Fresh Air

We communicate with each other in all sorts of ways, spoken and unspoken. In this hour, TED speakers reflect on how our words and methods of communication affect us, more than you might expect. Linguist John McWhorter says texting has come of age with such speed and force that it's created an entirely new language within a generation. Biologist Mark Pagel believes our complex language system is a piece of "social technology", simply created to help us get things done. Teacher Phuc Tran tells a personal story of how being caught in a world between the subjunctive and indicative tense — yes, grammar — helped him find his identity. Etymologist Mark Forsyth shares the surprising back story of the word "president." Social psychologist Amy Cuddy explains how body language, like “power posing”, can affect our brains, and might even have an impact on our success.