188. Obviate: Less Obvious Than You Think

Kyle encounters what he thinks is an obvious word, in more ways than one, but Emily puts some complications in his path. Together they’ll parse through unexpected definitions, clunky phrases, and linguistic repetition, all in pursuit of the word obviate.

This word leads our hosts through a smorgasbord of linguistic topics. Emily introduces a unique feature of Algonquian grammar. Kyle recalls a couple of Latin roots for winding paths and things in the way. And the pair of them discuss how a roadblock might, in fact, clear the way.

However, obviate also presents some tricky questions of word usage for our hosts, such as: What does it mean to be redundant in language? How many of our words are in fact unnecessary? When is a phrase annoyingly clunky, and when is it delightfully playful?