Anu Garg, world-famous expert on the origin of words, will speak about “Language Myths & Hoaxes: A Humorous Look at Language Misconceptions” when he delivers the 27th Alfred and Julia Hill Lecture at the University of Tennessee. The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place virtually via Zoom on Tuesday, March 23, at 8 p.m.

Garg is the founder of Wordsmith.org. He writes a daily column on the origin of words—a word a day—for an online community of some 400,000 word lovers in 170 countries, now in its 27th year. Garg is the author of three best-selling books on words and language. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science and worked in software engineering for 14 years. He founded Wordsmith.org in 1994, six years into his computer science career. Over time, his fascination with language and people’s delight in his writing about language continued to grow. In 2002, he gave up his career in software to dedicate himself to spreading the joy of words.

The Hill Lecture series brings distinguished science journalists to campus to share their thoughts on science, society, and the mass media. The lecture series is made possible by an endowment created by Tom Hill and Mary Frances Hill Holton in honor of their parents, Alfred and Julia Hill, founders of The Oak Ridger. The Hill family’s endowment of the lecture series was a gift to the UT School of Journalism & Electronic Media in the College of Communication & Information.

Because of the pandemic, this year’s Hill Lecture will be delivered by Zoom.