I first encountered John on the Glenn Show, where the topics are frequently related to race. Because it was mentioned here, I discovered Lexicon Valley, which is John's podcast about language. I've learned a number of surprising and interesting things about John from Lexicon Valley, including that he became interested in language because he heard someone speaking Hebrew when he was young. His expertise about Sranan Tongo is interesting to me because I grew up in Suriname where I heard it spoken, though I didn't learn the language.
Musical theater isn't that important to me, but John's love of it makes me wonder what I'm missing. Before I listened to Lexicon Valley, if I'd been forced to racialize show tunes, I'd have thought of them as much more white than black, but now I associate them with John, who happens to be black.
I first encountered John on the Glenn Show, where the topics are frequently related to race. Because it was mentioned here, I discovered Lexicon Valley, which is John's podcast about language. I've learned a number of surprising and interesting things about John from Lexicon Valley, including that he became interested in language because he heard someone speaking Hebrew when he was young. His expertise about Sranan Tongo is interesting to me because I grew up in Suriname where I heard it spoken, though I didn't learn the language.
Musical theater isn't that important to me, but John's love of it makes me wonder what I'm missing. Before I listened to Lexicon Valley, if I'd been forced to racialize show tunes, I'd have thought of them as much more white than black, but now I associate them with John, who happens to be black.