Getting Down & Wordy

This week we discuss a Connie Francis song that recently went viral on Tiktok, and Connie's other claims to faim, including the first 60s beach party movie and popularizing the song that became our theme song! And we talk about all our baby animal words - cub, calf, puppy, kitten, chick, etc.! Wherer did they come from? How is a baby cat a kitten but a baby lion a cub? And other such questions...

This week we're talking about Billie Eilish's hit "Bad Guy", along with finally getting around to giving a short bio of Eilish, our first 3 time featured artist, and why not, she is in many ways the most successful zoomer pop artist. And we talk about guy, its usage and origins before and since the Guy Fawkes plot. And we discuss the similarities in the now growing usage of Luigi...

Happy halloween polterguys and ghouls. We're talking about vampires, the kings of halloween monsters, so we're talking about the king of contemporary pop songs in my humble opinion, "Vampire" by Olivia Rodrigo. In the course of talking about that, we'll talk a bit about monster fuckers and Chuck Tingle. And of course we'll talk about the etymology of the word vampire, and...

We discuss Calvin Harris's hit "Feels" featuring Katy Perry, Pharrell, and Big Sean, and the casual pill popping culture it reflects. And we discuss the etymology of pill, the history of pills, and the modern rise of being pilled - red-pilled, black-pilled, and ______-pilled, in which someone can be anything-pilled, describing a thing that they've recently gotten into or come aro...

We discuss the Jonas Brothers, their wives, and the etymology and evolution of everyone's favorite food, pizza. Find us on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gettingdownandwordy/ And email us at gettingdownandwordy@gmail.com Huge thanks to Patsy Walker for the use of our theme song “Who’s Wordy Now”! This week’s promoted podcast is Brutal Bizarre and Boozy. Find them anywhere you get po...

We're talking about the current US administration's war on science through an effective word ban on words in research projects related to "woke" topics such as trans, climate change, autism, and even words like trauma, bias, and woman, such that if they appear in your research article, your government funding gets cut. And to do so, of course we're talking about Radiohead&#39...

Are you afraid of no ghost in August? We talk boo, the word that is the thing ghosts say for some reason, and the thing we say to show disapproval, and a word for romantic partners, among many other uses! Plus, gemination and reduplication. And we talk Paul Russell's feel good hit, "Lil Boo Thang". In Eurovision talk, we discuss Poland's 2025 entry "Gaja" by Justyna Ste...

We talk about the mysterious meaning of Kelis's milkshake, and what else she's done, from her pentecostal upbringing to her transition into the culinary world. And we discuss milk, the origin of the word, other animals' non-breast-originating baby nourishments which are called milk, and the controversy around calling non-dairy beverages milk, such as almond milk and oat milk. In Eurovi...

Today we talk about a couple of Getting Down & Wordy veterans, Rose from Black Pink and Bruno Mars. We talk about the meaning of APT in Korea, English loan words in Korean, and our differing opinions of the song. In the etymology portion, we discuss the origin of various housing words including apartment, house, home, and rent. For Eurovision, we discuss Estonia's Tommy Cash and his song &...

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...