# Fossil words, eponyms, and a miscellany of weird facts, with Jess Zafarris and Shannon Miller

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/fossil-words-eponyms-and-a-miscellany-of-weird-facts-with-jess-zafarris-and-shannon-miller
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/fossil-words-eponyms-and-a-miscellany-of-weird-facts-with-jess-zafarris-and-shannon-miller.md
Podcast: [Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers.](https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700)
Published: 2026-06-25T09:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/grammar-girl/episodes/fossil-words-eponyms-and-a-miscellany-of-weird-facts-with-je
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/69c1476c007cdcf83fc0964b/e/6a39d11b520e6781346af7c9/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/episodes/fossil-words-eponyms-and-a-miscellany-of-weird-facts-with-jess-zafarris-and-shannon-miller
Duration seconds: 2287

## Resource

1197. This week, guest host Valerie Fridland steps in for Mignon and talks to Jess Zafarris and Shannon Miller about their new book, "A Miscellany of Weird and Wonderful Facts for Curious Humans." They look at fossil words, eponyms, and the surprising origin of the word "electric." They also look at mountweazels, the medieval roots of modern romance, and why emoji has nothing to do with emotion.  Get the book, " A Miscellany of Weird and Wonderful Facts for Curious Humans ." Find Jess Zafarris online: Useless Etymology , TikTok , Twitter , Instagram Find Shannon Miller online:  Threads , LinkedIn Find Valerie Fridland online: Website , LinkedIn 🔗  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 . 🔗  Take  our advertising survey . 🔗  Get the edited  transcript here . 🔗  Get  Grammar Girl books . | HOST: Mignon Fogarty | Grammar Girl is part of  the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network . Audio Engineer: Dan Feierabend 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.

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