Getting Down & Wordy

Today we discuss one of the biggest hits of 2024, and we look into the etymology and history of the endless list of words for coffee, from coffee itself to descriptors of types of coffee like macchiato. For Eurovision, we discuss Norway's 2024 song "Gåte" by Ulveham, and we talk about Norway's coffee culture including weird coffee pairings. Find us on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gett...

Next week we will be talking about "Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter, so this week we brought on a Sabrina Carpenter fan, our friend Jess from the wonderful music news podcast Music Notes with Jess. We also talk about her podcast, music pet peeves, and the New York dialect. Find Jess's podcast anywhere you get podcasts, or at this link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/music-notes-with-jess/id1...

We are once again looking at the most popular song from 100 years ago! It's 1924's "Ain't Gonna Rain No More", an old folk song performed by a variety of artists, but most famously by Wendell Woods Hall, considered by some to be the first modern pop star. We'll explore some of the popular lyrics of the song, a song which has countless verses since lots of singers like to add new ones. And we'll ex...

Next week we are talking about r-dropping accents - accents that say cah for car and so on, often found in British accents, and so we hunted down a real live British person to talk to about the British accent. That person is Matt from the podcast Pick a Disc. On Matt's podcast, each episode a guest tells Matt about an album they love, and they have a nice chat about it that is insightful, funny, a...

Happy Hanukkah listeners! We're discussing apartheid, the Israel Palestine conflict, and parallels to the history of Hanukkah. To do that, we chose Dave Matthews, a man from South Africa who has spoken out against Palestinian genocide, and his song "Last Stop" about the topic. For Eurovision, we talk about Israel's 2024 entry "Hurricane" by Eden Golan and the controversy surrounding it. Find us on...

This Thanksgiving we are diving into the slang phrase "It's giving" which is used to describe something's vibes or je ne se quoix or . . . Just listen to the podcast, we explain it. We also talk about the etymology of the word give itself. We talk about Latto, a rapper named after a racial slur? And we'll tell you who she is and how she came to be famous. And it's Thanksgiving, so we're talking ab...

Today we are joined by Heddwen Newton. Heddwen is half Dutch, half British, and writes two entertaining newsletters about language.  English and the Dutch is about how Dutch people speak English (hint: sometimes badly), and also dives into interesting etymologies that link the two languages.  Heddwen has been writing about difficult-to-translate Dutch words and idioms since 2017 on her blog Hoezeg...

With the diabetes and the tooth decay and so on, what's scarier than sugary sweetness? Waking up early, according to Hozier! We talk about how to say Hozier, and other things about this artist such as his penchant for activism. And we discuss the word sweet, its origins and etymology. In Eurovision, we discuss Portugal's 2024 entry "Grito" by Iolanda, because it's Halloween, and grito means scream...

We discuss the Bruce Springsteen of Vermont, Noah Kahan, and that one song he has that really sticks in your head. Also, what is stick season anyway? We talk about the word stick and related words. And, no spoilers, but there are a lot of related words. We also look at some stick-based idioms like "more than you can shake a stick at", "the short end of the stick", "stuck up", and "sticks and stone...

Sacre Bleu, it's the return of Billie Eilish, and she's singing in French! Oh wait she's not, just the song title is in French. Well anyway! C'est la vie. We talk about the rise of queerness in music. And then we talk about French, the language of love. Why is it thought of as the most romantic language? For Eurovision, we discuss Luxembourg's 2024 song "Fighter" by T...

Today we're talking about a super sunny song and the darkness that lies within. And we're pairing that with the topic of covert hate speech, basically. A lot of numbers. Bigots seem to really like numbers. Kind of good to know what the tainted numbers are so you don't accidentally use them, just saying. For Eurovision, we are finally talking about the winner of Eurovision, Switzerland&...

We're talking about perhaps the greatest Metallica song, probably the most listened to now that it got the Stranger Things bump. And we're talking about "puppet". The word, the history, the creep factor, the surprising relevance and popularity of puppets today. If anything, they're more popular than ever before. For Eurovision, we talk about Estonia's 2024 entry 5MIINUST...

Next week's episode will be about the word "puppet", the etymology, history, and cultural stuff surrounding the word. So this week, I am interviewing my favorite puppeteer, Matt Sandbank. Matt Sandbank does lightbox shadow puppetry. His shows are clever, poignant, and hilarious. He is based in North Carolina, but he does shows around the country. We talk about his puppet work, and hi...

We selected the cringiest musical artist we could think of to feature in our discussion of cringe. What is this complex emotion and how has it evolved? And where did the word come from? Is it an ideophone? What's an ideophone? We discuss it. In Eurovision, we discuss Austria's 2024 song "We Will Rave" by a Kaleen. Find us on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gettingdownan...

Recently I got into the band Mannequin Pussy, and I thought it's interesting that they have trouble with censors in media and platforms such as Tiktok, for "pussy", a word that not that long ago was acceptable to use in any context because it had two meanings - cat and genitals. So we're exploring how it shifted over time from first meaning only cat, to then meaning cat and genit...

Welp, we watched the musical Wonka movie. And one of us loved it and one of us did not. Which of us is which may not surprise you. It's a "funny" movie with some funny words, so we thought we'd talk about what makes some words funny. We look at the discourse and research into what makes a word funny. And we list lots of examples of words that various people have pointed out as be...

We're talking about the only artist whose name rhymes with RZA . . . SZA! And of course we're talking about the surprising history of rhyming plus different kinds of rhymes. Which words do and don't rhyme? It's more complicated than you think. Are slant rhymes bad writing? It's more complicated than you think! For Eurovision, we discuss Croatia's 2024 song "Rim Tim Tag...

On this jagged little podcast we discuss Alanis Morisette's first hit and what she's done since. Amazing what a woman with pockets can do. Of course we're talking about hands, including the etymology of the word, and also the fingers, and also various hand signs such as the high five. In Eurovision talk, we discuss the UK's 2024 offering, "Dizzy" by Olly Alexander. And we...

Today, building on our discussion last week with Michelle Troszak, creator of the Interstellar Song Contest, we talk about fictional languages. We have all your favorites except for the Game of Thrones ones! Klingon! Elvish! Simlish! Furbish! Wenja from Far Cry! And more! In Eurovision, we talk about space-themed songs throughout the years. Remember to check out the Interstellar Song Contest at an...

Today we talk to Michelle Troszak, founder of Skysail Theatre, about her new musical, The Interstellar Song Contest. This episode is part 1 of our discussion on fictional languages, which will conclude in next week's episode. The Interstellar Song Contest currently exists as a cast recording and a radio show in podcast format. Find Michelle, Skysail Theatre, and the show at the following links...

Maybe a lesser known Decemberists song, but probably one of the first ones I ever heard, we talk about "Myla Goldberg", and the person who it's about, author of the novel Bee Season. Lots of spoilers for people who have not read it and intend to, so watch out. We discuss the spelling bee. How'd it start and what are the rules? And why is it only an English thing? In Eurovision, w...

We discuss the OG oxford comma enthusiasts, Vampire Weekend, the first hit song off their new album, and everyone's favorite goat-fish astrological sign, the capricorn. What are capricorns like? Where'd the goat and fish combo come from? What's the age of capricorn going to be like? Why are you asking us all these questions? In Eurovision, we'll talk about Italy's 2024 entry &q...

This one's for the grammar nerds! (But not such grammar nerds that you'll cringe at all the stuff we inevitably got wrong.) We're talking about Paula Abdul's greatest hit "Straight Up", and we're talking about irregular verbs, particularly about verbs that used to be irregular but are now regular, and about other words which are actually formerly irregular verb forms...

Today we discuss Shrek the Musical, the live action musical play version of the first Shrek movie. How did this get made? Should it have been? And we talk about the origin and many different meanings of gross. In Eurovision talk, we discuss Ireland's "Doomsday Blues" by Bambie Thug. Huge thanks to Patsy Walker for the use of our theme song “Who’s Wordy Now”! Find Patsy on youtube at...

We discuss Ceelo Green's big hit (the radio edit) "Forget You", and we go deep into the evolution of the word dementia and society's ideas about it. For Eurovision, we do Slovenia's song "Viktoria" by Raiven. Check out another podcast in our network, Crime & Spirits, you can find them here https://linktr.ee/crimeandspiritspodcast Find them, us, and lots of other...