A WORDY CELEBRATION OF ALL THINGS LEXICAL,
LIVE ON ZOOM WITH RECORDED EPISODES ON YOUTUBE.
Live on Zoom
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Episode 82: John Kelly
Lexicographer John Kelly just completed a new section for the Merriam-Webster website, looking at some of the Slang & Trending words you may never have heard. At his blog, mashedradish.com, he writes about etymology at the intersection of news, life, and everyday language. We’ll talk to Kelly about some of the geekiest slang trends and etymological discoveries in the next episode of That Word Chat, at 4:30 p.m. EST (21:30 UTC) on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Kelly describes himself as a writer, editor, former educator, and all-around word nerd. He previously oversaw all content at Dictionary.com, defined emoji for Emojipedia, and wrote language columns at Oxford Dictionaries and Slate.
He has appeared on That Word Chat’s Word of the Year episode in 2022 and 2021, and he and lexicographer Heather Bonikowski talked about Dictionary.com in 2020. Kelly lives in Cincinnati with his wife and dog.
Sign up below, and join us at 4:30 p.m. EST (21:30 UTC) on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Past chats
TWC 76: Karen Yin, author of The Conscious Style Guide, a "roadmap for writing and speaking with sensitivity and awareness"
TWC 77: Danica Salazar of the Oxford English Dictionary, talking about new entries reflecting Australian English
TWC 79: Jesse Schiedlower, author of "The F-Word," now in its fourth edition, and the online Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction
Thank you to our That Word Chat patrons
TWC 75: Cory Doctorow, prolific science fiction author, activist and journalist, on his books, and monopolies in tech and publishing
Word Masters
Lisa Johnson Kate Karp Merrill Perlman Tom Pfeifer Carol Pickerine
Word Lovers
Ann Bourne DeAnna Burghart Mignon Fogarty
Word Nerds
Rebecca Benner
Patty Boyd
Hilary Cadman
Elizabeth d'Anjou
Mary-Jane Doherty
Susan Fitzgerald
James Gallagher
Rosemary Gretton
Rachel Herbert
Neil Holdway
Kristine Hunt
Susan Karcz
Beverly Michaels
Amanda Miller
Voncille Meyer
Mary Norris
Lori Paximadis
Dayna Reidenouer
Deb Ring
Alice Steinke
Sue Toth
Laura Weisman
Karen Wise
Karyn Zafran
Word Fans
Christina Allen
Betty Ann Bardell
Donna Marks Pleasant
Jeanette Fast Redmond
Amy Schneider
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 78: Ben Yagoda, author of "Gobsmacked: The British Invasion of American English," talking about English expressions making their way to the U.S.
Possibly Important Notes
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That Word Chat is a blast every time we do it. It's also a big time commitment for host Mark Allen and producers Heather Saunders and Sarahni Pecson. We work hard to bring you a casual, fun, usually professional experience. What keeps us going most is hearing how much you love the experience. Please consider being part of the team with various levels of support, each with some cool benefits — most levels include access to our private Slack group. You can opt to support us monthly or annually.
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