Gretchen McCulloch
Internet linguist; wrote Because Internet, on how language changes online, and co-hosts the Lingthusiasm podcast.
Gretchen McCulloch did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
Latest Blog
What they believe
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Internet abbreviations are based on sound rather than spelling.
The interesting thing about abbrevs is that they're based on sound, not on spelling.
mentalfloss.comSaid 16 Oct 2015This on korrents
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Index and commentary hashtags exist on a continuum rather than being strictly separate categories.
Not every hashtag falls neatly into one category or the other: index and commentary hashtags are more like two ends of a hashtag continuum.
mentalfloss.comSaid 31 Aug 2015This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
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As its own page →Hiding
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Lovedrcmnd.app
True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color–from Azure to Zinc PinkTheir words
I have been waiting for this book from Kory Stamper since I was a fan of her blog in 2014 and it does not disappoint.
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Lovedrcmnd.app
Word By Word: The Secret Life of DictionariesTheir words
Her first book was Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, which we also loved, and now Kory is back with the fruits of her dive into the mid-20th century quest to standardize colour terms
20 February
20 January
17 January
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26 December 2025
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Lovedrcmnd.app
HellsparkTheir words
so I’ve paired it with Hellspark, Janet Kagen’s sf book of translation and cultural miscommunication, which several @lingthusiasm listeners told us to read and they were EXTREMELY RIGHT.
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Lovedrcmnd.app
The Fifth SeasonTheir words
The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin (whose geology-based swear word system I loved linguistically) for their extensive histories of systemic exploitation
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Lovedrcmnd.app
Bea WolfTheir words
I’m pairing with Bea Wolf: Zach Weinersmith’s retelling of Beowulf as a kids fable in full Anglo Saxon meter. It’s glorious.
19 December 2025
8 December 2025
26 November 2025
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17 January 2025
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 8 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Internet abbreviations are based on sound rather than spelling.
The interesting thing about abbrevs is that they're based on sound, not on spelling.
Skip to main content Said 16 Oct 2015
Index and commentary hashtags exist on a continuum rather than being strictly separate categories.
Not every hashtag falls neatly into one category or the other: index and commentary hashtags are more like two ends of a hashtag continuum.
Skip to main content Said 31 Aug 2015
The meaning of 'cheeky' appears to have expanded, more so in the UK than in the US.
Our gut feeling was that the meaning of cheeky has expanded and this was happening more in the UK than in the U.S.
Skip to main content Said 9 Jul 2015
Show 5 more
English is incorporating a full-fledged tag question based on 'yes'.
So with y/y, English is kind of sneaking in the back door and letting in a full-fledged tag question based on yes.
Skip to main content Said 7 Jul 2015
The "that ... tho" construction has changed meaning to become a general way of expressing approval without an initial setup of surprise or disappointment.
But by a year later, it's become a general way of expressing approval without the initial setup of surprise or disappointment.
Skip to main content Said 27 May 2015
The use of ellipsis to trail off is a newer development than its older use of indicating omitted text in a quote.
The older use of ellipsis is to indicate omitted text in a quote-the use of ellipsis to trail off is newer.
Skip to main content Said 1 May 2015
Using the uninflected forms 'to can' or 'to even' is an easier linguistic step than using inflected forms like 'evened' or 'evening'.
It seems that using the uninflected to can or to even is an easier step than making it past (evened), future (I'll even), or progressive (evening).
Skip to main content Said 24 Mar 2015
The words 'can' and 'even' may continue to undergo full reanalysis.
Or, can and even may continue along the path towards full reanalysis.
Skip to main content Said 24 Mar 2015
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 5 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Loved Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries
Her first book was Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries, which we also loved, and now Kory is back with the fruits of her dive into the mid-20th century quest to standardize colour terms
allthingslinguistic.com 20 Mar 2026
What others say about Word By Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries →
Loved True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color–from Azure to Zinc Pink
I have been waiting for this book from Kory Stamper since I was a fan of her blog in 2014 and it does not disappoint.
allthingslinguistic.com 20 Mar 2026
Loved Bea Wolf
I’m pairing with Bea Wolf: Zach Weinersmith’s retelling of Beowulf as a kids fable in full Anglo Saxon meter. It’s glorious.
allthingslinguistic.com 26 Dec 2025
Show 2 more
Loved The Fifth Season
The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin (whose geology-based swear word system I loved linguistically) for their extensive histories of systemic exploitation
allthingslinguistic.com 26 Dec 2025
Loved Hellspark
so I’ve paired it with Hellspark, Janet Kagen’s sf book of translation and cultural miscommunication, which several @lingthusiasm listeners told us to read and they were EXTREMELY RIGHT.
allthingslinguistic.com 26 Dec 2025
Where they publish
Site gretchenmcculloch.com Her site: the book, the podcast and where her writing appears. Has a feed.
Recent
- July, August, & September 2026: Several horrifying meat textures 28 Oct 2026 In the summer of 2026, I was a Meighen Forum panelist at the Stratford Festival on “How language is made” in fictional worlds, to compliment their plays about The Hobbit and the King James Bible. Closer to home, I led a…
- April, May, & June 2026: Zines zines zines zines zi 20 Aug 2026 In spring of 2026, I attended conferences, awarded grants, read and discussed some great books, and made zines. And handed out zines. And talked about zines. Have I mentioned zines? Because I’m going to be mentioning zi…
- January, February, & March 2026: Abridged sonnets and legible arrangements 12 May 2026 In the first quarter of the year, I attended the Linguistic Society of America 2026 annual meeting online and admired how linguists are really great at pronouncing people’s names (phonetic transcription is a practical s…
Show 5 more
- 2025 year in review 20 Jan 2026 In 2025, Lauren Gawne and I reached our 100th episode of Lingthusiasm, our podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics! It’s a special format featuring 100 fun things about linguistics, which makes it a great entry po…
- October, November, & December 2025: Plays, poems, and preserves 17 Jan 2026 This fall was a good season for literature. I took a trip to the Stratford Festival in Ontario to see live productions of Goblins Oedipus, Dangerous Liaisons, and Sense and Sensibility. I enjoyed reading Margalit Fox’s…
- July, August, & September 2025: ASL Camp and Arroba Lengua 8 Dec 2025 This summer, I went to ASL camp! I spent a week at Bob Rumball Camp of the Deaf, in Parry Sound, Ontario, at their ASL Adult Immersion Summer Camp, voices off for 6 nights and 7 days! This was my first time doing any so…
- April, May, & June 2025: Lauren writes a gesture book! 8 Sept 2025 Back in 2017, when I was deep in the writing process for Because Internet, I was feeling stuck on the emoji chapter and Lauren Gawne, my cohost on the then-baby Lingthusiasm podcast (we were less than a year old!) offer…
- January, February, and March 2025: 100th Lingthusiasm episode 3 Sept 2025 In the first few months of 2025, we celebrated a podcast milestone: 100 episodes of Lingthusiasm, a podcast that’s enthusiastic about linguistics! To celebrate, my cohost Lauren Gawne and I did a special double-feature:…
Link verified 20 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Blog All Things Linguistic Her linguistics blog, running since 2012. Has a feed.
Recent
- onthecareandfeedingofcatgirls: allthingslinguistic: Linguistics... 28 Oct 2026 kes on the “Is this a pigeon” meme. all these linguist memes and not *one* made this pun?
- July, August, & September 2026: Several horrifying meat textures 28 Oct 2026 In the summer of 2026, I was a Meighen Forum panelist at the Stratford Festival on “How language is made” in fictional worlds, to compliment their plays about The Hobbit and the King James Bible. Closer to home, I led a…
- At a meta process level, I’m particularly proud of how seamlessly this episode blends some classic… 19 Oct 2026 lingthusiasm: Lingthusiasm Episode 121: Vampires, ghosts, imposters and more linguistic monsters Vampires, werewolves, witches, ghosts, zombies, imposters, and frankenstein have something in common: they’re all po…
Show 16 more
- shoutout to the words “overmorrow” and “ereyesterday”. english losing these words was stupid. “the… 12 Oct 2026 lordsausage: shoutout to the words “overmorrow” and “ereyesterday”. english losing these words was stupid. “the day after tomorrow” “the day before yesterday” clunky-ass c…
- Bonus 115: Behind the Zines - Interview with Leah Velleman 11 Oct 2026 lingthusiasm: Bonus 115: Behind the Zines - Interview with Leah Velleman | Lingthusiasm We’ve been hearing from people that you’re trying to get others to be as enthusiastic about linguistics as you are, but…
- an interesting linguistics find! so I’m reading this text from 1908 and it keeps referencing “hp” in… 10 Oct 2026 goatsandgangsters: an interesting linguistics find! so I’m reading this text from 1908 and it keeps referencing “hp” in the context of “not being at full hp” “applying your full hp to…
- I’m really excited to be doing something tactile that people can participate in from wherever you… 9 Oct 2026 lingthusiasm: Announcing the Linguistics Zine Challenge! ALT In honour of the 10th anniversary of Lingthusiasm, we’re launching the Linguistics Zine Challenge: make or share a linguistics zine and tell us about it…
- LOVE when a rapper ends a line with kind of a weird phrase and i’m like okay what’s the plan here,… 8 Oct 2026 romanceyourdemons: LOVE when a rapper ends a line with kind of a weird phrase and i’m like okay what’s the plan here, and then they reveal that they were playing 6d linguistics chess to set up the perfect rhyme for “rod…
- I really wanted a zine like this when I started doing zine workshops, but I couldn’t find one, so… 7 Oct 2026 lingthusiasm: How to fold your mini-zine — a Lingthusiasm zine This month’s zine is for everyone, not just the linguistics enthusiasts. With our editor Leah Velleman and artist Lucy Maddox, we’ve put togethe…
- Alternate timeline in which all Greek and Latin roots are swapped: 6 Oct 2026 o-craven-canto: Alternate timeline in which all Greek and Latin roots are swapped: catastrophe -> contraverse cephalopod -> capitoped chlorophyll -> viridofolia democracy -> populimpery homicide -> anthropoctony homosex…
- Okay I love this poem so much but I need to point out that a double dactyl has quite a complicated… 5 Oct 2026 krakenartificer: Higgledy piggledy, olden French bakery storing its loaves in a double-doored shed. Inspector approaching the inner door op'ning to find a cow casu'lly licking the bread. Okay I love this poem so much bu…
- I have been waiting to make this episode for YEARS, quietly filing away the most wtf emails in our… 4 Oct 2026 lingthusiasm: Bonus 116: Everything is linguistics - The randomest pitches from our inbox | Lingthusiasm Bonus 116: Everything is linguistics - The randomest pitches from our inbox We know you’re here for a podcas…
- I love this kiki bouba t-shirt art. 3 Oct 2026 ALT ALT I love this kiki bouba t-shirt art.
- Lingthusiasm Episode 120: How (not) to kill a language - Interview with Sophia Smith Galer 1 Oct 2026 lingthusiasm: Narratives about smaller languages often focus on the death and endangerment sides of the story. There’s generally less on the social and political reasons why some languages are favoured at the expe…
- Guide to your meat clarinet - A Lingthusiasm Zine 23 Aug 2026 lingthusiasm: ALT ALT ALT ALT ALT The human vocal tract is like a musical instrument: you start a buzzing in your throat, and then shape it on the way out. Like a clarinet, but made of meat. In this Lingthusiasm zine, G…
- We have new merch! You’re either going to love it or hate it. 22 Aug 2026 lingthusiasm: ALT ALT We have new merch! You’re either going to love it or hate it. We’ve used the metaphor of a musical instrument several times when talking about how the human vocal tract is organized, an…
- Lingthusiasm Episode 119: Irregularity is all over the place 21 Aug 2026 lingthusiasm: Talk, talked. Walk, walked. Go…went? In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about the many ways that languages are irregular in their patterns! We talk abou…
- In spring of 2026, I attended conferences, awarded grants, read and discussed some great books, and… 20 Aug 2026 In spring of 2026, I attended conferences, awarded grants, read and discussed some great books, and made zines. And handed out zines. And talked about zines. Have I mentioned zines? Because I’m going to be mention…
- it’s not that unusual, in translation, to come across something that has a dedicated word or… 14 Aug 2026 lukittuhhh: it’s not that unusual, in translation, to come across something that has a dedicated word or expression in the source language but requires a lengthier explication in the target text. sometimes, howeve…
Link verified 20 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
x.com @GretchenAMcC Posts.
Recent
- Happy World Linguistics Day from Montreal! At @LingComm, we learned that the UK has been celebrating National Linguistics Day on November 26th because it's de Saussure's birthday, and the crowd immediately went wild: where are you celebrating World Linguistics Day from? 26 Nov 2025
- Hard to believe @superlinguo and I have now made 100 podcast episodes together! My favourite fun fact from this episode is the one we saved for the very end about the word "hundred" and I'm not gonna spoil it for you, you gotta listen 👀 17 Jan 2025
- Politeness theory has helped me so much, particularly in recognizing that there are so many subtle variations in how people attempt to show politeness, rather than an absolute standard of rude vs polite We're delighted to bring you a @lingthusiasm episode on politeness! 21 Dec 2024
Link verified 20 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Bluesky @gretchenmcc.bsky.social Posts.
Link verified 20 Sept 2026.
Podcast Lingthusiasm Hosts the Lingthusiasm podcast.
Recent
- 121: Vampires, ghosts, imposters and more linguistic monsters 15 Oct 2026
- 120: How (not) to kill a language - Interview with Sophia Smith Galer 18 Sept 2026
- 119: Irregularity is all over the place 21 Aug 2026
Show 17 more
- 118: Using tech to chat with bonobos, dogs, and whales 17 Jul 2026
- 117: What makes for beautiful writing, scientifically speaking - Interview with Julie Sedivy 19 Jun 2026
- 116: Cross-cultural communication (in space!) 22 May 2026
- 115: The long shadow of Daisy Bates with This Guy Sucked 17 Apr 2026
- 114: Begonia, average coral, and sea pink - Defining colour terms with Kory Stamper 20 Mar 2026
- 113: Why "it's a diglossia!" explains so many social dynamics 20 Feb 2026
- 112: When language become-s(3SG) linguistic example-s(PL) 15 Jan 2026
- 111: Whoa!! A surprise episode??? For me??!! 19 Dec 2025
- 110: The history of the history of Indo-European - Interview with Danny Bate 20 Nov 2025
- 109: On the nose - How the nose shapes language 17 Oct 2025
- 108: Highs and lows of tone in Babanki - Interview with Pius Akumbu 19 Sept 2025
- 107: Urban Multilingualism 22 Aug 2025
- 106: Is a hotdog a sandwich? The problem with definitions 18 Jul 2025
- 105: Linguistics of TikTok - Interview with Adam Aleksic aka EtymologyNerd 20 Jun 2025
- 104: Reading and language play in Sámi - Interview with Hanna-Máret Outakoski 16 May 2025
- 103: A hand-y guide to gesture 18 Apr 2025
- 102: The science and fiction of Sapir-Whorf 21 Mar 2025
Link verified 25 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
About the English under a post
Some people here publish in a language other than English. Where they do, this site shows a machine translation beneath the post, in this typeface — the site's own, not theirs.
The post itself is never changed, moved or hidden: what is set in the serif above is exactly what the person published, and it is what to quote them on. A translation can be wrong in ways that matter, especially about tone.
Only the post's own words are translated. A quoted post, a linked article and a belief on korrents.com are left in their original language.