The World in Words 91: In every word, a microhistory…English spelling with David Wolman

Anamika Veeramani won this year’s National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling the word “stromuhr”. It’s one of many English words in the contest that sounded decidedly unEnglish. After a report on some of those words, we speak with David Wolman, whose book “Righting the Mother Tongue” traces the anarchic evolution of English spelling. Unlike some languages, English is barely policed: foreign words — often with strange foreign spelling intact — migrate unhindered into English. Also, we remember the man who invented the ATM, among other acronyms.