Professors, experts, and storytellers giving thought-provoking lectures in Chicago bars.

📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email

🧠 Lecture: "The Weird and Wonderful History of the English Language"

🎤 Speaker: Dr. Ashley Castelino

Join us for a lively linguistic adventure as Dr. Ashley Castelino uncovers the strange, surprising, and delightful history of English. From Roman roads to Viking longships and French courts, centuries of traders, raiders, travelers, and settlers have left their mark on the words we use every day.

This whistlestop tour of pre-modern Britain will explore the hidden stories behind familiar words, curious phrases, and place-names, introducing you to some of the eccentric characters who shaped the language along the way. Discover why we can thank the Vikings for steak and cake, find out where Puffin Island Island really is, and try your hand at translating some outrageously scandalous medieval riddles.

Dr. Ashley Castelino is the Public Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Notre Dame’s Medieval Institute, focusing on access, outreach, and community engagement. He holds a DPhil from Oxford on extraordinary dogs in medieval Icelandic literature, and his research and teaching span animals, medicine, food, and language in the Middle Ages and beyond.

Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌

Agenda

6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key.

6:55 PM – Host introduction

7:00 PM – Lecture begins

7:45 PM – Audience Q&A

8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round

8:30 PM – Wrap up.