> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://linguisticdiscovery.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Men speak with vocal fry just as much as women - URL: https://linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/2025-50/ - Published: 2025-12-20T17:17:47.000Z - Updated: 2026-03-11T11:31:30.000Z - Description: Also in the news this week: Merriam-Webster chooses “slop” as the 2025 Word of the Year; Gaelic and Scots now recognized as official languages in the UK; and Canada’s prime minister called out for using British spellings - Author: Daniel W. Hieber, Ph.D. - Tags: Current Linguistics, historical linguistics, spelling, etymology, Scottish Gaelic, Scots, vocal fry, creaky voice, slang Welcome to this week’s edition of *Discovery Dispatch*, a weekly roundup of the latest language-related news, research in linguistics, interesting reads from the week, and newest books and other media dealing with language and linguistics. ## 📢 Updates & Announcements *Announcements and what’s new with me and Linguistic Discovery.* ### 🎄 Christmas Break Reminder that there will be no issue of the digest next week (Dec. 25) or the week following (Jan. 1) since I’ll be on Christmas vacation in the Shenandoah Valley, nestled within the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, which themselves are part of the broader Appalachian range. They look something like this around this time of year: ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2025/12/image-8.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2025/12/image-9.png) Ed Fuhr Photography: [Shenandoah Winter, 2014 | Ed Fuhr Photography](https://www.edfuhr.com/gallery/shenandoahwinter/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) You can see in the second picture especially why the Blue Ridge Mountains got their name. Their distinctive blue/purple hue comes from isoprene emitted by oak trees in the area: - [Why are the Blue Ridge Mountains blue?](https://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/why-are-the-blue-ridge-mountains-blue?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) (*Mental Floss*) - [Why are the Blue Ridge Mountains blue?](https://www.ourstate.com/why-are-the-blue-ridge-mountains-blue/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) ([OurState.com](http://ourstate.com/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)) I think it’s also neat and unsurprising that the Cherokee referred to these mountains as ᏌᎪᏂᎨ ᏣᎴᎩ *Shaconage* ‘Land of Blue Smoke’ (according to various internet sources as well as [Glosbe](https://glosbe.com/en/chr/Blue%20Ridge%20Mountains?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com), but I can’t confirm this from a more reputable source, except that Durbin Feeling’s (1975) dictionary does list ᏌᎪᏂᎨ *sakonigeʔi* as ‘blue’). This might also refer to the Great Smoky Mountains, a smaller range within the Blue Ridge. Another fun fact: The Appalachian Mountains are so old that they’re older than *trees*, and about the same age as *bones*, so the only fossils you find in the mountains are trilobites. In any case, there actually might be a special issue of the newsletter coming on Jan. 1, but we’ll see how much work I get done before I start traveling. Otherwise, the digest will resume on Jan. 8. To everyone celebrating holidays over the next several weeks, I hope they’re wonderful! ### 🎁 Need a last-minute gift for the language nerd in your life? You can gift them a Substack subscription to this newsletter! I plan to write significantly more longform articles about a wider array of topics in 2026, but more of them will be paywalled as well. Why more paywalled articles? Because they’ll be part of a forthcoming book project! So now’s the perfect time to gift the language nerd in your life a 1-year subscription to the newsletter. That way they’ll get access to all the extra content in 2026. [🎁 Give the gift of Linguistic Discovery](https://linguisticdiscovery.substack.com/gift) (Note that you can also send the gift anonymously, and/or schedule it to be delivered on a specific date.) ### 🎉 Linguistic Discovery @ 1 million followers ![A blue banner with gold lettering that says “1M followers”](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2025/12/image-10.png) An exciting bit of news to share from this week: the Linguistic Discovery social media channels reached a combined total of 1 million followers! For those curious, here’s what the distribution of followers across different channels looks like: ![A pie chart showing Linguistic Discovery's follower breakdown, as follows: Facebook: 371,540 (37%), Instagram: 308,048 (31%), TikTok: 217,266 (22%), Threads: 73,377 (7%), YouTube: 18,499 (2%), X: 8,696 (1%). The remaining platforms (Bluesky, Ghost, Substack, Patreon) each constitute less than 1%.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2025/12/image-11.png) And here’s my follower growth over time. I started on TikTok in December 2020, and had a points of saltatory growth thanks to particularly viral videos, interspersed with periods of stagnation when I wasn’t posting consistently. ![A stacked area chart showing Linguistic Discovery's follower growth across platforms from November 2020 to November 2025, reaching approximately 1 million total followers by the end of the period. The chart displays several distinct phases of growth: initial growth primarily on TikTok (green) starting in late 2020, a sharp vertical increase around September 2023 showing rapid follower acquisition across multiple platforms, another steep jump around January 2024, and then continued steady growth through 2025. The largest contributors to total followers are Facebook (dark blue, bottom layer), Instagram (orange), and TikTok (green), which together make up the majority of the follower base. Smaller but visible contributions come from Threads (light blue), YouTube (purple), X (yellow-green), and minimal contributions from Bluesky, Website, Substack, and Patreon at the top.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2025/12/image-12.png) ### 2025 Words of the Year with *Grammar Girl* and Jess Zafarris ### ![Cover for the Grammar Girl podcast.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2025/12/image-13.png) This week I joined Mignon Fogarty and [Jess Zafarris](https://jesszafarris.com/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) on the [*Grammar Girl*](https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) podcast to talk about the 2025 Words of the Year! We explain all the words that were chosen by different organizations this year and give our reactions. Have a listen at the links! ### 👍👎 Tell me what you think about the newsletter! ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2025/12/image-14.png) I’ve been publishing this newsletter for almost a year now! So this seems like a felicitous moment to get your feedback on how this first year has been, things you like about the newsletter, areas it could improve, etc. I’ve put together a quick survey (20 questions, \~5 minutes) for you to give your feedback: [Take the 2025 Reader Survey](https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAAYAAMN93-JUQVIwSVUxTkZMUzNBWUIyVVBFQzJESFJPNi4u&ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) You’re also welcome to simply [email me your thoughts here](mailto:contact@linguisticdiscovery.com)! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this newsletter each week, and an especially huge thank you to those of you whose financial support helps keep the newsletter running. The costs of running Linguistic Discovery aren’t insignificant (graphic design software, website hosting, a Notion subscription, video editing software, etc.), and I still don’t have very many paid supporters, so your individual support really has made a big difference in keeping this sustainable. Thank you 🙏🏼 If you aren’t yet a supporter and would like to become one, you can do so for $5 USD/mo. by clicking the button below. Paying supporters get: - ➕ bonus articles about niche or advanced topics - 🔓 behind-the-scenes articles about my work revitalizing indigenous languages - 👀 early access to regular articles - 📖 previews of my in-progress book projects - 👨🏼‍🏫 to support my mission to educate the public about the science and diversity of language! [💝 Become a supporter!](#/portal/signup) ## 🆕 New from Linguistic Discovery *This week’s content from Linguistic Discovery.* ### What are protolanguages? Here’s another video from the archives this week: Did you know that linguists can reconstruct what ancient languages sound like? Here’s how: ## 📰 In the News *Language and linguistics in the news.* ### Merriam-Webster chooses (AI) *slop* as the 2025 Word of the Year ### ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2025/12/image-15.png) Merriam-Webster is one of the dictionaries that uses data on how frequently users are looking up words to choose the word of the year, and this year *slop*—as in *AI slop*—was among the top lookups. M-W defines the word as “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.” Other considerations for word of the year were *gerrymander*, *touch grass* (another term arising from the social media space), *performative*, *tariff*, *6-7* ([Dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)’s choice, which I defended as the word of the year [here](https://www.notion.so/6-7-2ac50a282bc180438b25e4b29f0bc547?pvs=21&ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)), *conclave*, and *Lake Char­gog­ga­gogg­man­chaug­ga­gogg­chau­bu­na­gun­ga­maugg*. [“6-7” belongs in the dictionary, actuallyIn defense of Dictionary.com’s 2025 Word of the Year![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/languages-bordered-76.png)Linguistic DiscoveryDaniel W. Hieber, Ph.D.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/6-7-1.png)](https://linguisticdiscovery.com/posts/67/) [2025 Word of the Year: SlopPlus ‘gerrymander’, ‘touch grass’, ‘performative’, and other words that defined the year![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/favicon-19.svg)Merriam-WebsterEditors of Merriam-Webster![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/a-20bizarre-20collection-20of-20ai-generated-20illustrations-20including-20a-20sign-20that-20reads-20wood-20of-20of-20year-20and-20a-20chyron-20that-20reads-20breaking-20news-12973-25cf29c814c90c238aec2d2797306e40@1x.jpg)](https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/word-of-the-year?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) [Merriam-Webster’s 2025 word of the year is ‘slop’Merriam-Webster’s 2025 word of the year is “slop.” The word was first used in the 1700s to mean soft mud. It evolved more generally to mean something of little value.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-62.png)AP NewsANNA FURMAN![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/90-4)](https://apnews.com/article/merriam-webster-dictionary-word-year-2025-slop-2dffb2379cac6001aa30e148669e3393?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) [‘Slop’ Is Merriam-Webster’s 2025 Word of the Year as AI Content Floods the Internet“AI Slop”: a succinct definition of the current state of the internet.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-v3-1.png)CNETSee full bio![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/screenshot-2025-12-15-at-1-18-52pm.png)](https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/slop-is-merriam-websters-2025-word-of-the-year-as-ai-content-floods-the-internet/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) [Slop, vibe coding and glazing: AI dominates 2025’s words of the yearSignificant time is spent on tracking the usage of words throughout the year before making decisions on contenders.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/web-app-logo-192x192-2d05bdd6de6328146de80245d4685946-56.png)The ConversationGail Flanagan![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/file-20251215-56-kwbalu.jpg)](https://theconversation.com/slop-vibe-coding-and-glazing-ai-dominates-2025s-words-of-the-year-269688?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) ### Gaelic and Scots now recognized as official languages in the UK ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2025/12/image-16.png) > Gaelic and Scots have now been recognised as official languages as part of a range of new measures coming into force on St Andrew's Day. > > The Scottish Languages Act, which MSPs voted through in June, also empowers parents to ask for a Gaelic school to be established in their area and aims to ensure that more qualifications are available in Gaelic. > > It includes powers for ministers to commission research into the use of Gaelic and Scots and establish teaching standards for the languages. As a refresher, **Gaelic** is a Celtic language (related to Irish, Welsh, and others) also known as Scottish Gaelic or Scots Gaelic. It is typically pronounced /ˈɡælɪk/ (whereas Irish Gaelic is typically pronounced /ˈɡeɪlɪk/, although in the U.S. you’ll often just hear /ˈɡeɪlɪk/ for both). The Celtic languages are actually distantly related to English: they form one branch of the Indo-European family tree, whereas English sits in another branch called Germanic. Celtic separated from the other Indo-European languages perhaps as early as 1300 BCE. **Scots**, on the other hand, is a West Germanic language that descends from Early Middle English. The Northumbrian dialect of English started to branch off from other dialects as early as the 7th century, and became more distinct around the 12th century. This makes Scots one of the most closely-related languages to English (although it is nonetheless a distinct, non–mutually intelligible language). Scots is also distinct from **Scottish English**, which simply refers to the dialects of English spoken in Scotland. [Gaelic and Scots now recognised as official languagesThe milestone is one of a number of new measures taking effect on St Andrew’s Day from the Scottish Languages Act.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-63.png)BBC NewsBBC News![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/cf909b30-7a5a-11ee-8eb5-a513c079e034.jpg)](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9891455007o?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) ### Canada’s prime minister called out for using British spelling ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2025/12/image-17.png) Canadian prime minister Mark Carney Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney has been criticized this week for using British rather than Canadian spelling conventions. This one’s a little funny to me, because Canada’s spelling conventions are an interesting mix of American and British conventions in the first place. *But*, that mix is nonetheless fairly standardized in Canada—Canadians generally know which spelling of any given word is used in their country, regardless whether it aligns with the American or British version. So for Prime Minister Mark Carney to adopt British spellings like ⟨utilise⟩ instead of the standard Canadian/American spelling of ⟨utilize⟩ (hence the pun in the title of the article) feels to some like a bit of a betrayal of his Canadian nationality. [Linguists call out Canada’s Carney for ‘utilizing’ British spellingA group of linguists are asking Prime Minister Carney to ditch British English in official documents, saying it is a matter of “pride”.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/apple-touch-icon-64.png)BBC News![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/dd2a0110-d9de-11f0-ba85-09c2975a5393.jpg)](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj69d89l8l5o?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) ## 🗞️ Current Linguistics *Recently published research in linguistics.* ### Men speak with vocal fry just as much as women ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2025/12/image-18.png) Males speak with vocal fry (known as **creaky voice** within linguistics) just as much as females, according to a new study that looks at three decades of data. While the data do show that the prevalence of creaky voice among female (but not male) speakers has increased over the last 30 years, this merely means that the use of creaky voice by female speakers has *caught up with* (and very slightly surpassed) that of male speakers. Females are not disproportionately using creaky voice as compared to their male counterparts. [Men speak with a vocal fry just as much as womenLinguists bust another gender myth.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/cropped-favicon-ps-FE5102-1-4.png)Popular ScienceAndrew Paul![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/Business-Room-Meeting.jpg)](https://www.popsci.com/science/vocal-fry-men/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) - White, Penney, & Cox. 2025\. Change in the prevalence of creaky voice over time in Australian English. *Journal of the Acoustical Society of America* 5(9). DOI: [https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0039080](https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0039080?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com). ## 📃 This Week’s Reads *Interesting articles I’ve come across this week.* [A CHRISTMAS Full of EtymologyReading time: 5 minutes It’s December now, the month when the calendar helpfully provides me with a topic for the monthly article. So, here’s a short and sweet linguistic post with a fe…![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/webclip-3.png)Danny L. Batedannylbate![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/looking_up_at_a_large_christmas_tree.jpg)](https://dannybate.com/2024/12/23/a-christmas-full-of-etymology/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) - 9 fun Christmas etymologies from linguist Danny L. Bate. [The psychology behind ‘6-7’ and ‘skibidi’: why gibberish took over the playground in 2025From “skibidi” to “brain rot,” the words dominating your child’s group chat might sound like nonsense – but linguists say there’s more to these words than you might think.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/favicon-135.ico)MadeForMumsSerafina Kenny![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/GettyImages-2148294955-af8d988.jpg)](https://www.madeformums.com/apple-news/the-psychology-behind-gen-alpha-slang/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) > From “skibidi” to “brain rot,” the words dominating your child’s group chat might sound like nonsense – but linguists say there's more to these words than you might think.” [Slop, vibe coding and glazing: AI dominates 2025’s words of the yearSignificant time is spent on tracking the usage of words throughout the year before making decisions on contenders.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/web-app-logo-192x192-2d05bdd6de6328146de80245d4685946-57.png)The ConversationGail Flanagan![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/file-20251215-56-kwbalu-1.jpg)](https://theconversation.com/slop-vibe-coding-and-glazing-ai-dominates-2025s-words-of-the-year-269688?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) [Why people feel entitled to correct your grammar onlineA natural history of the language police![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/https-3A-2F-2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com-2Fpublic-2Fimages-2F310d0223-9c59-42bd-a916-905ade8897a2-2Fapple-touch-icon-180x180-13.png)Dead Language SocietyColin Gorrie![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/https-3A-2F-2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com-2Fpublic-2Fimages-2Fe5d5e133-36db-4e9a-bf9f-d59043308f11_1260x1600.jpeg)](https://open.substack.com/pub/colingorrie/p/history-of-the-language-police) - As a public linguist who posts about language, I think people feel *especially* compelled to “correct” every nuance of my grammar, word choice, and style. It’s rough out there on the interwebs 😭 [Rethinking where language comes from: Framework reveals complex interplay of biology and cultureA new study challenges the idea that language stems from a single evolutionary root. Instead, it proposes that our ability to communicate evolved through the interaction of biology and culture, and involves multiple capacities, each with different evolutionary histories. The framework, published in Science, unites discoveries across disciplines to explain how the ability to learn to speak, develop grammar, and share meaning converged to create complex communication.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/favicon-20.svg)Phys.orgMax Planck Society![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/rethinking-where-langu.jpg)](https://phys.org/news/2025-11-rethinking-language-framework-reveals-complex.html?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) - Rob Watts has a fantastic interview with Merriam-Webster lexicographer Peter Sokolowski about how dictionaries work, how they’re made, and how they’re changing. ## 📚 Books & Media *New (and old) books and media touching on language and linguistics.* ### Rob Words on Substack ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2025/12/image-19.png) RobWords of [YouTube fame](https://www.youtube.com/@RobWords?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) has recently started a newsletter! You can join his 11,000 other subscribers on Substack: [RobWords | SubstackInternet word nerd. Click to read RobWords, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/icon/https-3A-2F-2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com-2Fpublic-2Fimages-2F83e12d6d-f68b-4527-96e4-2c3b3d1cb978-2Fapple-touch-icon-180x180.png)RobWordsRobWords![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/thumbnail/https-3A-2F-2Frobwords.substack.com-2Ftwitter-2Fsubscribe-card.jpg%3Fv%3D-1844793827%26version%3D9)](https://robwords.substack.com/) ## 👋🏼 Til next year! The etymology of state names and capitol city names, from Word Tips. Read all the details [here](https://word.tips/literal-translations-us-cities-states/?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com). ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/c7/75/c775a216-7ca2-4c5f-96a7-f2defe0fd756/content/images/2025/12/image-20.png) 💡 The Amazon and Bookshop.org links on this site are affiliate links, which means that I earn a small commission from Amazon for purchases made through them (at no extra cost to you). If you’d like to support Linguistic Discovery, purchasing through these links is a great way to do so! I greatly appreciate your support! [Check out my Amazon storefront here.](https://www.amazon.com/shop/linguisticdiscovery?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com) [Check out my Bookshop storefront here.](https://bookshop.org/shop/linguisticdiscovery?ref=linguisticdiscovery.com)