English is a confusing language for many reasons. But the irregular verbs might be the most confusing part. Why is "told" the past tense of "tell" but "smold" isn't the past tense of "smell"? It turns out that the study of irregular verbs can teach us a lot about how languages evolve. This week, we look at how the era of Big Data is unlocking secrets behind the weirdness of words.

Originally released by Knowledgemotion, 2018. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on February 21, 2020.

How Some Words Get Forgetted (10:49); .