168. Lexipedia with Joshua Blackburn

Kyle and Emily welcome back the creator of The League of the Lexicon Joshua Blackburn (@leagueofthelexicon), whose latest work is not a game, but a gorgeously illustrated compendium for the incurably curious, The Language-Lover’s Lexipedia. Inviting readers to play in the margins of language from ampersands and fossil words to why Dickensian characters are named that way, the Lexipedia is for anyone who’s ever found themselves tumbling down an endless, linguistic rabbit hole.

Blackburn shares how a pandemic-era effort to make English more exciting became a codex of some of the quirkiest, most charming language phenomena around. With homage to the design of vintage academia, the Lexipedia makes curiosity the driving force of all the lingual delights within. It even introduces you to some of the people who’ve bolstered our language throughout history, like the murderer behind the greatest number of citation submissions to the OED.

Joshua Blackburn’s League of the Lexicon is a growing world, and alongside the release of The Language-Lover’s Lexipedia comes the US Edition of the original word quiz game that sparked Blackburn’s word fame. Whether you’re a hardcore word nerd or just linguistically curious, this episode has a little something for everyone.