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 “Tonight” by Zach Ashton (20:34)
How gratitude is different from thanks (20:55)
Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network
Theme music by Kick the Cat
Closing music from “Grapes” by Evan Stone
time: 24:36
size: 22.5 Mb
rating: G (”Thank you” is one of the magical phrases all children should learn.)
Hi! Thanks for your podcast. I use it to practise and improve my English language skills as I am going to take the FCE test (exam).
But I have a qeustion - There have been very big problems with downloading your podcast recently - it is very slow, e.g. the download speed is at 8.0 kB/s, so it takes me approximately 45 minutes to download your podcast.
Please, please, can you do something with that? Thanks a lot!!!
Hello, Jakub. I’m sorry to hear about your problems downloading, but I’m not sure they have to do with our server. Our podcast files are hosted by Liberated Syndication, which is a hosting company of long standing. They have had brief periods of down time in the past, but I’m not aware of any significant outages recently.
I was able to download this edition of The Word Nerds this morning in about five minutes, which is what it usually takes for a show of this length.
If anybody else has noticed slower than normal downloads, please let me know.
Hi Dave,
The sound of this chapter of the podcast is less than it used to be. If I have to characterize the quality with a word it would be: dense. As if you speak too close into the microphone, or as if the equalizer puts too much emphasis on the bass. In addition there seems to be a dim echo, that is worst in the beginning and gradually recedes. But the sound remains dense and I hope that the next show will have the usual high quality.
Anne aka rabiakiva
This one was prepared, recorded, and released all on one day. I used Übercaster software, for which I’m a beta tester. This particular session was much more tedious than the usual process. I haven’t yet discovered the inner secrets of Übercaster.
I didn’t have all the usual audio tools available to me this time, since they are not enabled for Übercaster. Sorry if it doesn’t sound like normal. (In my own car stereo, this one sounds better than normal, so go figure.)
I’ll use the normal tools for a long-distance podcast for the next show.
As I´ve said before… you guys have just got a new brazilian fan. I just can´t stop listenning to your podcasts!!
André Aprigio
Trainee - Oi Telecom - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Hi Dave,
After reading your reply I checked again. I listened to the last two podcasts on my laptop and then on my iPod. I still feel that podcast #79 has a better sound quality, but the difference with #80 is almost unnoticeable on my iPod, whereas on my laptop the difference is huge.
The problem, if there is one, I think is heard best in the beginning when you say ‘this show is rated G’.
Hope this helps
Anne
I just discovered this podcast. It’s terrific. Unfortunately the most recent (#80, which you say was recorded using different software) will not play on my Creative Zen player. I get a message that says, “Unsupported Format.” This does not bode well for future podcasts. I’ve looked at the file in a tag editor to see if there’s an errant tag that’s throwing things off. None that I could find, although it’s obvious that your new software is populating more tag fields (and using both v.1 and v.2 tags — I tried stripping out the v.1 tags to no avail).
Oh well, at least I’ve got 79 other shows to catch up on.
Love your podcast! Keep up the good work.
Generally I think it’s best when you don’t play whole songs since I like to hear what you and the other hosts have to say rather than play.
I have… uh… an iPod to listen to music.
Logophiles unite!
“‘Thank you’ is one of the magical phrases all children should learn.” I couldn’t agree more, Dave! I wish adults uttered these magical words more often, too. Not a day goes by when I don’t utter them (I just said it, a minute ago). Whenever someone does something for you, saying thanks, or thank you shows your gratitude.
However, I’ve got to admit. I don’t always say thank you in response to discourtesy. I mean, if someone’s taking up three seats on a crowded bus and I have to ASK to sit down, then why should I reward them with a “Thank you”?