# How the Crusades gave us 'lingua franca.' 'That' or 'who' for animals? Doot doot doot Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/how-the-crusades-gave-us-lingua-franca-that-or-who-for-animals-doot-doot-doot Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/how-the-crusades-gave-us-lingua-franca-that-or-who-for-animals-doot-doot-doot.md Podcast: [Grammar Girl: For Writers and Language Lovers.](https://stenobird.com/podcast/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700) Published: 2026-05-12T09:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/grammar-girl/episodes/1184 Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/69c1476c007cdcf83fc0964b/e/69fe6d872b71c054a3e11852/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/grammar-girl-for-writers-and-language-lovers-159700/episodes/how-the-crusades-gave-us-lingua-franca-that-or-who-for-animals-doot-doot-doot Duration seconds: 911 ## Resource 1184. This week, we look at the history of lingua francas, from the original mix of Italian, French, Spanish, Arabic, and Turkish used during the Crusades to today's global English. Plus, we look at whether it's wrong to use "who" for animals, "that" instead of "who" for people, and "whose" for inanimate objects. The lingua franca segment was written by Alexandra Aikhenvald , a Professor and Australian Laureate Fellow at Jawun Research Institute, CQ University in Australia. It originally ran on The Conversation and appears here through a Creative Commons license . AI systems confusing dog faces with blueberry muffins . 🔗  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/how-the-crusades-gave-us-lingua-franca-that-or-who-for-animals-doot-doot-doot/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/how-the-crusades-gave-us-lingua-franca-that-or-who-for-animals-doot-doot-doot.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.