It’s the Great American Read! Vote for America's favorite novel: to.pbs.org/2Jes2X5 ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ English is a confusing language for many reasons. But the irregular verbs might be the most confusing part. Why is “told” the past tense of “tell” but “smold” isn’t the past tense of “smell”? It turns out that the study of irregular verbs can teach us a lot about how languages evolve. This week, we look at how the era of Big Data is unlocking secrets behind the weirdness of words. OTHER VIDEOS TO CHECK OUT: “The Zipf Mystery” - Vsauce youtu.be/fCn8zs912OE “Trending Artists of the 17th Century” - The Art Assignment youtu.be/7eq3D9Q9lUA REFERENCES: Uncharted: Big Data as a Lens on Human Culture - Erez Aiden and Jean-Baptiste Michel amzn.to/2MLBEHF Words and Rules - Steven Pinker amzn.to/2vKL1kf Lieberman, Erez, et al. "Quantifying the evolutionary dynamics of language." Nature 449.7163 (2007): 713. Michel, Jean-Baptiste, et al. "Quantitative analysis of culture using millions of digitized books." Science (2010): 1199644. Hanley, M. L., Joos, M., & Fein, T. (1937). Word index to James Joyce's Ulysses. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. ----------- FOLLOW US: Twitter: @DrJoeHanson @okaytobesmart Instagram: @DrJoeHanson Merch: store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook: www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart SEND US STUFF: It’s Okay To Be Smart PO Box 303356 Austin, TX 78703 USA BOOKS WE’VE FEATURED: smart-books.tumblr.com/ ----------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Writer: Joe Hanson Creative Director/Director: David Schulte Editor/animator: Derek Borsheim Producers: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock www.shutterstock.com

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