141: Why Q Needs U (with Danny Bate and Caitlin M. Green)

Each letter in our Latin alphabet tells a story. But what about spaces? Or writing direction? Should we get rid of some letters, or could we even do with more? Here to answer all these questions is Dr Danny Bate, author of Why Q Needs U: A History of Our Letters and How We Use Them.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Start
• 00:44 Intros: Special letters
• 05:46 News: Spanish okay at World Cup?
• 09:30 News: Forgetting is helpful in language acquisition
• 21:18 News: Bluey in Yolŋu
• 25:41 Related or Not theme by Jo
• 27:21 Related or Not: prodigy, prodigal, and prodigious
• 34:19 Related or Not: vice, device, divide
• 43:09 Related or Not: gauntlet and gaunt
• 49:48 Interview with Danny Bate, author of Why Q Needs U
• 50:16 About Danny's podcast: A Language I Love Is…
• 52:24 The Alphabet: greatest innovation since sexual reproduction
• 56:08 The case against boustrophedon
• 58:51 Letters flipped over time
• 01:02:40 Why are some letters more common than others?
• 01:06:14 Why does H get used in so many digraphs?
• 01:10:52 Thoughts on spelling reform
• 01:18:07 Why are L and R so squirrelly?
• 01:28:53 The evolution of spaces in written language
• 01:31:46 What letters can we get rid of?
• 01:35:15 Actually, no, we need a new letter
• 01:36:53 Communicating linguistic ideas to the public
• 01:44:02 Word of the Week: monoculture
• 01:53:43 Word of the Week: algae-TBQ agenda
• 02:00:15 Word of the Week: hobbylos
• 02:03:14 Word of the Week: tokenmaxxing
• 02:06:27 Word of the Week: Claudeonomics
• 02:11:21 The Reads
• 02:18:18 Outtakes: Back on our Bluey nonsense + On being a Dan