Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
University of Cambridge Research Fellow Dr. Stephen Turton joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about the logic (and many quirks) of the English language. Why are so many English words not pronounced the way they're spelled? Why is the plural of 'child' not 'childs' but 'children?' 'Foot' becomes 'feet' but 'boot' does't pluralize to 'beet?' How do we know what Old English sounded like? Why is the letter R pronounced so different across languages? What does a pineapple have to do with either pines OR apples? Answers to these questions and many more await on Etymology Support.
0:00 English Etymology Support
0:14 Foot Feet but not Boot Beet? Why?
1:17 Whoops
1:52 Get a clue
2:18 Why Ghoti = Fish
3:48 Who What Where When Why
4:49 Salary
5:11 What's going on with the word "child?"
5:45 Deadline
6:11 Why are there multiple words that mean the same thing?
7:07 TUVWX…but Y?
7:58 Formal You
8:59 It’s Raining Cats and Dogs
9:34 Does language alter thinking?
11:40 Break a leg!
11:55 How do we know what old English sounds like?
13:01 Dictionary approved new words
13:45 Bring back sardine’s whiskers I say
14:16 Pineapples, man
14:49 Thou and hath
15:46 Funny collective nouns
16:20 Ok
16:53 "But soft! what light through yonder window breaks?"
17:36 Quarantine
17:57 How meanings change
19:08 Meet your meat words
19:58 English pronunciation
21:21 Common sayings between languages
22:00 💪
22:57 Homonyms
23:29 How etymologists do what they do
24:21 "Did youreet?"
25:00 Why is the letter R pronounced so differently in each language?
Director: Lauren Zeitoun
Director of Photography: Davide Bianco
Editor: Alex Mechanik
Expert: Stephen Turton
Line Producer: Jamie Rasmussen
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Supervising Casting Producer: Thomas Giglio
Camera Operator: Ashley Raim
Gaffer: Jake Newell
Sound Mixer: Mark Hennessey
Production Assistant: Grace OConnor
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo
Additional Editor: Sam DiVito
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Still haven’t subscribed to WIRED on YouTube? ►► http://wrd.cm/15fP7B7
Listen to the Get WIRED podcast ►► link.chtbl.com/wired-ytc-desc
Want more WIRED? Get the magazine ►► subscribe.wired.com/subscribe/splits/wired/WIR_YouTube?source=EDT_WIR_YouTube_0_Video_Description_ZZ
Follow WIRED:
Instagram ►►instagram.com/wired
Twitter ►►twitter.com/wired
Facebook ►►facebook.com/wired
Tik Tok ►►tiktok.com/@wired
Get more incredible stories on science and tech with our daily newsletter: https://wrd.cm/DailyYT
Also, check out the free WIRED channel on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV.
ABOUT WIRED
WIRED is where tomorrow is realized. Through thought-provoking stories and videos, WIRED explores the future of business, innovation, and culture.
University of Cambridge Research Fellow Dr. Stephen Turton joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about the logic (and many quirks) of the English language. Why are so many English words not pronounced the way they're spelled? Why is the plural of 'child' not 'childs' but 'children?' 'Foot' becomes 'feet' but 'boot' does't pluralize to 'beet?' How do we know what Old English sounded like? Why is the letter R pronounced so different across languages? What does a pineapple have to do with either pines OR apples? Answers to these questions and many more await on Etymology Support.
0:00 English Etymology Support
0:14 Foot Feet but not Boot Beet? Why?
1:17 Whoops
1:52 Get a clue
2:18 Why Ghoti = Fish
3:48 Who What Where When Why
4:49 Salary
5:11 What's going on with the word "child?"
5:45 Deadline
6:11 Why are there multiple words that mean the same thing?
7:07 TUVWX…but Y?
7:58 Formal You
8:59 It’s Raining Cats and Dogs
9:34 Does language alter thinking?
11:40 Break a leg!
11:55 How do we know what old English sounds like?
13:01 Dictionary approved new words
13:45 Bring back sardine’s whiskers I say
14:16 Pineapples, man
14:49 Thou and hath
15:46 Funny collective nouns
16:20 Ok
16:53 "But soft! what light through yonder window breaks?"
17:36 Quarantine
17:57 How meanings change
19:08 Meet your meat words
19:58 English pronunciation
21:21 Common sayings between languages
22:00 💪
22:57 Homonyms
23:29 How etymologists do what they do
24:21 "Did youreet?"
25:00 Why is the letter R pronounced so differently in each language?
Director: Lauren Zeitoun
Director of Photography: Davide Bianco
Editor: Alex Mechanik
Expert: Stephen Turton
Line Producer: Jamie Rasmussen
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Supervising Casting Producer: Thomas Giglio
Camera Operator: Ashley Raim
Gaffer: Jake Newell
Sound Mixer: Mark Hennessey
Production Assistant: Grace OConnor
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo
Additional Editor: Sam DiVito
Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds
Still haven’t subscribed to WIRED on YouTube? ►► http://wrd.cm/15fP7B7
Listen to the Get WIRED podcast ►► link.chtbl.com/wired-ytc-desc
Want more WIRED? Get the magazine ►► subscribe.wired.com/subscribe/splits/wired/WIR_YouTube?source=EDT_WIR_YouTube_0_Video_Description_ZZ
Follow WIRED:
Instagram ►►instagram.com/wired
Twitter ►►twitter.com/wired
Facebook ►►facebook.com/wired
Tik Tok ►►tiktok.com/@wired
Get more incredible stories on science and tech with our daily newsletter: https://wrd.cm/DailyYT
Also, check out the free WIRED channel on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android TV.
ABOUT WIRED
WIRED is where tomorrow is realized. Through thought-provoking stories and videos, WIRED explores the future of business, innovation, and culture.
