134: True Colour (with Kory Stamper)

134: True Colour (with Kory Stamper)

From Because Language - a podcast about linguistics, the science of language. by Daniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, and Hedvig Skirgård

March 13, 2026 · 2h 21m

About this episode

Kory Stamper discusses the complexities of defining color and her book True Color in the context of language and lexicography.

How do you define what blue is? What even IS colour? Turns out, the quest to define colours was happening along with a standardisation crisis and a dictionary crisis at the venerable Merriam-Webster. Lexicographer and author Kory Stamper tells us all about it, and about her new book True Color . Timestamps Start: 0:00 Intros: 1:17 News: 12:40 Related or Not: 33:34 Chat with Kory Stamper, author of True Color : 50:43 Words of the Week: 1:41:58 Comment from Lauretta: 2:04:57 The Reads: 2:08:14 Outtakes: 2:16:48

People in this episode

Hosts: Daniel Midgley, Ben Ainslie, Hedvig Skirgård

Guest: Kory Stamper

Topics covered

  • color definition
  • lexicography
  • language standardization
  • Merriam-Webster
  • Kory Stamper
  • True Color

Keywords

  • color
  • blue
  • lexicographer
  • language
  • dictionary
  • Merriam-Webster
  • True Color
  • Kory Stamper

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Merriam-Webster

Books & works: True Color

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