Writing Systems
19 episodes
#5227: Who Decides What Hebrew Words Mean?
Israel's Academy of the Hebrew Language can coin words the state must use — but it can't make anyone say them. Why 10 million speakers might be the...
#5172: Who Decides When a Dialect Becomes a Language?
Languages fork like codebases — and the merge button doesn't exist. Who actually decides when a dialect becomes its own language?
#5079: When Hebrew and Phoenician Were the Same Writing
Before square script, Hebrews and Phoenicians shared the same letters. How did that change?
#3917: Reviving Lost Words: Opprobrium & the Lexical Attic
Why great words like opprobrium rot in the lexical attic while flimsier ones thrive—and how to revive them.
#3664: Build Your Own Language Dictionary: Beyond Standard Definitions
Ditch standard dictionaries and build your own curated vocabulary from real encounters with native speakers.
#2856: How Paleo-Hebrew Evolved Over Six Centuries
The Paleo-Hebrew script evolved through distinct phases over 600 years—here’s how scholars trace its development.
#2737: How Word Spacing Changed Human Thinking
How studying medieval word spacing revealed the origins of silent reading — and why funding esoteric research matters.
#2736: Why AI Flagged Your Em Dash
Punctuation isn't a fixed system handed down by grammarians. It's a two-thousand-year story of contraction, invention, and now AI suspicion.
#2310: The Cognitive Cost of Punctuation
Explore the unseen architecture of written language — from punctuation to vowel systems — and why these conventions matter.
#2276: A Guided Tour Through My Weird Prompts' Best Episodes
Discover ten standout episodes that define the essence of My Weird Prompts, from AI insights to quirky curiosities.
#1982: The Impossible Task of Controlling a Living Language
How a government board tries to standardize Hebrew while the public invents words on the fly.
#1973: How Trade Necessity Invented the Alphabet
Forget Sunday school villains—Canaanites invented the alphabet and built the foundation of the modern world.
#1972: When a Dialect Gets an Army
How do languages split apart? We trace Latin's evolution into French, Spanish, and Italian to reveal the forces of geography and politics.
#1970: How 3,300-Year-Old Sailors Built the Alphabet
The letters on your screen trace back to an ancient maritime empire. Discover how Phoenician traders engineered the first alphabet.
#1600: The Digital Tofu Crisis: Saving the World’s Scripts
Why does Bigfoot have an emoji while millions can’t type in their native script? Explore the hidden battle to save the world's writing systems.
#1301: Beyond Yiddish: The Secret History of Jewish Languages
Discover the "linguistic blueprint" that allowed Jewish communities to thrive from Baghdad to Brooklyn through unique fusion languages.
#1206: The Hidden Math of Readability
Explore the algorithms and mathematical frameworks that determine how we calibrate stories and educational content for young minds.
#1044: Ezra the Scribe: Architect of a Portable Identity
Discover how Ezra the Scribe transformed a nation’s identity from a physical temple to a portable text, shaping the modern world.
#1031: The Clothes of Language: The Evolution of Hebrew & Aramaic
Think the Hebrew Bible always looked like it does today? We explore the radical transformation of the Jewish script and the survival of Aramaic.