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b'What\\u2019s the \\u201cit\\u2019s\\u201d in \\u201cit\\u2019s three pm and hot\\u201d? How do you write a cough in the International Phonetic Alphabet? Who is the person most likely to speak similarly to a randomly-selected North American English speaker? \\n\\nIn this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about absurd hypothetical linguistic questions with special guest Randall Munroe, creator of the webcomic xkcd and author of What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions. We only wish that there was a little more linguistics in the book. So Randall came on to fill the gap with all his most ridiculous linguistics questions! One of our unresolved questions that we can merely speculate about is our predictions for what the future of English might be like. Are you listening to this episode from more than two decades in the future? Please write in from 2042 or later and let us know how accurate we\\u2019ve been! \\n\\nRead the transcript here: \\n\\nAnnouncements:\\nWe\\u2019ve teamed up with linguist/artist Lucy Maddox to create a fun, minimalist version of the classic International Phonetic Alphabet chart, which you can see here (plus more info about how we put together the design). It looks really cool, and it\\u2019s also a practical reference tool that you can carry around with you in a convenient multi-purpose format: lens cloths!\\n\\nWe\\u2019re going to place ONE (1) massive order for aesthetic IPA chart lens cloths on October 6, 2022. If you want one, be a patron at the Lingthusiast tier or higher on October 5th, 2022, timezone: anywhere in the world. If you\\u2019re already a patron at that tier, then you\\u2019re set! (That\\u2019s the tier where you also get bonus episodes and the Discord access, we\\u2019ve never run a special offer at this tier before but we think this time it\\u2019ll be worth it!). www.patreon.com/lingthusiasm\\n\\nIn this month\\u2019s bonus episode we chat with Lucy about redesigning the IPA! We talk about how Lucy got interested in linguistics, how she got into art, how we started working with her, and the many design considerations that went into making a redesigned IPA chart. \\n\\nJoin us on Patreon now to get access to this and 60+ other bonus episodes, access to the Lingthusiasm Discord server where you can chat with other language nerds, as well your exclusive IPA chart lens cloth! www.patreon.com/lingthusiasm\\n\\nClick here for the full show notes, which includes links to things mentioned in this episode:'