Cool topics!

Very useful. Thanks for the great podcast

Cool information about our language.

I was amazed how awesome this show was. Quite informative featuring a quite informed host! A fantastic podcast for anyone with a love for words and their origins.

Swim in a sea where words and history intertwine. Love it!

This podcast is the perfect balance between academic accuracy, history, and ‘some cool word facts’ you can tell your coworkers at the water fountain. It’s even blown my mind occasionally as he effortlessly weaves the shared history of words into a canvass. Never thought that candles and candidates has anything in commons until listening to this podcast. Definitely worth your time and a great pass-time when commuting.

This is one of my favorite podcasts! Ray provides an intriguing depth of information about the words or concepts taking the listener on a fun and interesting journey through the words historical and modern invention, innovation, and use. He manages to condense sometimes thousands of years of history into a manageable amount of information that still leaves the listener full of new knowledge. Please continue making this show; it is such a delight for word nerds like me!

Last I used itune was 20 years ago, and to write a review is the 1st time in my life on itune. Did not realize I have to be on itune to write a review, therefore took a while to set up my itune app on my PC. Resetting my password took 2 tries with multiple verification code for loggin to itune. Felt like I spent an hour fighting through technical difficulties to write this review, but the effort was worth it. I enjoyed the podcast because we use "words", often without asking or understand the original meaning behind it and the changes in definition through time. We often forget the power of "words" we use to convey messsages, words we speak, which can bring hapiness to another for one day, for a life time, or destruction to their life for one day, for a life time, or centuries leading to endless chaos. Great podcast for more understanding of the words we do take for granted everyday.

Wow! I can’t believe how good and thorough Mr. Belli is. He’s a delight to listen to and a must listen for anyone who loves or even likes words.

My new favorite short podcast! I enjoy the informative quick hits.

A thoroughly researched and engaging podcast!

I love etymology in larger historical context, and Ray is serious about connecting etymology to cultural history

Our host gives us an upbeat, informative, and sometimes surprising look into the origins of English words, aka etymology. I’m a native speaker but believe of I weren’t I could still follow this show because the speaker uses a clear, measured tone. This podcast often accompanies me on my treadmill.

Stumbled upon this podcast from a Reddit thread, and ended up listening to it with my kids. They are 10 and 12 so I would encourage anyone interested in etymology to give it a try. Very approachable and enlightening!

This podcast does more than give you a word's origin. I usual feel like I'm getting a twenty minute story through history with a word as the main character. Every though I know how it's all going to end, the twist and turns are so fun!

This podcast is a great “palate cleanser” between all my longer news and educational podcasts. Each episode is a quick story about the background and etymology of a particular word, so you’ll learn something new every time.

Ray Belli does a great job of teaching us “word nerds” a thing or two. I love the words he chooses. His explanations are carefully researched and fascinating. I teach Latin and regularly share what I learn from this podcast with my class. Bravo!

I wanted to listen to “begging the question”, but the incessant T-glottalization made it impossible. So purposely articulate, and then “Latin, written...”? It drives me nuts, I don’t get it.

There’s no one else in podcasting who does this better

I enjoy this podcast a lot.

This podcast is the best in its class.

Ray does some serious research and is a great educator. I’m not huge into etymology but love this show!

There are a lot of podcasts about language out there, but Ray’s passion and enthusiasm really make this one stand out from the pack. Looking forward to many more great episodes!

Answers questions that I did not know to ask about language.

I respect the podcaster’s interest in the topic, and I respect the other reviewers accolades, but regrettably, I find this podcast loquacious. I wish him success for his noble effort and pleasant listening to his followers.

such a great podcast, i look forward to each new episode that comes out!!! if you're someone who finds yourself wondering things like, why does the word magazine refer to a paper or digital periodical with many articles but also is a word used to describe bullets for guns (my ignorance on the topic of guns is showing, pardon me) than this is the show for you! give it a try, you'll be a smarter person for it and it'll be fun!

Have your coffee and notepad ready. Extremely thorough research on etymologies and fascinating ancestries of certain words. Can’t imagine how much work must go into each episode but much respect! 🔥🔥🔥, Ray

After a year of listening to our friend, Ray Belli, I must say, he's just hitting his stride. In the first year, Ray gave us an introduction to the many words in our common vernacular that... we do take for granted. There's such history behind a word; it's phenomenal. Ray's episodes provide a brief and concise commentary that's so informative and so interesting. This past year, he's chosen to organize his words into a set of themes. His series on biblical etymology and now Greek philosophy have been terrific. I'm excited to see what's ahead.

Etymology is always enjoyable and useful. Words and word families, that I thought I knew well, have had more background added.

This podcast presents the history of words in a way that can be easily understood and enjoyed by all! Well worth a listen!

I learn something new every show!

Words for Granted has been my go-to podcast for a few months now. I hope it never stops!!

I find this is a great companion to "The History of the English Language" podcast, which takes an in-depth chronological approach to the history of English, beginning with the earliest Proto-Indo-European stuff. In contrast, "Words for Granted" looks at a single word per episode. This means you can jump around to whatever episodes interest you, out of order, making for fairly easy listening. The presentation is polished and interesting. Highly recommended.

Informative and engrossing in both a technical and historical sense. Fun to listen to.

Oh my god. What an insightful podcast! Not a ton of jargon, an expanded version of a “word calendar” that is easy to follow and filled with history and stories. A great subscription for any word lover!

This is interesting, straightforward, digs deep, and is mercifully short, ie done in a half an hour. Bravo!

Get your pen, notepad, and a cup of coffee ready because Professor Belli has arrived... Whatever your usual routine is, our narrator takes us through a brief history and thorough evolution of a chosen word. As we, the listeners, are asked to engage in thought-provoking experiments, our narrator provides an appropriate dissection of our word's origin story. We are then directed to our word's timeline and exactly where it turned on its head. With regard to our word's cultural and/or political climate, I believe, it is our narrator's hope that we start to cultivate an appreciation of words that we, the listeners, often take for granted. I'll be tuning in next time.

And thanks to this podcast, never will I ever again take a word for granted! I very much enjoy these nuggets of knowledge to chew on that leave me thinking more about the words I use and where they come from! Lots to think about! Highly recommended.

Quickly becoming one of my favorite "oh cool, that's rad" podcasts. It's highly consumable and can be enjoyed by any audience with even a little interest in words. Glad I have it in my subscriptions now.

Ray uses humor and subtlety to make learning not a chore, but a fun experience. I wish my teachers had used this approach when I went to school.

When I heard about this podcast, I thought it would be another one of the many 2 hour podcasts that drone on and on and say absolutely nothing, but Words for Granted is different. In consise information packed chunks, Ray Belli teaches us about the history of words and lets us have great fun while doing so. What a joy! I play this for my children and they've aquired a genuine thirst for etymology. Who would have thought!? So thank you Mr. Belli for bringing information and fun to all of us. My only problem is that I wish there were more episodes!!!

This is an interesting history of words podcast! I especially like the fact he keeps it short since he only covers one word per episode. There is one caveat however. He speaks fluent leftist pc pablum. If you can stomach this tripe, then this podcast is for you. You have been warned!

Okay, I'll admit it- I am a word nerd. I've always loved etymology and the history of language, so this podcast already speaks to my soul. But it would be great for anyone- word nerd or not. It's super-smart, but fun and informational, not dry. Highly recommended! - Jen from the ArtCurious Podcast

I just started listening to this podcast and cannot stop. So so interesting! I can't recommend it highly enough.

Fantastic podcast. I listen to a lot of podcasts. We all know that only few combine high production quality with excellent content and a presentation that as entertaining as it is informative. This one is the full package!

I love the premise and organization of this podcast. Ray, the host, has an approach that really works.

I never knew that I was interested in etymology until a friend recommended this podcast to me. I've been trying to increase my vocabulary lately so this is perfect.

Informative, fascinating, well-done

I love how well researched this podcast is! It makes learning about etymology fun.

This is definitely a thinking person's podcast. The title says it all. There are so many words that we use without putting much thought into the historical context from which they've come. It tells history through telling the story of every day words. Even from episode one it's an extremely high-quality and well written podcast. This is one that you're going to listen to and anxiously await the next episode.