Shoulda Woulda Coulda. Where does that L come from?

Many other stories about the weirdness of English are in our new book, Highly Irregular. Get it from Bookshop bookshop.org/b..., Amazon www.amazon.com..., or OUP global.oup.com...

[@peshepard412]

The L's are silent like the p in swimming.

[@bingbonghafu]

Akira occasionally returns to bless us with etymology

[@natemarx4999]

Arika is by far the coolest linguist of all time.

[@robdoghd]

idk bro i heard gretchen mcculloch once wrestled an alligator

[@ChessedGamon]

Oh boy just in time to bother everyone at the table on the 4th of July with

[@m_uz1244]

Glad to have this channel back.

[@englishwithmiranda]

I love your channel!

[@qwertyTRiG]

Island and debt were the two examples I knew. All of these are new to me. Very cool.

[@katem942]

Already ordered your book, can’t wait to read it! Even the table of contents had me laughing 😆.

[@StudentInFrance]

Underrated channel.

[@KHQMaster]

Oh my god new videos. Commenting and liking for the algorithm. All power to this channel!

[@BeeOstrowsky]

People in Miami, Florida absolutely pronounce the L in salmon!

[@okAphex]

Beautiful

[@zerst12]

I simply love etymology.

[@hamiljohn]

Welcome back!

[@JamieBettison]

YES A BOOK WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP - BOUGHT!

[@matthagen67]

Mrs Okrent, please come back FOR GOOD!!

[@lukefourie]

You're the best Arika ❤️ you and Sean make a great team!

[@PuddintameXYZ]

She's back! Yay!

[@xxacidmv]

I love the videos (like this one) and I am loving your book

[@BroYves]

Can you please explain about the origins of how St. Valentine's Day 💘 came to be celebrated on February 14th and who was Saint Valentine?
Please reply to me ASAP‼️

[@NorbertSD]

Idea for a future video: What Cautheth a Lithp?

[@lady_stog]

As someone who is not a native English speaker I have always pronounced the L in "salmon"

[@Furienna]

Me too.

[@frankharr9466]

And wonderful, don't forget that.
Are you sure it's the past tense and not one of the subjunctives?

[@AhmedMunye]

What a strange language English is.

[@annedeguernon8117]

If I may sacrebleu is spelt with a simple e. 😊

[@jankersting]

oof she's still alive. pls live longer.

[@anis.anis.a]

Where ru, we need more videos 😢

[@rappop7977]

are the words "would and should" past tense or the past form of the words "shall and will"?

[@EddyGurge]

I got my copy. Doing any book signings in northern VA?

[@Figgy5119]

Arikaaaaaaaaaa! :D

[@VenisDamalo]

I pronounce the L in salmon but not in Salman. It wasn't a natural thing, I trained myself to do it in high school

[@bigscarysteve]

I once worked in a seafood shop. We said "salimons" as a joke--then it took on a life of its own.

[@alankent]

So what was the past tense of "can" that "could" replaced?

[@Furienna]

Wiktionary says: "From Middle English coude, couthe, cuthe, from Old English cūþe, past indicative and past subjunctive form of cunnan (“to be able”) (compare related cūþ, whence English couth). The 'l' was added in the early 16th century by analogy with should and would; this was probably helped by the tendency for 'l' to be lost in those words (and so not written, leading to shudd, wode, etc)."

[@saliva776]

never thought about that. It is also wired that all european use the same alphabet. But in a different way.

[@Kent6494]

[@ikbintom]

I thought falcon was cognate to Dutch valk, from PGm. *falkô.. Learned something new today :D