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PODCAST

Getting Down & Wordy

Russell Pirkle & Hannah Weyer

Humorous Etymological Research Probing English Songs - A moderately researched, moderately funny chat show about popular music and language. We are a Podmoth Network podcast.

education language learning

All Episodes

01:48:09

The Neighbourhood "Sweater Weather" & Sweaters

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/12/22

It's the holiday season! Today we discuss The Neighbourhood's hit song "Sweater Weather" and the history of the sweater. Why did we settle on SWEAT as the thing to name an article of clothing after? We'll talk about that, the etymology of "sweat" and other words for sweater like jumper, and generally how this particular sort of knitted shirt came to be so uniquely iconic We also consider other non-religious winter seasonal songs, including "Brrr" by Kim

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01:17:16

Metallica "Welcome Home" & Sanitarium

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/12/10

Today we talk about Metallica. Are they objectively bad? We talk about the song "Welcome Home" (that's the song where they say "sanitarium"). What's it about, what's it based on, that kind of stuff. We talk about sanitariums. What were they? How did they work? We also talk about backronyms. In Eurovision talk, we discuss Germany's "Blood and Glitter" by Lord of the Lost. This weeks featured podcast is Haunted Apartment Complex. Check them out anywhere

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02:10:10

Harvey Danger "Flagpole Sitta" & Beige Flags

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/11/26

It's cuffing season, and we're talking about beige flags, things about a romantic partner that are not bad enough to be red flags, more like quirky or mildly annoying. Where did this phrase come from? What are some examples of beige flags? By the way, where does this word flag come from, etymologically? We also talk about the flagpole sitting craze of the 1920s. Yes, people literally sat on flagpoles. And for Eurovision, we discuss Armenia's 2023 offering, "Future Lover" by

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01:48:08

"Yes We Have No Bananas" & Bananas

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/11/12

Today we see what was the most popular song from exactly 100 years ago in 1923. And wow, it's weird. But it's nicely rooted in the history and culture of the time and tells us a lot about ethnicity, comedy, and the precarious fate of the banana at the time. So we dive into all that. Additionally we give you the history and etymology of banana of course. And we talk about its relation to comedy and why 'bananas' means crazy, and so on. In Eurovision, we discuss the top 6 funniest

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01:43:06

Boris Pickett "Monster Mash" & Monster

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/10/29

Today we discuss Hannah's favorite song so she'll stop suggesting we do an episode about it every week. We talk about the pop culture of movie monsters that it arose from, and the pop culture of songs about dance crazes. We explain the origin of the word monster and what words it's related to. And we explore the history of the idea of a monster. Where did it begin, and how has it evolved over time. Additionally we discuss some of the class Universal monsters. In Eurovision, we talk

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01:38:24

Lil Wayne "6 Foot 7 Foot" & Rizz

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/10/15

Today we discuss charisma and its little Scrappy Doo-esque sidekick rizz! What does it mean, where'd it come from? What's the story of charisma? Why do we say charisma in Dungeons & Dragons and not like "persuasiveness" or something? And while we're talking about Dungeons & Dragons, what slang terms could we come up with for the other D&D stats? We also discuss what is the deal with "ch". Why do we pronounce it three different ways (like k, ch, and

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01:57:03

Matchbox Twenty "Push" & Masculine Language

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/10/01

We talk about how men talk! And we talk about how Matchbox Twenty talk with "Push" the surprisingly controversial song about pushing women around. Will I have some research about it? Well, I will. Well, I will. As we did with the feminine genderlect episode, we have a couple interesting lists of words that men are more likely to know than women. Additionally, we talk about various researchers' takes on the notion, including Otto Jesperson who claims that English is a very manly

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02:03:34

Aqua "Barbie Girl" & Feminine Language

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/09/17

This week we talk about barbie - the movie and the doll and the song "Barbie Girl" by Aqua. And as you'd expect we're pairing that with a girly language topic. We're talking about how women talk. Is it different from how men talk? Or is that a myth? How do you perform femininity in language? What are the conceptions and misconceptions, and what is the reality? In Eurovision world, we discuss Czechia's 2023 offering "My Sister's Crown" by Vesna. Hannah tells us

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02:08:41

Pete & Bas & UK vs. US English with Rob Watts of...

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/09/03

Today we welcome special guest, Youtube star Rob Watts of the Robwords English language show. He joins us to talk about the definitely real UK rappers Pete & Bas. And we reveal the true story behind their whole deal (hoax? how dare you!). Then we talk about some of the differences between UK and US English that you definitely don't already know about. I'm telling you. There are some really surprising differences in pronunciation and word choice beyond the stuff everyone already knows

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01:36:50

Ice Spice "In Ha Mood" & Mood

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/08/20

Today we talk about Ice Spice, whose appearance on the scene has been so meteoric she hasn't even had time to make enough songs to fill an album yet. Is she an industry plant? Is that really a thing? Do Hannah and Russell know enough famous zoomers to stuntcast a new Spice Girls? And we discuss the word mood itself, its etymology and how it's used now in contemporary culture. Additionally, to the dismay of everyone probably, we discuss grammatical mood for a hefty portion of the podcast. But

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01:43:21

Tongues of Fire & Spicy with Lowell Hobbs of Tongues...

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/08/06

Today we're joined by Lowell Hobbs the lead singer of post-punk band Tongues of Fire to discuss the language of spiciness. We talk about the history of spicy food, the different kinds of spiciness, and how different languages have adapted words to describe the relatively recent introduction of capsaicin to their cultures. For Eurovision, we talk about Australia's 2023 song "Promise" by Voyager. Find Tongues of Fire on instagram @tongues.of.fire or their website

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01:41:55

Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Spitting Off the Edge of the World"...

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/07/23

Michael Colby, from the podcast Jack Billings Presents: Haunted Apartment Complex, stops by to fanboy out with Russell over Yeah Yeah Yeahs . . while Hannah sits there awkwardly and probably thinks about Dungeons & Dragons or something. And we discuss the dialect-y origins of their band name. Then we talk about all the things that we say that hark back to a simpler, flatter earth (like 'edge of the world'). Surprisingly, a flat earth is in a lot of ways a very new idea, and not

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01:33:17

Vanilla Ice "Ice Ice Baby" & Gangway

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/07/09

We discuss the culture's complex and changing perceptions of Vanilla Ice, a rapper who there a lots of reasons to dislike, but maybe everyone's being a little too mean? His real story will suprise you. Will it make you like him more? Well.... No.... Then we talk about "gangway", a word which somehow we all intuitively know is kind of nautical and piratey, but where are we even encountering this word? In cartoons? In one extraordinarily popular rap song? And's what's with

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01:26:24

Matt Hobbs "Puppy Songs" & Pet Directed Speech with...

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/06/25

Today we excitedly interview Puppy Songs creator and musical genius Matt Hobbs, and together we all talk about how humans talk to pets, whether pets understand or not, and how pets communicate with us. We discuss pet voices. Child-parent relationships as models for interspecies relations - do they go in both directions? I mean like, does my cat think of me as her son? Should I give her a mother's day gift? How many words does the average dog know? Who is a good boy? Et cetera! In Eurovision

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01:33:49

The Little Mermaid "Poor Unfortunate Souls" & Drag

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/06/11

In light of the release of the live action The Little Mermaid and in support of Pride Month, in this episode we're talking about Doctor Octopus's drag persona, Ursula. Just kidding, but she IS purported to be based on a drag queen. Is it a fun cool drag queen that we should all celebrate? Well... At least Divine had lots of pride about being a drag queen. Oh? He didn't at all? Well . . . huh. Anyways, we discuss the mysterious origins of this word "drag". We discuss Polari, the

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00:22:25

Clip Show! Podmoth network shows

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/06/04

Check out these clips from some of the podcasts on our network! You can find them by simply searching the name of the podcast on your podcast listening platform, or by going to podmoth.network

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01:47:13

Carrie Underwood "Before He Cheats" & Souped Up

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/05/28

Today we talk about the number 1 most played karaoke song of all time (?) "Before He Cheats", and struggle to say something thoughtful about country music, a genre we know even less about than usual. We talk about the wild history of the expression "Souped Up", from safe crackers boiling dynamite to race horses taking the most cruel and disturbing drugs imaginable. Hannah tries and fails to teach Russell about consommes. And we talk about the history of soup in general. Also,

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01:31:13

Karol G "Mientras Me Curo Del Cora" & Affirmative...

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/05/14

We talk about Karol G, who made a song that Hannah actually liked (a rare phenomenon) even while saying repeatedly that she doesn't have an ear for spanish, whatever that means! We discuss "affirmative language", words like "yes", and in Spanish "si". Some alternatives like aye, roger, yeppers, uh-huh, nodding.... Is nodding an instinctive action? Darwin thought so. We'll tell you all about it. And did you know that many languages do not have a word for yes? In

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01:38:36

Young Thug "Digits" & Slime

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/04/30

We talk the origins and evolution of "slime" from unassuming mucus to cool guy best friend. DnD oozes. Young Thug's singing voice. RICO. And in Eurovision, we talk about the big 5's songs - Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and UK. This week's ad is Memento Mori. Find this podcast at https://mementomoripod.buzzsprout.com/ You can find tons of other great podcasts on our network at podmoth.network

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01:31:29

Meghan Trainor "Made You Look" & Delexical Verbs

Getting Down & Wordy ·

2023/04/16

Today we discuss Meghan Trainor's new song "Made You Look". That's right, Mrs. Spy Kid herself (she married a Spy Kid). Is the song kind of good or really bad? We also talk about "make" and other delexical verbs like take get do have go . . . Those verbs that get used to mean anything such that you can make a product, but you can also make a bed, make up with someone, make do, make a mistake, and on and on. For Eurovision we talk about all the Scandinavian countries'

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116 results

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