Rebecca Kruth

1 week ago | michiganpublic.org | Anne Curzan |Rebecca Kruth

We often talk about stealing or robbery using the word "lifting." We might talk about someone "lifting a wallet" or "lifting electronics." That wordplay is also relevant when it comes to heists. Merriam-Webster defines a "heist" as simply an "armed robbery." Most of us would agree that a heist is a bit more involved than the average robbery. We think of heists as carefully orchestrated plans, carried out by a crew of thieves with elaborate disguises and highly specific skill sets.

2 weeks ago | michiganpublic.org | Rebecca Kruth |Anne Curzan

If you were to transcribe the last conversation you had with a friend, word for word, what would it look like? For starters, there would probably be at least a few dozen extra words, depending on how long you talked. Think of how many times we say things like "but" or "and" or "you know" in informal conversation.

1 month ago | michiganpublic.org | Rebecca Kruth

A linguistics degree probably isn't the first thing that comes to mind when considering how to pursue a career in crime scene investigation. However, that's exactly what you need to break into the emerging field of forensic linguistics, in which language analysis is used to solve crimes. Forensic linguists use their language expertise to analyze linguistic evidence in legal settings, including criminal and sometimes civil cases.

1 month ago | michiganpublic.org | Rebecca Kruth

"Deadpan" is a strange word. How does a cooking container that's apparently given up its ghost translate to an expression that means "emotionless" or "straight-faced"? It starts to make some sense once you learn that "pan" in "deadpan" means "face." So, "deadpan" literally means a dead or emotionless face. Think about the flat delivery and expressionless faces of comedians and actors known for dry-witted humor.

2 months ago | michiganpublic.org | Rebecca Kruth

Every now and then we get an email from a listener letting us know that a particular segment really resonated with them. One thing we haven't heard much about, though perhaps we will now, is a listener resonating with a particular segment. Two listeners wrote to us recently about the latter use of "resonate" in the above paragraph.