On the Ted Radio Hour, linguist Anne Curzan says she gets a lot of complaints about people using the pronoun they to refer to one person.

I sometimes get into arguments with people where they will say to me, but it can't be singular, and I will say, but it is.

The history behind words causing a lot of debate that's on the Ted Radio Hour from NPR.

This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. My guest Coulson Whitehead won Pulitzer

prizes for two consecutive novels. The first Pulitzer was for the Underground Railroad, an allegory about race in America

told through the stories of an escape slave and a slave catcher. It was adapted into an Amazon series.

The second Pulitzer was for the Nickel Boys

based on the true story of a state reform school for boys

in which the boys were physically abused and dozens died.

A film adaptation starring Angenuela's Taylor and David Diggs

is expected to be released in October.

After writing about those grim subjects, Whitehead started writing crime novels, said in Harlem.

These novels gave him the chance to write snappy dialogue laced with witty observations

while writing about class and race, as well as crime and corruption at every level, from petty criminals to cops, city politicians, and Harlem's black elite.

Harlem Shuffle, the first novel in his projected Harlem trilogy, was set in the 60s.

The following novel, Crook Manifesto, takes place from 1971 to 76. It was published last summer and came out in

paperback this week. Crook Manifesto brings back the main character Ray Carney,

the owner of a furniture store on 125th Street in Harlem

who takes pride in upgrading his customers living rooms

with comfortable quality sofas and recliners.

But it's the money he's earned fencing stolen goods that's enabled

him to move from a cramped apartment to the home he owns on Harlem's Strivers

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