The Vocal Fries
The monthly podcast about linguistic discrimination. Learn about how we judge other people's speech as a sneaky way to be racist, sexist, classist, etc. Carrie and Megan teach you how to stop being an accidental jerk. Support this podcast at www.patreon.com/vocalfriespod
Episodes
We have a few things to say about Pinker.
- Part of the War on Science
- The Language Instinct
- Pinker on Race Realism
- Co-authored paper on overregularization
- The Open Letter to the LSA
- The article that Carrie was interviewed for, but not named, about the Open Letter
- Our episode on dogwhistling
- The Harper's Letter
- Guardian on his appearance on Aporia
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky u...
Carrie and Megan talk with Adam Aleksic about his new book, Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language.
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky.social
- Email us at vocalfriespod@gmail.com
Thanks for listening and keep calm and fry on
Carrie and Megan talk with Megan C. Reynolds, Dwell magazine editor, about her book, Like: A History of the World's Most Hated (and Misunderstood) Word.
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky.social
- Email us at vocalfriespod@gmail.com
Thanks for listening and keep calm and fry on
Carrie and Megan talk with Paulette van der Voet and Martina Terrazzano, PhD students at the University of Umea, about their class called “Linguistics and the Eurovision Song Contest”.
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky.social
- Email us at vocalfriespod@gmail.com
Thanks for listening and keep calm an...
We talk with Dr Lorna Gibb about her newest book, Rare Tongues: The Secret Stories of Hidden Languages.
Steven Pinker:
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky.social
- Email us at vocalfriespod@gmail.com
Thanks for listening and keep calm and fry on
Carrie and Megan talk with Drs Emily M. Bender, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Washington, and Alex Hanna, Director of Research at the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR), about their new book, The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want, out May 13, 2025.
Carrie and Megan talk with Gabe Henry about his new book, Enough is enuf: Our failed attempts to make English eezier to spell.
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky.social
- Email us at vocalfriespod@gmail.com
Thanks for listening and keep calm and fry on
Carrie and Megan talk with Dr Gerald Roche, Lecturer in the Department of Languages and Cultures at La Trobe University, about his new book, The Politics of Language Oppression in Tibet, language oppression, solidarity, China and Tibet.
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky.social
- E...
Megan and Carrie talk with Massimiliano Canzanella about the Neapolitan language and how it is perceived in Italy.
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky.social
- Email us at vocalfriespod@gmail.com
Thanks for listening and keep calm and fry on
Carrie and Megan talk with Dr Adam Benkato, Associate Professor in the Department of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures at the University of California, Berkeley, about Arabic.
- codeswitching in incarceration
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky.social
- Email us at vocalfriespod@gmail.com
Thanks for listening and keep calm and fry on
Megan and Carrie talk to Dr Ayala Fader, professor of anthropology at Fordham University, and Dr Mike Mena, Assistant Professor at Brooklyn College, CUNY, about their new project, the Demystifying Language Project, where academics and high school students work together to rewrite linguistic articles into more accessible versions.
First article: Speech or Silence
Intro from our patron René:
Carrie and Megan talk to Dr Leonard Cassuto, Professor of English at Fordham University, about his class called "Literature and Psychology of Disgust," which explores how language evokes emotional responses, particularly disgust, and his book Academic Writing as if Readers Matter, which was released in September.
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky....
Carrie and Megan talk with Dr Elia Powers, Associate Professor of Journalism at Towson University, about his book Performing the News: Identity, Authority, and the Myth of Neutrality.
- 5 Podcasts for Word Nerds NY Times
- Why Does Trump Do That Weird Capitalization Thing? HuffPost (sometimes Gillon is misspelled as Gillion, as per uzh)
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky u...
Megan and Carrie talk with Dr Laura C. Chávez-Moreno, assistant professor at UCLA in the Departments of Chicana/o and Central American Studies and Education, about her book How Schools Make Race: Teaching Latinx Racialization in America, coming out October 1.
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky.social
- Email us at vocalfriespod@gmail.com
Thanks for listening ...
Carrie and Megan talk with Dr Robert Henderson, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona, about his newest book (with Dr Elin Mccready), Signaling without Saying: The Semantics and Pragmatics of Dogwhistles.
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky.social
- Email us at vocalfriespod@gmail.com
Th...
Megan and Carrie talk with Tim Brookes about his newest book, Writing Beyond Writing, what writing is, his journey to caring about Endangered Alphabets and his favourite scripts.
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky.social
- Email us at vocalfriespod@gmail.com
Thanks for listening and keep calm and fry on
Carrie and Megan talk with Dr Ross Perlin, co-director of the Manhattan-based non-profit Endangered Language Alliance, about his new book, Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York.
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky.social
- Email us at vocalfriespod@gmail.com
Thanks for l...
Megan and Carrie talk with Drs Kris Aric Knisley and Eric Louis Russell about their book Redoing linguistic worlds: Unmaking gender binaries, remaking gender pluralities, gender, critical linguistics, trans linguistics, and uneffing all things.
Discussing beer, kids, life, neighborhood drama with people you don’t know.
Carrie and Megan talk with Drs Rusty Barrett, Professor of Linguistics, Jennifer Cramer, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Kentucky, and Kevin B. McGowan, Associate Professor of Linguistics and Director of the University of Kentucky Phonetics Lab (all at at the University of Kentucky), about their book English with an Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States.
Megan and Carrie talk with Dr Anne Curzan about her book Says Who? A Kinder, Funner Usage Guide for Everyone Who Cares About Words.
Discussing beer, kids, life, neighborhood drama with people you don’t know.
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Contact us:
- Threads us @vocalfriespod
- Bluesky us @vocalfriespod.bsky.social...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.