Dead Language Society

A bluffer’s guide to etymology

How to guess the age and origin of any English word

Apr 8 • Colin Gorrie

121

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8

Why the verb “to be” is so irregular

The answer is six thousand years old

Apr 1 • Colin Gorrie

321

67

40

March 2026

The age when English could do anything

And why we wouldn't have Shakespeare without it

Mar 25 • Colin Gorrie

88

6

12

No, Shakespeare didn’t invent those words

Bias, evidence, and the Oxford English Dictionary

Mar 18 • Colin Gorrie

242

19

25

Why English spelling actually does make sense

English spelling is optimal, from a certain point of view

Mar 11 • Colin Gorrie

209

17

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Leave the em-dash alone

This writing panic has a 500-year precedent

Mar 4 • Colin Gorrie

347

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February 2026

Why the worst idea in linguistics won’t die

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is mostly wrong

Feb 25 • Colin Gorrie

276

40

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How far back in time can you understand English?

An experiment in language change

Feb 18 • Colin Gorrie

4,168

405

660

What happens when languages collide?

A conversation with Daniel W. Hieber

Feb 17 • Colin Gorrie and Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.

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4

1:05:18

1066 didn't change English (but 1250 did)

How all those French words actually got into English

Feb 11 • Colin Gorrie

154

10

11

Etymology is a growth industry

One year of the Dead Language Society

Feb 4 • Colin Gorrie

139

56

11

January 2026

What if Beowulf had been written by Shakespeare?

The Tragedie of Beowulf, Prince of Wethermark

Jan 31 • Colin Gorrie

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