We can't take credit for 'dude,' but L.A. is responsible for the creation of hundreds of words in its 235-year history - Los Angeles Times
Advertisement

Column: We can’t take credit for ‘dude,’ but L.A. is responsible for the creation of hundreds of words in its 235-year history

Share via

L.A. has bestowed all kinds of new words on the world – not just movie-business terms like “hot set” and the red-carpet posing practice known as “step and repeat,” but “surface street” and “Orange Curtain.” USC linguist Edward Finegan talks us through how we are what we say, dude.

Find the full archive of "Patt Morrison Asks" podcasts here or search for "Patt Morrison Asks" on iTunes.

To read this week’s column, click here.

Want unlimited digital access to the L.A. Times? Patt Morrison listeners can sign up here for eight free weeks.

MORE PATT MORRISON ASKS

How many people does it take to overpopulate Earth?

Why are Julian Assange and Vladimir Putin helping Donald Trump?

Science fiction master Ursula K. Le Guin talks Comic-Con and the psychological power of imagination

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook

Advertisement