What the way we pronounce Iran says about us. Odorous or malodorous? When smell words stink.

About this episode

This episode explores the differing pronunciations of 'Iran' and 'Iraq' and their political implications, along with a discussion on confusing smell-related words.

1174. This week, we look at why we pronounce "Iran" and "Iraq" differently and what those pronunciations reveal about our political beliefs. Then, we look at the "smelly" words that confuse people, including "odorous," which started out meaning "fragrant" but now mostly describes bad smells. The "Iran" segment was written by Valerie Fridland, a professor of linguistics at the University of Nevada in Reno and author of the soon-to-be-released book " Why We Talk Funny: The Real Story Behind Our Accents." A version of it originally appeared in The Conversation and appears here through a Creative Commons license . And you can find Valerie at valeriefridland.com . 🔗  Join the Grammar Girl Patreon. 🔗  Share your familect recording in  Speakpipe   or by leaving a voicemail at   833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475) 🔗  Watch my  LinkedIn Learning writing courses . 🔗  Subscribe to the  newsletter . 🔗  Take  our advertising survey .  🔗  Transcript available on QuickandDirtyTips.com . 🔗  Get  Grammar Girl books .  | HOST: Mignon Fogarty | Grammar Girl is part of  the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network…

People in this episode

Host: Mignon Fogarty

Guest: Valerie Fridland

Topics covered

• pronunciation
• political beliefs
• linguistics
• smell words
• language

Keywords

• Iran
• Iraq
• pronunciation
• linguistics
• odorous
• malodorous
• language

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Nevada in Reno, The Conversation, QuickAndDirtyTips.com

Books & works: Why We Talk Funny: The Real Story Behind Our Accents

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