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Podcast: A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over
Episode: Expresso Dating and Dying Tongues - 9 June 2008
Description: [This episode originally aired February 16, 2008.] There are nearly 7,000 languages in the world today, and by some estimates, they're dying off at the rate of one every week. What's lost when a language dies? Martha and Grant discuss that question and efforts to record some endangered languages before they die out completely. A caller named Holly confesses that there's a word that practically makes her break out in hives every time she hears it. Grant assures her she's not alone in her aversion to the word--Holly, cover your eyes--'moist.' Grant and Martha discuss the psychological...