We all have an accent — or several! And we use them to communicate things about us, and highlight aspects of our identity. So what’s going on with the accents we hear? Are we losing some accents, or are they just changing? Dr Valerie Fridland is the author of Why We Talk Funny, and she joins us for this episode.
Timestamps
- Start: 0:00
- Intros: 0:30
- News: 6:25
- Related or Not: 17:59
- Interview with Valerie Fridland: 36:53
- Words of the Week: 1:50:34
- The Reads: 2:21:21
- Outtakes: 2:26:14
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This time we are ordering names by how different the letters in your name are from everyone else’s. Higher scores are more similar. The algorithm goes letter by letter, adding how many times that letter appears in the big bag of letters which is everyone’s name gathered up together. Then divided by letters in the name.
- Rene: 34.75
- Amanita: 34.00
- Nasrin: 33.50
- Elías: 32.60
- Joanna: 32.50
- Daniel is here: 31.83
- Ariaflame: 31.56
- Amir: 31.50
- Helen: 31.40
- Ayesha: 30.83
- Fiona: 30.20
- gramaryen: 29.67
- Stan: 29.50
- Colleen: 29.29
- Ignacio: 29.29
- Canny Archer: 29.27
- Larry: 29.20
- Nigel: 29.20
- Steele: 29.17
- Martha: 28.83
- Rachel: 28.50
- Nikoli: 28.33
- Rosemary: 28.12
- Aldo: 28.00
- Mignon: 27.67
- Sam: 27.67
- Laura D: 27.17
- Rach: 27.00
- Amy: 26.67
- Manú: 26.25
- Lyssa: 26.00
- Meredith: 25.88
- Molly Dee: 25.50
- Diego: 25.20
- PharaohKatt: 25.18
- Tony: 25.00
- Ben is here: 25.00
- Rodger: 24.83
- Iztin: 24.80
- Sonic Snejhog: 24.75
- O Tim: 24.75
- LordMortis: 24.60
- Linguistic Chaos: 24.47
- Chris L: 24.33
- John Mac: 24.00
- Sydney: 23.83
- Kevin: 23.80
- Keith: 23.80
- Whitney: 23.71
- Kristofer: 23.67
- James C: 23.33
- J0HNTR0Y: 23.12
- Andy from Logophilius: 23.00
- Faux Frenchie: 23.00
- Andy B: 22.60
- Xekri: 22.40
- Luis: 22.25
- Kathy: 21.80
- John K: 20.20
- Hedvig is here: 20.00
- Wolfdog: 16.86
- Lucy: 16.25
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Become a Patron!Show notes
@mixedlinguist Why does it sound weird to call him “Bad Bunny” with all those consonants? Crash course in syllable structure differences between (Puerto Rican) Spanish and English! Start listening to Benito right now! #linguistics h/t @Kat ♬ original sound – Nicole Holliday
Bad Bunny Makes Grammys History as First Spanish-Language Album of the Year Winner
https://variety.com/2026/music/news/bad-bunny-grammys-winner-spanish-album-of-the-year-1236642481/
Bad Bunny’s Style Evolution: From 2017 to Now
https://www.billboard.com/photos/bad-bunny-style-evolution-1235672315/1-bad-bunny-style-2017-premios-juventud-billboard-1240/
Google backs African push to reclaim AI language data
https://restofworld.org/2026/google-waxal-african-languages-ai-sovereignty/
Lost in translation – How Africa is trying to close the AI language gap
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkzgkkpx0lo
Inside an AI start-up’s plan to scan and dispose of millions of books
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/01/27/anthropic-ai-scan-destroy-books/
A machine that scans book pages at the rate of 2,500 per hour. | Reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/comments/1ju2265/a_machine_that_scans_book_pages_at_the_rate_of/
Why We Talk Funny by Valerie Fridland
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/744046/why-we-talk-funny-by-valerie-fridland/
Valerie M. Fridland: Books
https://www.valeriefridland.com/book-coming-soon
[$$] ‘One of the commonest faults of even well-bred people’? Attitudes towards Post-vocalic /r/-absence, /h/-dropping and /h/-insertion in 19th-Century English Grammars
https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.21832/9781800416154-003/pdf?licenseType=restricted&srsltid=AfmBOoqepibJdkaCYe0nldTTWUU4pd6OHeJitDab72uFR7T8Ygs8gMyU
In 2026, We Are Friction-Maxxing
https://www.thecut.com/article/brooding-friction-maxxing-new-years-2026-resolution.html
No, AI isn’t homogenizing your thoughts– frictionless design is
https://medium.com/design-bootcamp/no-ai-isnt-homogenizing-your-thoughts-frictionless-design-is-526870233927
Social cohesion and social connection | Austraian Institute of Health and Welfare
https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/social-cohesion-and-social-connection
Police given additional powers as NSW premier calls for calm during Israeli presidential visit
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-07/chris-minns-calls-for-calm-president-herzog-visit/106317374
Social Cohesion Enforced by 3,000 Police With Pepper Spray | The Shovel [satire]
https://theshovel.com.au/2026/02/10/social-cohesion-enforced-by-3000-police-with-pepper-spray/
Chris Minns flags further crackdown on protests in central Sydney
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jan/26/chris-minns-nsw-protests-crackdown-sydney-ntwnfb
Trump 2.0 as ‘Dual State’? | Verfassungsblog
https://verfassungsblog.de/trump-2-0-as-dual-state/
America Is Watching the Rise of a Dual State | The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/05/trump-executive-order-lawlessness-constitutional-crisis/682112/
Minneapolis is becoming a dual state
https://unherd.com/2026/01/minneapolis-is-becoming-a-dual-state/
Your friends are still acting like everything is normal in America. What do you do? | Vox
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/476702/minnesota-minneapolis-ice-ethics-how-to-help
The Epstein Class: They Are the Elites They Pretend to Hate | Copunterpunch
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/02/20/the-epstein-class-they-are-the-elites-they-pretend-to-hate/
Pinker, Epstein, Soldier, Spy
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/07/17/steven-pinkers-aid-jeffrey-epsteins-legal-defense-renews-criticism-increasingly
‘Dark woke’: what it means and how it might help Democrats
https://theweek.com/politics/dark-woke-explained-help-democrats
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