Anne Curzan is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of English at the University of Michigan. As an expert in the history of the English language, Curzan describes herself as a fount of random linguistic information about how English works and how it got to be that way. Anne blogs about language for The Chronicle of Higher Education's Lingua Franca and appears every Sunday morning on Michigan Radio's "That What They Say."

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)