{"href":"https://api.simplecast.com/oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgrammar-girl.simplecast.com%2Fepisodes%2F1146-HuIdnn4K","width":444,"version":"1.0","type":"rich","title":"War of the dots. Why we say 'pitch black.' Pitch hot.","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/6e27cc4d-f23d-4983-b80a-3f34562d91a7/d724f4b8-b987-4e5e-9320-8ece306939c7/gg-20interview-20show-20mock-20up-20art-20-59.jpg","thumbnail_height":300,"provider_url":"https://simplecast.com","provider_name":"Simplecast","html":"<iframe src=\"https://player.simplecast.com/2f8d218c-fa80-45cc-bccc-6743f1993d96\" height=\"200\" width=\"100%\" title=\"War of the dots. Why we say &apos;pitch black.&apos; Pitch hot.\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>","height":200,"description":"1146. This week, we look at the history of Braille, from the tragic accident that inspired Louis Braille's six-dot system to the \"War of the Dots\"—a decades-long conflict over competing reading standards in the U.S. Then, we look at the origin of the phrase \"pitch black,\" revealing how the intensifier \"pitch\" refers to an ancient, dark wood tar and how the word traces its roots back to Old English."}