Beth Young is an associate professor in the English department at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, United States. She is also the coordinator of the ongoing project to digitize the dictionary of English compiled by Samuel Johnson and first published in 1755.
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Beth's Profile
https://cah.ucf.edu/english/faculty-staff/profile/163
Johnson's Dictionary Online
https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/
197. Is It the Story or the Words That Really Count?
My guest today is Fernanda Barajas. She’s a copywriter who does work for several different companies. She also hosts a podcast, and writes a blog, called My Impression Of, where she reviews and discusses books, movies, series, authors, and songwriters. She mentions in her profile the importance of stories, and I asked her to be a guest on the podcast to talk about the importance of words—instead of or in addition to. It was a fun and informative chat.
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Blog
https://myimpressionof.com.mx/
Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/7mewBmfT9XtGFWRd3nMh1V
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/myimpressionof/
Linktree
https://linktr.ee/myimpressionof
183. Worse Writing Is Harder to Get Through
Before I get to today’s conversation, I have an announcement about swag. In the next few weeks I will publish my 200th episode and I wanted to celebrate a little by giving thanks to you, the listeners. I started the show in January last year, and both listenership and downloads have increased steadily, which makes me very happy. And I’ve been very grateful for the nice things some of you have said in reviews. I don’t have hard-to-find first editions for you, or cold hard cash, but a mousepad inside a small cotton totebag, both with the show’s logo. Small tokens, yes, but my thanks are big. Just go to the contact form at WritingEditing.ca and send me your mailing address, and I’ll send them to you (until they run out). Again: thank you.
So, for today’s episode …
My guest is Todd Brison, who describes himself as an “optimist who writes.” He's an Amazon best-selling author and award-winning ghostwriter. I met him on Substack, where he writes What Makes Great Writing? We had a great discussion about the importance and impact of the quality of writing in all sorts of media. This is “Worse Writing Is Harder to Get Through,” episode 183 of the podcast.
Todd’s Website
https://www.toddbrison.com/
Substack
https://www.whatmakesgreatwriting.com/
Twitter
https://twitter.com/ToddBrison
154. One More Word: Nice
I talk about the origin of this 700-year-old English word as well as the numerous, diverse, and even contradictory meanings it has had over the course of its history. And wait for it: at the end is a saying using "nice" which, alas, we no longer have in the language any more.
139. The Language of American Mass Shootings
I talk about some of the words and rituals around the seemingly intractable problem of mass shootings in the US.