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

Tanya Mosley. When journalist and professor Rachel Summerstein had an emergency

C section with her first child,

the anesthesia doctors gave her didn't work.

The experience was a nightmare.

She could literally feel the operation

as it was happening.

It was an excruciating experience that left

Sommerstein traumatized and in search of answers on how something like this

could happen. Summerstein's search led her to some surprising history.

Today, one out of three babies in the US

is delivered through C-section.

And while this medical procedure

is one of the most significant advancements in medicine,

one that has saved countless lives,

Cessarian section, Sommerstein writes, is not without significant and sometimes life-changing

consequences.

Rachel Sommerstein has written a new book titled Invisible Labor. consequences. surrounding the operation. The book delves into some of the current day failures of the medical system.

Emerging research on the way C sections impact both mother and baby and why we're seeing an increase in them.

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