC
October 29, 2025 at 5:10 am
9:34 It’s better to study completely unrelated languages than two European ones. Of course you get only tiny results with neighbors. It has a way bigger influence than you think.
@iamyourmaster.1211
October 29, 2025 at 5:23 am
This is so good.
@cecinestpaschiara7155
October 29, 2025 at 5:33 am
I am just here to say Mr Turton sounds like Adrian Bliss.
@elaych044
October 29, 2025 at 5:47 am
:55 someone snorts a line
@aicrod3811
October 29, 2025 at 7:55 am
4:42 cue in Stewie Griffin saying Cool Whip
@filthyweaboo2694
October 29, 2025 at 9:39 am
Wouldn’t “ok” have entered English via interaction with Aquitaine/Guyenne/Occitania (where Kings of England often held significant territories, if not almost the entire region), where ‘yes’ is written as “oc”, which then got anglicised as “ok”?
That’s also the alternate name for Occitan language, i.e. lenga d’oc; as opposed to langues d’oil (where ‘oil eventually became modern ‘oui’) and langues de si (spanish/italian iirc)
@bradley2349
October 29, 2025 at 10:04 am
I feel like you could make a pretty dope supercut of all of the letter sounds this guy made throughout this video XD.
@ankiratv
October 29, 2025 at 11:01 am
About the animals vs. food question, we have a similar scenario in Spanish:
Vaca (Cow) – Ternera
Oveja (Sheep) – Cordero
but these are the names used to refer to the animals when they’re young (under a year of age), which is -mostly- when we eat them.
These words are taught in children’s books and such (like when you’re learning about cat and kitten), but most people forget about them because, whereas you would still use the word for kitten growing up because it’s a pet you’ll probably encounter in your life as you grow up, unless you live around animals in the countryside the words for younger animals are easy to forget until you grow older and start going to restaurants to make your own orders 😛
@suspensorium9240
October 29, 2025 at 11:07 am
It is weird. You would never look for this type of videos but when they randomly pop up it catches my attention and i have to watch them. And i barely get disappointed…
@nydra-r
October 29, 2025 at 11:44 am
as he was describing what nice used to mean, all i could think is how im every word he said and people say im nice so i mean theyre not wrong at all lmao
@alexo_v1
October 29, 2025 at 12:34 pm
10:13 I heard this study isn’t real so do with that what you will but I don’t blame you
@onionbubs386
October 29, 2025 at 12:41 pm
I love that “oopsie-daisy” is older than “whoops”
@fredsnicker
October 29, 2025 at 1:01 pm
Germans calling a bridge beautiful and elegant? That doesn’t sound like gender bias, that just sounds like being German.
@mnels5214
October 29, 2025 at 1:32 pm
The visual for pork beef and mutton not corresponding with their animal is kind of funny, is it some kind of test?
@TimmyToddyToady
October 29, 2025 at 1:35 pm
I hope you filmed like, 5 of these episodes at once, and are ready to release more.
@chesterwilberforce9832
October 29, 2025 at 2:57 pm
In parts of the US Southern mountains, the plural pronoun is “y’uns”, meaning “you ones”, instead of “Y’all”. Here in Texas, we make the plural pronoun possessive by saying “Y’all’s” meaning “does that belong to all of you guys”
@thewrongaccount608
October 29, 2025 at 3:10 pm
Guy slightly freaks me out looking undead.
@chesterwilberforce9832
October 29, 2025 at 3:52 pm
I read somewhere that some linguists are pushing to make the letter R a vowel. (You can’t make an R sound without adding a vowel in front of it., er, ar, ur, etc.)
@manning0
October 29, 2025 at 5:45 pm
That was all perfectly cromulent
@samskillington401
October 29, 2025 at 6:09 pm
Phakin brillyant
@yoyoschmo1
October 29, 2025 at 6:36 pm
Or break a leg because they hope you end up in a cast
@lisettegarcia
October 29, 2025 at 7:36 pm
4:58 – Not simply so that they could buy salt. Salt was a form of currency, like poor man’s gold.
@lisettegarcia
October 29, 2025 at 7:42 pm
8:05 – This explanation is belied by the King James version replete with Thou and Thine in speaking to/of G-d. So, I think you may have it backwards.
@arinill
October 29, 2025 at 8:48 pm
this topic is interesting
@Centiquben
October 29, 2025 at 9:25 pm
This “University of Cambridge Research Fellow Dr. Stephen” have to keep talking about languages ! This was so nice! 😀
@KaitoverMoon
October 29, 2025 at 9:33 pm
Why do you never put the thumbnail question as the first question asked??
@apes4days254
October 29, 2025 at 9:38 pm
He’s wrong about translation in one exception. You cannot translate poetry.
@Tuilelen
October 30, 2025 at 12:57 am
Can I be this guy’s friend? I could listen to him talk for hours.
@davewest2271
October 30, 2025 at 1:34 am
God I love nerds
@ErinfromLongIsland
October 30, 2025 at 2:22 am
23:38 ” it is rare for words to appear out of nowhere” please explain skibidi
@YoutubePizzer
October 30, 2025 at 3:45 am
wow “okay” is so much more recent than i thought
@Skasaha_
October 30, 2025 at 4:44 am
21:24 I’ve read before that ‘death and taxes’ is an idiom in lots of different languages.
@JamesHenderson-e6b
October 30, 2025 at 5:17 am
Loving this entire series, Dr. Stephen Turton’s subject area is fascinating.
@anaussieplays763
October 30, 2025 at 6:42 am
Here’s a couple for you…..
Why is the letter “W” the only letter in the English alphabet that doesn’t have an independent Onomatopoeia? it’s a “double” ‘U’…. it should be called a “Woo”
Now.. why is the number “7” the only single digit with 2 syllables?? Counting is rhythmic and that number takes up 2 spaces… It should be called “Sev”.
Argue below:
@Nurdse_326
October 30, 2025 at 10:04 am
I love the yinz call-out for Pittsburgh!
@tobilelemurien4147
October 30, 2025 at 10:47 am
Moose – Meese !?
If “Brunch” (breakfast + lunch) exists, why don’t we have “Lupper” (Lunch + Supper) ?
Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway ?
@cryingline9697
October 30, 2025 at 11:18 am
ya know, until i started watching Wired i didn’t think people read emojis out loud but every time i watch one of these, they say the name of the emoji and i crack up every time lol
@likematestopprocrastinating
October 30, 2025 at 12:14 pm
It’s so fun to learn SMTH new every day even if most of the info will slip out of my mind later
@23lizardking
October 30, 2025 at 1:19 pm
Who says Greek doesn’t have a letter ‘F’? 20:24 – the letter φ or Φ is exactly that – you Brits made it ph, not the Greeks.
@aaronmicalowe
October 30, 2025 at 1:51 pm
It’s quite simple. It looks like a pine cone and the closest thing that tasted like it at the time was an apple.
@scottybrowndotca
October 30, 2025 at 2:32 pm
3:01 For over 30 years I wondered why the punk band Ghoti Hook was said to pronounce their name “fish hook” .. And finally, after all this time, you have answered my question ..
@zoladkow
October 30, 2025 at 3:09 pm
23:46 That’s nice and dandy, but – Wired – check your captions, because i’m pretty sure ETYmologist is not an ENTOmologist 😂
@Vile
October 30, 2025 at 4:43 pm
my man got so distrated by his OED volume 1 that the actual reply to the question had to be included in only the tweet 13:40
@krux02
October 30, 2025 at 5:46 pm
I have to disagree on one point. Language does fundamentally change the way how we think. That doesn’t mean we can’t imagine something that doesn’t have a word for it, but it makes it much harder to do so. Yes we are able to learn, but having words for the paths of thought are very very important. On the other hand, overstating a word isn’t too good either. Often two people have a different interpretation of the same word, or maybe just one person have an understanding of the word at all, and the throwing the word only makes the speaker feel smart, there is no gain on the listener’s side. Things aren’t straight forward, but having words for concepts is still very very important, but you still need to express these concepts in simpler words.
@MrMikander
October 30, 2025 at 6:25 pm
Both educational and entertaining. Nice!
@biuti.channel
October 30, 2025 at 6:54 pm
“quando” is not a word in spanish though. The correct word is ‘cuando”