Please register to receive the benefits of our network-wide features. Register (It's Free!) | Log In
Advertisers/Partners

Geoff Nunberg


Talking Dangerously
35 minutes, 16.1mb, recorded 2009-05-12
Topics: Culture Media

oira speaks with Fresh Air commentator and linguist Geoff Nunberg who discusses his book The Years of Talking Dangerously and assesses the impact of words in a dynamic, changing world. In the book, he explains why grammar buffs are drawn to sarcasm, and deftly unpacks the telling phrases of our national conversation, from progressive to elite to change, as well as the national conversation itself.


Our publication of this program was made possible by the support of the following:

Geoffrey Nunberg is a linguist who teaches at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Information and is the former chair of the American Heritage Dictionary’s Usage Panel. His commentaries on language and politics have appeared regularly in the Sunday New York Times and on NPR’s “Fresh Air.” The author of Going Nucular, Talking Right, and The Way We Talk Now, Nunberg lives in San Francisco, California.

This free podcast is from our Tech Nation series.

For The Conversations Network:

  • Post-production audio engineer: Paul Figgiani
  • Website editor: Joel W Tscherne
  • Series producer: Joel W Tscherne