PickVidsBest Language & linguistics Videos
The 84 Language & linguistics videos here were recommended by different people across different months. Choose by who it is for: 1 introductory, 3 intermediate, 80 for a general viewer, and 0 for someone who wants the harder derivation. Most of them are an explainer. What they share is that one picture or analogy is used to supply a missing concept. Channels you will keep seeing include Tom Scott, TEDx Talks, CGP Grey.
Ismo: Ass Is The Most Complicated Word In The English Language | CONAN on TBS
Finnish comedian Ismo does a stand-up routine on Conan about the many meanings of the English word 'ass'.
The Wire: to evacuate
A two-minute clip from The Wire in which characters work through the meaning of the word evacuate, an exchange that has become a meme.
George Carlin Shell Shock
A short George Carlin routine on how the term shell shock was softened into combat fatigue and then PTSD.
ISMO | I Didn't Know Sh*t 💩💩💩
Finnish comedian Ismo riffs on how the English word for shit is the most complicated word in the language, with its many meanings and uses.
My Fair Lady "Why Can't the English Learn to Speak"
A scene from My Fair Lady in which Professor Higgins meets Colonel Pickering and Doolittle, singing about how the English fail to speak their own language properly.
But we're speaking Japanese! 日本語喋ってるんだけど
A two-minute comedy sketch in which a foreigner speaking fluent Japanese is repeatedly not understood by Japanese people who refuse to process it.
Dear America... | David Mitchell's SoapBox
A three-minute David Mitchell's Soapbox rant addressed to Americans about the phrase "could care less", arguing it means the opposite of what speakers intend.
Why don't subtitles match dubbing?
Tom Scott explains why subtitles often differ from dubbed dialogue, covering how translation, timing and reading speed shape each.
Danish language
A sketch from the Norwegian NRK show Uti Var Hage poking fun at the Danish language and how hard it is to understand.
Can Japanese Actually Write Japanese Kanji?
Yuta asks whether native Japanese speakers can actually write kanji by hand, showing that many struggle to recall characters from memory.
How to Pronounce Synecdoche
A short pronunciation clip showing how to say the word 'synecdoche'.
The Disappearing American Dialect of North Carolina
A short Great Big Story piece on the Ocracoke Brogue, or Hoi Toider dialect, spoken on North Carolina's Outer Banks, which developed through centuries of isolation and traces back to the 1600s.