joshua katz. and joshua will converse for about 20 minutes and then we'll turn to audience questions. afterwards, i hope you'll join us for deep conversation and light refreshments in the adjoining gallery. but first, please welcome-- join me in welcoming john mcwharton discussing language and the left. [applause] >> thank you aei for inviting me. thank you. especially to chris scalia and joshua katz for wanting my company tonight, and i want to talk a little bit about what you could call an effort coming mostly from the left to create change through language, which can seem so wise at first, but also, of course, has pitfalls and probably frustrates a lot of us. one manifestation of that is that these days, especially over about the past four, maybe five years, one gets a sense that terminology keeps shifting under our feet that there are new ways of saying things this if we don't say them in that particular way, we're creating some kind of tort. that can be a frustrating feeling because you like

he will participate in a discussion with another great scholar of language, aei's own joshua katz. 20 minutes, and then we will turn to audience questions. afterwards i hope you will join us for deep conversation and light refreshments in the adjoining gallery. but first, please welcome to join me in welcoming john mcwhorter to discuss language in the left. [laughter] -=-- [applause] john: thank you, aei, for inviting me. thank you especially to chris scalia and joshua katz for wanting my company. i want to talk a little bit about what you could call an effort coming mostly from the left to create change through language, which can seem so wise at first but also has pitfalls and probably frustrates a lot of us. one manifestation of that is that these days, especially over the past four, maybe five years, one gets the sense that terminology keeps shifting under our feet, that there are always new ways of saying things that if we don't say it in that particular way, we are craving some kind of-- creating some kind of tort. you would like to have you have some basic command over your o