Like, Literally, Dude: Language to Build Identity & Community

If you have ever spent time worrying over word choice when putting together a presentation or woken up from a bad dream about your teeth falling out (often interpreted to mean you wish you could take back something you said), you’ve noticed that language has the power to create inclusive and accepting spaces or exclusive and intolerant ones. The use of a specific word can immediately cause a person to recoil just as easily as it can build trust.

Join Valerie Fridland, linguistics professor and author of the popular book “Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English” as she talks about how language is used for building identity and community. Valerie’s witty and scientifically-informed stories will get you thinking about language and word choice in a whole new way.