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From KMUW Studios and part of the NPR Podcast Network, You're Saying It Wrong is a podcast that looks at what we get wrong—and what we sometimes get right—when it comes to this English language. Hosted by KMUW's Fletcher Powell, each episode features a conversation with the sister and brother who wrote the book on it. Literally. You're Saying It Wrong: A Pronunciation Guide to the 150 Most Commonly Mispronounced Words and Their Tangled Histories of Misuse is by Kathryn Petras and Ross Petras.On June 24, 2022, You’re Saying It Wrong received first place in Division B for Interview Podcasts from the Public Media Journalists Association. The awards recognize the best work in public media journalism from across the country.
The (Most Mispronounced) Words of the Year! | YSIW
We wrap up 2021 with a look at the most mispronounced words of the year-- we don't even know what some of these things are, let alone how to say them!
34:4624/12/2021
A Grab Bag of Confusion | YSIW
Prompted by some listener emails, we're returning to our bread and butter: words we accidentally use when we mean to use other words. It's confusable time!
36:1610/12/2021
Medial Cluster Reduction! | YSIW
Medial cluster what now?? Come on, you know you want to hear this. It's something you're doing basically all the time...
37:1726/11/2021
Weird Origins of Everyday Phrases | YSIW
We won't turn a blind eye if you get caught red-handed trying to steal our thunder, because today we're digging into the sometimes surprising, usually murky origins of phrases we use every day (and we want all the credit, darn it!).
40:4312/11/2021
Apostrophes? Who Needs 'Em?! | YSIW
After our discussion of plurals in the last episode, we got to thinking about all the trouble apostrophes cause us, and Ross proposes a rather extreme solution.
32:3629/10/2021
Fun with plurals! | YSIW
All sorts of fun with plurals today: what we get wrong when we try to use Latin plurals, the rules of English plurals, pluralizing compound words... Look out, our opinions on plurals are like a charging herd of rhinocerotes!
42:2015/10/2021
You're (Still) Spelling It Wrong
We continue with our look at the most commonly misspelled words in the English language, as we dig into why it is we tend to spell them incorrectly, and the rules about why we spell them the way we do. And since this is English, we know rules are made to be broken!
36:5801/10/2021
You're Spelling It Wrong | YSIW
Kathy and Ross challenge Fletcher to a spelling bee, as they tackle some of the English language's most commonly misspelled words and Fletcher immediately regrets bragging about how good he is at spelling.
31:2017/09/2021
Pretentious Confusables | YSIW
Kathy, Ross & Fletcher dip back into their bag of commonly confused words with some particularly pretentious examples.
36:1003/09/2021
It's Time To Execute The Contronym Discussion | YSIW
We continue with our discussion of contronyms by jumping into some seemingly simple words that turn out to have some complicated meanings. And the summer heat has made us a little loopy, which means we devolve into just a bit of toilet humor (PG-rated, of course), so... be warned!
24:4120/08/2021
Sanction? Oversight? Let's Have Fun With Some Contronyms | YSIW
Do you trim the tree before you trim the tree? Do you have to dust after you dust a cake? Today we're looking at contronyms (or antagonyms, or enantiosemy, or Janus words, or...), those cases where a single word can have two completely opposite meanings.
40:3306/08/2021
Flapdoodle Words (Part 2: The Sequel) | YSIW
Kathy, Ross & Fletcher explore a few more redundant words and phrases!
30:1123/07/2021
Flapdoodle Words
This week, Kathy and Ross bring us a list of what they call "flapdoodle words," words that are redundant and just kind of junk things up. Or do they? Some of them might be kind of useful!
34:0709/07/2021
Some Good News! (And a Little Warning.)
No more limits! All You're Saying It Wrong episodes will be available in one fell swoop!
01:1207/07/2021
We're Flat Fine With These Adverbs | YSIW
Today, Kathy and Ross teach Fletcher about "flat adverbs," which look just like their adjective counterparts, but are still... adverbs. Think fast! Drive safe! Who needs that pesky -ly ending? Not these words.
27:0225/06/2021
It's The Wild West Out Here! | YSIW
Today we take a big step back and answer a common listener question about exactly why we don't talk that much about "The Rules" of English. Spoiler: THERE AREN'T ANY! (Ok, we're kidding, there are some.)
32:1711/06/2021
Mailbag Day! Or, We Lay Waste (to) The English Language | YSIW
We dip into some listener questions, including one about our recent "reflexive pronouns" discussion and one that has us revisit a topic from an earlier episode and that whole lie/lay/laid/lain confusion. Spoiler: Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton are both wrong!
31:1328/05/2021
A Return To Blipover Words | YSIW
We're returning to one of our favorite topics: words we sometimes use without really knowing what they mean, or words we see that we just kind of skim past because we aren't totally sure what they mean — "Blipover words," as Ross calls them. You know, words you see and just sort of "blip" over. And boy oh boy, some of these even we have a hard time getting a handle on. Plus: guest appearances by Bob Dylan, Alanis Morissette and Yoda.
33:5614/05/2021
Taking Selfies | YSIW
Cue up De La Soul, today we're talking "Me, Myself, and I!" Fletcher tries to wrap his head around reflexive pronouns and gets a remedial grammar lesson, and we all try not to have an identity crisis. Who am I, anyway?
30:5030/04/2021
We Are Loath (Loathe?) To Confuse These Words | YSIW
After Fletcher vents his rage about a word he's starting to hear being misused more and more often, and then Kathy and Ross answer a listener question about the phrase "out of sorts" (what the heck are sorts?), we jump back into our trip through the commonly confused alphabet with the letters L and M. Things get pretty dark.
30:2416/04/2021
We're Incredulous That These Words Are Confused | YSIW
We return to our trip through the alphabet of commonly confused words, picking up with the letter "F", maybe skipping a few that are boring, and heading on through the letter "J". We'd say we avoid tangents this time, but we all know that's not true. Also, Kathy and Ross take on a listener question that Fletcher just can't wrap his head around.
33:5702/04/2021
A Word Or Two About Portmanteaus | YSIW
Grab your two favorite words, smoosh 'em up together, and you got yourself a portmanteau! After Fletcher gets over some initial confusion, Kathy and Ross challenge him to figure out which words make up their favorite portmanteaus. Humpty Dumpty would be so proud...
32:2619/03/2021
Words We D-E-F-initely Confuse | YSIW
We continue our trip through the alphabet of commonly confused words as we tackle the letters D, E, and F... or that's the plan anyway, sometimes we get a little sidetracked...
36:5005/03/2021
Tossing Words Around Willy-Nilly | YSIW
This episode we'll dig into some words (and one punctuation mark!) that we toss around willy-nilly that maybe we don't totally, completely understand, and that we sometimes count on other people not understanding, either. Plus, a listener email makes Fletcher want to revisit "begs the question" to learn where such a strange phrase came from in the first place.
35:4519/02/2021
More Fun With Fossils! | YSIW
Today, we're digging up some fossil words! To wit: We'll wade through the flotsam and jetsam of words that have lost all their meaning to us except in very specific circumstances. So batten down the hatches! We wouldn't want to give this topic short shrift.
32:3005/02/2021
The ABCs Of Confused Words | YSIW
We start with a quick lightning round of the most mispronounced names of 2020, followed by a TRIPLE redundancy from a listener, and then we'll tackle some of the most commonly confused word pairs in English... but only the ones that start with A, B, or C. Otherwise we'd be here forever.
29:4622/01/2021
Redundant Language Redundancies | YSIW
Prompted by a listener email about pet peeves, we'll look at redundant phrases people use every day, and talk about how sometimes redundancy... can be good?
30:2208/01/2021
Innovate Your Way Into Some Jargon Solutions | YSIW
It's time for the airing of grievances! We'll toss around our least favorite examples of business jargon and PR puffery—it's a good, old-fashioned gripe session for Christmas.
32:2925/12/2020
Food! Glorious Food! (Part 2) | YSIW
We dig into the second half of our holiday feast with some pasta, hot and cold soups, ancient grains, and even a little digestif. Plus, we'll take another dip into jus... or au jus, as the case may be. Bon appetit!
30:0711/12/2020
Food! Glorious Food! (Part 1) | YSIW
It's a cornucopia of delights! A feast for the... mouth? Ears? Whatever words are a feast for. We'll scarf down a Brazilian berry, a flaky French treat, and some delicious little potato pastas, while trying not to get yelled at by our Greek waiter. How exactly do you say all of these delicacies?
27:2727/11/2020
When Bad Words... Turn Good! | YSIW
This time out we're going to get nice and cute and have a little fun with some words that were born on the wrong side of the tracks, but found the path to redemption.
34:2213/11/2020
Origin Stories | YSIW
Horse jumping, goats fighting hedgehogs, rude fruit-related gestures... today we look at some of the most surprising and exciting word origins we can think of.
27:0530/10/2020
Egregious Errors: The Master Class
We're continuing on from the last episode's fun and games, but the difficulty is ramping up!
30:1716/10/2020
Eight Egregious Errors | YSIW
Well, actually Nine Egregious Errors, but Eight looks better, and one of them isn't really THAT bad. We'll look at some of the most common language mistakes, even in major publications, that might make your eyes pop out of your head. But... are they really a big deal?
34:3202/10/2020
When Good Words Go Bad | YSIW
Find out what happens when perfectly nice words fall in with the wrong crowd...
35:2418/09/2020
The Ambiguity Of 'OK' | YSIW
OK, the time has come to talk about OK, OK? OK!
29:0228/08/2020
No, yeah! Yeah... no. | YSIW
They're just two small, simple words. But when you put them together... all bets are off.
27:2614/08/2020
Haplology: Why We Drop Sounds |YSIW
"She was probly at interpetive dance class at the libry that Febuary fifteenth."No? No good? Try saying it out loud...
22:1131/07/2020
50 Never Sounded Better | YSIW
It's our 50th podcast extravaganza! We'll talk about the current bête noire of the language world, "irregardless", as well as other redundancies and ways language may be changing for better or worse. Plus, a hodgepodge (or mishmash, or olio, or potpourri, take your pick) of listener pet peeves and whatever else might be on our minds. We can do what we want, we're 50 now.
31:1817/07/2020
The Warmth Of The Athletic Hamster | YSIW
"The Warmth of the Athletic Hamster."
23:0803/07/2020
Homonyms, Heterographys & Polysemes... Oh My | YSIW
Grab some aspirin and try to wrap your head around the sloppy Venn diagram of homonyms, homophones, homographs, heteronyms, heterographs, polysemes... confused yet? So are we...
27:1019/06/2020
Is Beauty In The Ear Of The Beholder? | YSIW
Why do some words sound pleasing while others feel ugly? Listen along as Kathy, Ross, and Fletcher try to work out: Is beauty in the ear of the beholder?
32:2905/06/2020
Do Words Mean How They Sound? | YSIW
Do you have a smile that gleams and glistens and glows? Does the snot in your snout make you sneeze? Was that a slimy slug that just slithered by? Wait a minute—it seems like there's something going on here...
26:1922/05/2020
Let's Have Fun With Latin (Said Nobody Ever) | YSIW
Two weeks ago, we had so much fun with French phrases, we figured, "why not do Latin?" Fletcher has some thoughts about why not to do Latin.
25:3308/05/2020
French Phrases: Les Dites-Vous Mal? | YSIW
Is the entire French language Kathy's bête noire? Will Fletcher come up with le mot juste? Or will this whole thing just fill Ross with ennui? La partie commence!
29:4824/04/2020
Brought To You By The Letter 'Q' | YSIW
This episode brought to you by the letter "Q." Well, "Qu." Because we don't know any English words that just start with "Q."
23:3610/04/2020
Shibboleth Names You'd Better Get Right | YSIW
Artists, philosophers, movers and shakers—you'd better get these names right or you might be found out as a fraud.
38:4327/03/2020
Words In The News | YSIW
This week we're looking at words we hear a lot, that may have some pretty hazy definitions, or may have ceased to have any meaning at all — including (appropriately) pandemic, socialist, and fascist. Also, well, Fletcher's not exactly himself this week.
36:0313/03/2020
Crazy Spellings | YSIW
Prompted by a listener question, we look at words we have no business pronouncing correctly but that we do anyway. Choir, colonel, phlegm, island... where did these crazy spellings come from, anyway? Also, Ross enlightens us on the joys of, um, "borborygm."
32:1828/02/2020
The Same, But Different | YSIW
Do you like to enjoy a soda... or a pop? Do you put on your sneakers... or your tennis shoes? This time out, we talk about how we talk about the same things in different ways. And you'll never guess what they call a milkshake in Rhode Island (no, seriously, you'll never guess it).
33:1016/02/2020