# The History of English Podcast by John McWhorter

12 Hacker News commenters recommended The History of English Podcast by John McWhorter and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Listeners recommend it for clear, deep explanations of where English comes from. Some say it starts slowly and gets better after a few episodes.

## Why people recommend it

- Recommended to people interested in English (3 comments): "I thoroughly recommend this podcast if you are interested in where the English language comes from" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47932555)) "I've listened since the beginning. I'd recommend it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47181412)) "I'd highly recommend the History of English podcast" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47703210))
- Favorite podcast, comfort listening (3 comments): "its consistency, clarity, and depth has made it my favorite podcast" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47108274)) "This has become my comfort podcast when I just want to decompress." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47107741)) "That is my favorite podcast of all time!" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49774808))
- Enjoyable, with hours of episodes (2 comments): "I’m surprised how much I’m enjoying it. And I can’t believe I have 195 episodes left." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47703012)) "it really does pick up and has been hours of joy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47107485))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Fall of Civilizations podcast](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fall-of-civilizations-podcast.md): 20 recommend
- [The Rest Is History podcast](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rest-is-history-podcast.md): 14 recommend
- [Hardcore History by Dan Carlin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hardcore-history.md): 13 recommend
- [Revolutions Podcast by Mike Duncan](https://hackerapproved.com/p/revolutions-podcast.md): 12 recommend
- [The History of Rome podcast by Mike Duncan](https://hackerapproved.com/p/history-of-rome-podcast.md): 8 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "The History of English Podcast by John McWhorter", https://hackerapproved.com/p/history-of-english-podcast/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).