<p>1178. Do you cringe when someone says "Hopefully, he'll pass the test"? This week, we look at why "hopefully" as a sentence adverb has been controversial for decades, even though the Associated Press accepted it in 2012, and it's been common since the 1930s. Then, we look at xenolinguistics — the study of alien languages — asking what human languages have in common and why (and how) alien languages might be completely different.</p><br><p>The xenolinguistics segment was by <a href="https://natalieschillingconsulting.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Natalie Schilling</a>.</p><br><p>🔗&nbsp;<a href="https://www.patreon.com/cw/grammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Join the Grammar Girl Patreon.</strong></a></p><p>🔗&nbsp;<strong>Share your familect recording in</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.speakpipe.com/GrammarGirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Speakpipe</strong></a>&nbsp;or by leaving a voicemail at 833-214-GIRL (833-214-4475)</p><p>🔗&nbsp;<strong>Watch my</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/learning/instructors/mignon-fogarty" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>LinkedIn Learning writing courses</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><p>🔗&nbsp;<strong>Subscribe to the</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>newsletter</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><p>🔗&nbsp;<strong>Find an edited</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/transcripts/grammar-girl/1178/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>transcript</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><p>🔗&nbsp;<strong>Get</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://amzn.to/3LULzLb" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Grammar Girl books</strong></a><strong>.</strong></p><br><p>| HOST: Mignon Fogarty</p><br><p>| Grammar Girl is part of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/podcasts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network</strong></a>.</p><ul><li>Audio Engineer:&nbsp;<a href="https://wearecastria.wordpress.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Castria Communications</strong></a></li><li>Director of Podcast: Holly Hutchings</li><li>Advertising Operations Specialist: Morgan Christianson</li><li>Marketing and Video: Nat Hoopes, Rebekah Sebastian</li><li>Podcast Associate: Maram Elnagheeb</li></ul><p><br></p><p>| Theme music by&nbsp;<a href="https://catherinerannus.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Catherine Rannus</strong></a>.</p><br><p>| Grammar Girl Social Media:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@grammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>YouTube</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@therealgrammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>TikTok</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="http://facebook.com/grammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Facebook</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.threads.net/@thegrammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Threads</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="http://instagram.com/thegrammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Instagram</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/grammar-girl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>LinkedIn</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://mastodon.social/@grammargirl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Mastodon</strong></a>.&nbsp;<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/grammargirl.bsky.social" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Bluesky</strong></a>.</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>