Getting Down & Wordy

We get down to business, talking about Paramore, fantasy high school, and what is and is not emo. We look at the history and evolution of the word business. Why is it spelled different from how it sounds? Why did it used to mean worry? And where do other languages get their word for business? In Eurovision, we talk about Germany's 2025 entry, "Baller" by Abor and Tynna, and we learn...

Remember the Kendrick Lamar x Drake beef? We talk about the greatest rap beef of all time, so great it won (tied for) the most grammies of all time. We discuss the etymology of beef and the origin and evolution of a word for a dispute, including the first beef in hip hop history. In Eurovision, we discuss Ukraine's 2025 offering, "Bird of Pray" by Ziferblat. Find us on instagram here...

It's our 100th episode! So we're talking about one hundred, the word, and "100 Years" the song. Oh no! Now what song will we feature when we have been podcasting for 100 years?? We'll discuss apparent numberphile Five for Fighting, the etymology of hundred, cent, and related words. In Eurovision, we discuss France's classic winning song from 1965, "Poupee De Cire&quo...

It's 7pm Friday, it's 95 degrees. And we're ringing in the summer by talking about Glorilla's "TGIF", famously cited by congresswoman Ayanna Presley to illustrate the reality of the climate crisis for our youth. We look at how our words related to the climate crisis originated and evolved, and the impact of the climate crisis on our language. In Eurovision, we talk about...

This week we return to Beyonce to talk about her foray into country music and the most infamous word in "improper" grammar - ain't. We look at where ain't comes from, how it was originally used, who originally used it, and what was the opinion of it in the past? We explain its evolution and the history of the pushback against it. In Eurovision, we discuss Albania's 2025 entry "Zjerm" by Shkodra El...

A murder of crows, a pride of lions. These names for groups of animals are called terms of venery! Who comes up with this stuff? We'll tell you! And what better song to pair with this than "Shivers" by Ed Sheeran? Is there a better song, period? Ok, so there are lots of better songs in the world, but Ed Sheeran seems like a pretty likeable guy it turns out! For Eurovision, we're...

In 2023, Steven Tyler fractured his larynx and subsequently retired from singing. We discuss Aerosmith . . . And the larynx and vocal cords a.k.a. vocal folds! How do they work? What animals do and don't have vocal cords? What other ways do animals make sounds? What can go wrong with the voice? Find us on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gettingdownandwordy/ And email us at gettingdow...

In preparation for next week's episode about the vocal cords, we talk to phenomenal Asheville alt-pop musician, vocalist, voice over actor, and audiobook narrator Moon Bride about the ins and outs of working with one's voice. You can find Moon Bride's music on all the major platforms like Spotify and Youtube by searching her name. And you can follow her on Instagram to keep up with her music relea...

In this episode we talk about AJR, their invention of a synthesizing process for morphing instrument sounds into different instrument sounds (idk, I don't understand it to be honest), and synesthesia. Did you know there are a bunch of different types of synesthesia? You will know after you listen. And possibly see colors while you're listening? Synesthetes, write in and tell us what colors...

We're looking at the etymology and evolution of "rawdog" so we decided to rawdog this episode! That's right, no planning, decision making, or research was done before we started recording. Listen if you dare as we go mask off and show you just how slow and dumb we really are. We chose Pussy Cat Dolls "Don't Cha" for the music segment, and looked at a song for Eurovi...

We talk about the history and evolution of "woke" from the simple opposite of slept to the catchall term for everything the fascists of the world dislike. Music-wise, we'll talk about a semi-recent song that implores us to stay woke, Childish Gambino's "Redbone". In Eurovision, we look at Cyprus's competitor, Theo Evan, and political and racial words with Greek and...

In America we use red blooded blue collar measurements like feet and yards and miles. But what's up with that? And what's a furlong? And a perch? We talk about the Proclaimers' hit song and their evolution, and we talk about the evolution of the mile and other measurements that we just can't let go of even as the rest of the world has gone metric. In Eurovision, we talk about the debut of Celine D...

We talk about everyone's favorite lesbian pop star, where she came from and her own impact on language and the pop music discourse. And we discuss the etymology of baby, its origins, its evolution of use over time. When and why did we start using it to mean romantic partners? In Eurovision, we discuss Latvia's 2024 entry "Hollow" by Dons, and we talk about Latvian words for baby...

Since August of 2024, women in Afghanistan have been banned by the Taliban from speaking or being heard in public places. Some Afghan women have bravely released recordings of themselves singing in protest of this horrific loss of basic freedom. We discuss the ban, and we discuss Miley Cyrus's song "Wrecking Ball", a song which in many ways exemplifies the oppressive masculine forces...

Valentine's Day is coming up, so we talk about the thing that no one does on Valentine's Day since we're all on dates. Fart! And who better to pair with farts than Canadian pop sensation Feist? We talk about the etymology of fart, other words for fart, words you didn't know mean fart, and the science and cultural history of farting. For Eurovision, we look at Sweden 2024's Marc...

We look at the sneakily successful Mark Ambor. Give his music a listen, and you may be surprised to realize that you already know it. And we look at the second of time. How did we come to call it that? What relation does it have to second as in 2nd place? Learn about the people who standardize time and how that came about. And learn about why we use a base 60 system for time. In Eurovision we talk...

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...