A WORDY CELEBRATION OF ALL THINGS LEXICAL,
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Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Episode 88: Nick Norlen
Nick Norlen is the founder and editor of Paper Airplane magazine, which he describes as "the grown-up version of the magazines you loved as a kid: writing, comics, games, and activities—with no cynicism, no ads, and no AI."
He launched Paper Airplane after being laid off from his role as senior editor of Dictionary.com, where he helped shape editorial content and campaigns like the word of the year. The debut
issue of the magazine features the work of former That Word
Past chats
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Lisa Johnson Kate Karp Merrill Perlman Tom Pfeifer Carol Pickerine
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Ann Bourne DeAnna Burghart Mary Jane Doherty Mignon Fogarty
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Rebecca Benner
Patty Boyd
Hilary Cadman
Samantha Corbin
Elizabeth d'Anjou
Mary-Jane Doherty
Susan Fitzgerald
James Gallagher
Melissa Hellman
Rachel Herbert
Neil Holdway
Kristine Hunt
Susan Karcz
Beverly Michaels
Amanda Miller
Mary Norris
Lori Paximadis
Deb Ring
Alice Steinke
Sue Toth
Laura Weisman
Karen Wise
Karen Yin
Karyn Zafran
Word Fans
Christina Allen
Donna Marks Pleasant
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TWC 81: A panel of international lexical superstars with a wide-ranging discussion about the words that typified 2024
TWC 80: Amanda Jones, author of "That Librarian," about her ordeal that came with standing up to book banning in her Louisiana town
TWC 79: Jesse Schiedlower, author of "The F-Word," now in its fourth edition, and the online Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
TWC 78: Ben Yagoda, author of "Gobsmacked: The British Invasion of American English," talking about English expressions making their way to the U.S.
TWC 77: Danica Salazar of the Oxford English Dictionary, talking about new entries reflecting Australian English
TWC 76: Karen Yin, author of The Conscious Style Guide, a "roadmap for writing and speaking with sensitivity and awareness"
TWC 75: Cory Doctorow, prolific science fiction author, activist and journalist, on his books, and monopolies in tech and publishing
Jeanette Fast Redmond
Betty Anne Bardell
TWC 83: Lorna Gibb on the day of the North American release of Rare Tongues: The Secret Story of Hidden Languages
Chat guests Kory Stamper and Erin McKean.
Norlen is a freelance writer, and he has tackled such topics as discovering and solving an encyclopedia mystery about a Pentagon monster and a firsthand account of playing in the U.S. Olympic table tennis trials. Norlen lives near Philadelphia with his family.
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TWC 84: Our chat with cognitive psychologist Corinne Jorgenson about writing and editing with generative AI
TWC 85: John Kelly, former content chief at Dictionary.com, on the joys of etymology, featuring a quiz on word origins
TWC 86: Keith Houston on the interesting history of emoji and his new book, Face with Tears of Joy: A Natural History of Emoji
TWC 82: Kelly Elizabeth Wright on new words and her work as an assistant professor of language sciences at the University of Wisconsin
TWC 87: Coming soon, our chat with Martha Barnette of A Way With Words and her new book, Friends With Words
TWC 43: Editing superstars Denise Cowle and Louise Harnby, co-hosts of The Editing Podcast
TWC 44: Editor and sensitivity reader Crystal Shelley, creator of the Conscious Language Toolkits for Editors and Writers
TWC 45: Fred Shapiro, editor of the updated edition of "The New Yale Book of Quotations"
TWC 46: Paula Froke, editor of the Associated Press Stylebook, on the decision-making process at the influential guide
TWC 47: Our second annual foray into word puzzle, featuring four puzzle creators from The Inkubator
TWC 48: Half dozen guests representing the dictionaries and organizations that selected a word of the year for 2021
TWC 49: Anne Curzan, the voice of linguistics for Michigan Public Radio on the show That's What They Say
TWC 50: Dennis Duncan of the University College London talking about his "Index, A History of the"
TWC 52: Danica Salazar of the Oxford English Dictionary and plans for the Oxford Dictionary of African American English
TWC 53: The brothers Zimmer, Ben and Carl, talking about writing about words and science
TWC 54: Ellen Jovin, author of Rebel With A Clause: Tales and Tips from a Roving Grammarian
TWC 55: Ryan North, author, illustrator, supervillain consultant, polymath and creator of Dinosaur Comics and more
TWC 56: Kelly Wright, a sociolinguist specializing in linguistic discrimination and its institutional outcomes
TWC 58: Joshua Blackburn, game designer and quizmaster and a chance to play the new League of the Lexicon
TWC 59: Words of the Year 2022, featuring an international panel of linguists and lexicographers
TWC 60: Gael Spivak, on the International Organization for Standardization's new standards for plain language
TWC 61: Copy editor Amy J. Schneider on her new book, Chicago Guide to Copyediting Fiction
TWC 63: Roy Peter Clark, America’s writing coach talks about his latest book, Tell It Like It Is: A Guide to Clear and Honest Writing
TWC 65: Maggie Lorenz, just after the Scripps National Spelling Bee, with some of the inside scoop
TWC 66: Jeff Jarvis, internet pioneer and CUNY professor, talking about the age of print and the future of online
TWC 67: Daniel Heuman, CEO of Intelligent Editing, on the future of artificial intelligence in editing
TWC 68: Megan Rosenbloom, author of Dark Archives, about books bound in human skin
TWC 69: Mignon Fogarty and the release of The Grammar Daily: 365 Quick Tips for Successful Writing from Grammar Girl
TWC 70: Words of the Year 2023, featuring one of the greatest panels of wordsters ever assembled
TWC 71: Maggie Smith and Connie Schultz, two writers in different genres and first-time children’s book authors
TWC 73: Russell Harper previews The Chicago Manual of Style 18th edition, live from ACES 2024 in San Diego
TWC 74: Erin Brenner winner of the ACES Robinson Prize and author of The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors