The Word Nerds
A weekly podcast about words, language, and why we say the things we do
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Currency (112)
Currency: Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd cash in on the latest news and trends as they talk about currencyin money and in speech. Investing something (language or money) with value; potency and context (2:10) Profanity and language in different cultural contexts; a citation from John Ciardi, the …
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Morphing, Changing, and Dying Words (111)
Morphing, Changing, and Dying Words: Barbara Shepherd and Dave Shepherd look at words that shift and change over timeor sometimes die out altogether. Thanks to Carlos in Spain, who recently helped us discovered a technical problem with our site and podcast. The Word Nerds now have a page on Facebook …
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Say Again? (110)
Say Again? Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd discuss remakes, do-overs, and other kinds of re-visitation. Thanks to Patrick M., Alan H., Leandro B., Stuart W., Dmitriy P., and Peter L. for PayPal donations. Thanks also to Tom D., Tomas A., Anne J., Steve H., and Peter H. for emails. (2:11) The need …
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Irony and Satire (109)
Irony and Satire: Barbara Shepherd and Dave Shepherd try to avoid speaking sarcastically to each other as they explore irony and satire. This weeks topic was suggested by Abbie G., a smart 9th-grader. Ironically, this show ended up being rated R and given an explicit tag. (Sorry, Abbie!) (2:08) Dav …
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Stories and Storytelling (108)
Stories and Storytelling: Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd are in Jonesborough, Tennessee, at the National Storytelling Festival, where they discuss stories and storytelling. Thanks to Martin P. for a PayPal donation (1:58) We are in Jonesborough, Tennessee, the oldest town in Tennessee, home of t …
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Debate (107)
Debate: Barbara Shepherd and Dave Shepherd argue back and forth and try to come to agreement about the meaning of debate. Thanks to Alex Enkerli for an audio comment on MyChingo. (2:03) This edition was inspired by an email from Paul Lawler (3:45) Definitions of debate; what exactly constitutes a d …
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Resolutions (83)
Barbara Shepherd and Dave Shepherd welcome the new year by talking about resolutions and promises. Dave announces the repair of our feed problem and reads listener email regarding Eilzüge. (2:20) Dave and Barbara talk about the nature and timing of New Years resolutions and promises. (4:32) Music bu …
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Speed (82)
Howard Chang and Dave Shepherd are in a massive hurry to talk about speed. Dave responds to feedback (2:08) Jesse Thorn of The Sound of Young America sent us a copy of Sky Maul: Happy Crap You Can Buy From a Plane, by Kasper Hauser. Voicemail from Kristin of The Manic Mommies Our forum is now spam- …
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Feed issues and iTunes
The vast majority of you are using iTunes as your podcast receiving software. I use it myself. Unfortunately, there is a deep disconnect between iTunes and our web server. iTunes cannot see our feed, and so gives an error message when you try to get a show. (Or more accurately stated, our server red …
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Prepositions (81)
Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd look over, under, around, and through prepositions. Dave responds to a post by SimonW11 from the Word Nerds Forum about an eggcorn; talks about why our blog has looked different; and explains Howards current absence from the USA. (Howard visited Annik Rubens of Schl …
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About our navigation column
For some reason, the customized look I created in the navigation column of our blog (that area over there to the right) keeps getting deleted somehow. I havent yet figured it out; I will need to take several hours (when I have free time) and go onto the WordPress and K2 fora and do some research. So …
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Thanks and Gratitude (80)
Dave Shepherd explores the linguistic workings of thanks and gratitude. Listeners respond with voicemails and emails. We thank you for your participation. (2:02) Thanks and thanksgiving (7:30) Song: Thank you, by All Mighty Whispers (15:24) Rude word of the week: ingrate (18:24) Music bumper from T …
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Sports Language (79)
Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd get their game faces on as they talk about the language of sports. The vocabulary of sport: rule-based terms and slang terms (1:58) Music bumper from Natural Man, by Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials (21:36) How sports language functions (22:03) Song: Sitting Around Ke …
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Derivatives (78)
Dave Shepherd and Howard Chang talk about derivativeswords that come from other words and how we came to love them. The derivation of derivative (2:42) How we became infatuated with derivatives (5:17) Music bumper from Court of Greedy Kings, by Val Davis (11:07) Word Power through derivatives (plant …
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Sorry about the missed weekend
If you are just subscribed to The Word Nerds in a podcatching client, you wont even see this message. If you log into the Word Nerds Forum, youll see it there, in the forum about the podcast. But if you come to our blog, or else look at TWN through a directory that picks up the blog posts, then youl …
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Periodicity (77)
Dave Shepherd announces a change in frequency of the publication of The Word Nerds. (1:56) News from the podcasting world (4:20) Annik Rubens suspends Schlaflos in München Apple issues cease and desist letters against companies using podcast in their name. Voicemail from a new listener (7:39) Song …
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Equivocation and Discourse (76)
Howard Shepherd talks about his favorite summer reading bookSpecial Topics in Calamity Physics, a first novel by his former student Marisha Pessl. (2:47) Reasons for equivocating (4:37) Music bumper from Ockhams Shaving Kit, by George Hrab (14:46) Verbal and lingual ways of equivocating (15:27) Song …
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Our Summer Reading (75)
Dave Shepherd, Barbara Shepherd, and Howard Chang talk about their summer reading. (2:14) Daves recent favorites: The Word Nerds Discussion forum Online fora related to magic The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini Baseball as America, by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Dai Vernon: A Biog …
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Summer Vacation Edition (74)
Dave Shepherd announces a summer vacation for and from The Word Nerds. The show will return with new editions on September 9. (This is take 2 of this program. Take 1 was done using Übercaster, but Dave hasnt yet learned all the ins and outs of that new Macintosh podcasting software. Youre not imagin …
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Endings (73)
Dave Shepherd, Howard Shepherd, and Howard Chang talk about endingsof conversations, relationships, jobs, etc. (NOT of podcasts; we are not leaving!) Linguistic cues for endings (1:56) Music bumper from My Living Will, by The Finale (10:05) Non-verbal and non-oral cues: body language, the thin envel …
The Word Nerds
