On the Ted radio hour, linguist Ann Curzan says she gets a lot of complaints about people using the pronoun they to refer to one person.
I sometimes get into arguments with people.
Where they will say to me, but.
It can't be singular.
And I will say, but it is.
The history behind words causing a lot of debate.
That's on the Ted radio hour from NPR.
This is FRESH AIR.
I'm Tanya Moseley.
On the COVID of the May issue of Harper's magazine is a provocative image, a black and white clapperboard, the kind we see in movies.
During the filming of a scene where a director yells cut with the words the end of Hollywood as we know it, cover story writer Daniel Besner makes the argument that seven months after the strike that essentially shut down Hollywood, the industry is now facing an existential threat like never before.
And television and film writers, Besner says, are the ones losing out.
And there is no one reason why.
The merging of big studios, the continued disruption of streaming services and the lack of regulation have all created an environment that has displaced workers with top talent making more than ever before and the nuts and bolts workers losing out dramatically, writes Besner, one of the biggest disruptors.
The merging of big studios continues to impact the industry.
Just this week we learned news that three separate entities are in talks to acquire Paramount, one of Hollywood's biggest studios, which experts say will cause even more disruption.
Daniel Bessner joins us to talk about what this all means for workers and for us, the consumer.
He's an associate professor at the University of Washington's Henry M.
Jackson School of International Studies.
His work is focused on us foreign relations, the history and theory of liberalism, and most recently, the history and practice of the entertainment industry.