Bonus 55: Q&A with Emily Gref from language museum Planet Word (Patreon)

There's a new museum entirely about language which opened up in Washington DC last year! It's called Planet Word, and we've been eagerly following its updates on social media ever since it was announced. Alas, we haven't managed to visit it yet (y'know, pandemic) but we're bringing you the next best thing.  

In this bonus episode, Gretchen and Lauren get enthusiastic about talking with Emily Gref, a linguist who's been working at Planet Word since 2018, first on creating content for the museum and, now that it's open, on analyzing how visitors interact with the exhibits. We talk about what's in Planet Word (including a library room with secret passage!), Emily's career journey from academia to publishing to the museum world, and Emily's passionate defence of pigeons. 

Here are the links mentioned in this episode:

• Planet Word Museum 
• Planet Word Museum Twitter
• Planet Word Museum Instagram 
• Emily Gref on Twitter
• Lingthusiasm Episode 28: How languages influence each other - Interview with Hannah Gibson on Swahili, Rangi, and Bantu languages
• Lingthusiasm Episode 32: You heard about it but I was there - Evidentiality 

You can listen to this episode on this page, via the Patreon RSS or download the mp3. A transcript of this episode is available as a Google Doc. Lingthusiasm is also on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. Email us at contact [at] lingthusiasm [dot] com or chat to us on the Patreon page. Gretchen is on Twitter as @GretchenAMcC and blogs at All Things Linguistic. Lauren is on Twitter as @superlinguo and blogs at Superlinguo.

To chat about this episode and other lingthusiastic topics with your fellow linguistics fans, join us on the Lingthusiasm Discord server.

Lingthusiasm is created by Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne. Our senior producer is Claire Gawne, our production editor is Sarah Dopierala, our production manager is Liz McCullough, and our music is ‘Ancient City’ by The Triangles