Talk The Talk

Our ever-popular Mailbag is bursting with questions, so let’s get to them! How do you communicate expressively with a mask on? Which was the first language with a set spelling? Why is the word caterpillar so long? Did it come later? Why are some news outlets writing “since the pandemic begun“? As prescriptive linguists, can we reasonably disagree with someone’s definition of a word, if that definition is being used by people?