Sat, 29 October 2005
Howard Chang and Dave Shepherd are two exhausted teachers--and they talk about words used to talk about weariness (2:12)
Song: 'Carry Me Home,' by Virginia (16:10) Rude word of the week: 'dragging your ass' (19:26) Song: 'Weary Rag,' by Earl Oliver, the Walkin' Blues Man (23:03) More words about weariness (We've just run out of gas...) (26:11) Music courtesy of GarageBand.com Theme music by Kick the Cat
time: 30:17 rating: PG (Our rude word is ruder than a child should utter, but otherwise we're too tired to be very nasty.) |
Sat, 22 October 2005
Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd discuss some of their favorite eponymic expressions--common words taken from proper nouns (1:46)
Song: 'Cellophane,' by Sattelite Hearts (13:56) Rude word of the week: 'chauvinist' (18:35) Song: 'Aphrodite's Child,' by Juliet Kelly (21:36) Eponyms from myth and literature (25:58) Thanks to emailers and voice-mailers. Ferg from the podcast Air Ferg scooped us on 'playing the dozens.' Chad from Mt. Airy, NC, gives us a couple of North Carolina-isms we left out. (30:55) Music courtesy of GarageBand.com Theme music by Kick the Cat
time: 35:03 rating: PG (Discussion of the attitudes of male chauvinist pigs.) |
Sat, 15 October 2005
Howard Chang talks about why we love both online and print books and other resources about words. (1:50)
Dave Shepherd shares some suggestions by listeners for good online word resources. Thanks especially to Frank Jonen for The Devil's Dictionary and Eric Strauss for The Origins of Cliches. (4:36) Howard Shepherd sings the praises of Bartleby.com. (5:56) Howard Chang and Dave talk about many of their favorite online sites (7:25):
Rude word of the week: 'plagiarist' (18:20) Song: 'Blue Book,' by Jamen Brooks (21:26) Howard Chang, Howard Shepherd, and Dave discuss their favorite word books (25:04):
Theme music by Kick the Cat
time: 36:53 rating: G (People of all ages should read word books.) |
Sat, 8 October 2005
Dave Shepherd shares a joke from Ed Nickow about American monolingualism. (1:56)
Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd talk about registers of language and explore the concept of 'vertical' registers. (2:49) One interesting hierarchy of 'vertical' registers is proposed by Cheryl Carter. Song: 'Proper English,' by Frontliners (12:11) Rude word of the week: 'gauche' (15:51) Song: 'Intimate Strangers,' by Aaron Cheney (19:14) 'Horizontal' registers, jargon, and community argot (22:54) Theme music by Kick the Cat Music courtesy of GarageBand.com
time: 29:11 rating: G (This podcast is mostly done in a polite register of language.) |
Sat, 1 October 2005
Howard Chang and Dave Shepherd talk about words used to describe people who are running away from dreadful situations. (1:51)
Song: 'Home,' by Hawkeye (14:44) Rude word of the week: 'bum' (20:44) Music: 'In His Time,' by 21DCO (27:09) Fear and terror, terrorists and freedom fighters (27:08) Theme music by Kick the Cat Music courtesy of GarageBand.com
time: 37:19 rating: PG-13 (Howard mentions an alteration of a racial slur.) |