This program was originally broadcast on September 13, 2016 . Linguist John McWhorter explores how the meaning of words change dramatically over time, and why we should embrace this. Linguist John McWhorter knows that language drives a lot of people crazy. The way it shifts and moves. The way it changes and defies old usage. Sticklers for grammar can feel assaulted, overwhelmed. McWhorter says relax. Get over it. We need to teach proper grammar and usage, he says, but we also need to let it go. Language never sits still, he says. And that’s like totally all right. Totes. And if that, like, bothers you, stand by. This hour On Point, linguist John McWhorter on how language moves. Tom Ashbrook Guest John McWhorter , professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. Author of the new book, Words on the Move: Why English Wont and Cant Sit Still (Like, Literally) . Also author of The Power of Babel , Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue and The Language Hoax . (
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