# Decoding the colon: AP vs. MLA style. Plus, words with no known origin.

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/decoding-the-colon-ap-vs-mla-style-plus-words-with-no-known-origin
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/decoding-the-colon-ap-vs-mla-style-plus-words-with-no-known-origin.md
Podcast: [Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers.](https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700)
Published: 2026-05-05T09:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/grammar-girl/episodes/1182
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/69c1476c007cdcf83fc0964b/e/69f366c98dd960ac6191648e/media.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/episodes/decoding-the-colon-ap-vs-mla-style-plus-words-with-no-known-origin
Duration seconds: 1034

## Resource

1182. This week, we solve the mystery of the colon: when do you actually need to capitalize the next word? We compare AP, Chicago, and MLA styles to give you a clear answer. Then, we look at common words with surprisingly "shadowy" histories — from the sudden appearance of the word "dog" to the apocryphal origin of "quiz." The words with no origins segment was written by Karen Lunde. Find her on igofirst.org . 🔗  Join the Grammar Girl Patreon. 🔗  Share your familect recording in   Speakpipe  or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475) 🔗  Watch my   LinkedIn Learning writing courses . 🔗  Subscribe to the   newsletter . 🔗  Find an edited   transcript . 🔗  Get   Grammar Girl books . | HOST: Mignon Fogarty | Grammar Girl is part of  the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network . Audio Engineer:  Castria Communications Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb | Theme music by  Catherine Rannus . | Grammar Girl Social Media:  YouTube .  TikTok .  Facebook .  Threads .  Instagram .  LinkedIn .  Mastodon .  Bluesky . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/episodes/decoding-the-colon-ap-vs-mla-style-plus-words-with-no-known-origin/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/decoding-the-colon-ap-vs-mla-style-plus-words-with-no-known-origin.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.