91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn

How Does History Change The Meaning Of Words?

Your browser doesn’t support HTML5 audio

Part 4 of the TED Radio Hour episode Spoken And Unspoken.

About Mark Forsyth's TEDTalk

Etymologist Mark Forsyth shares the surprising back story on the term "president."

About Mark Forsyth

Mark Forsyth is an author, blogger, journalist, proofreader and ghostwriter. On his blog, the Inky Fool, he dispells grammar myths. His book The Etymologicon takes "a circular stroll through the hidden connections of the English language" by history of one word or phrase with each chapter.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
NPR/TED Staff
Stories From This Author
  1. Joy Buolamwini: How Do Biased Algorithms Damage Marginalized Communities?
  2. Colette Pichon Battle: How Can We Prepare For The Next Hurricane Katrina?
  3. Brent Leggs: How Can Seeing Black History As American History Begin To Make Amends?