Synonyms: Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd discuss, chat, and talk about a plethora, a bundle, a whole bunch of ideas about synonyms.
Austin Tichenor of the Reduced Shakespeare Company left us an audio comment via our MyChingo button. (1:55)
It was Dave’s turn to travel to German-speaking Europe this past month. (3:04)
The inspiration for this show was our recent experience trying to express fine differences in meaning in a second language. Synonyms yield these subtle distinctions. (4:42)
Music bumper from “Just Looking” by The Jerrys (13:29)
Regional variations in sets of synonyms, and their applications (14:14)
Song: “The Same One” by Little Mack Simmons (19:18)
Rude word of the week: “dullard” (23:54)
Music bumper from “Necessary Rain” by Emile Westergaard. (26:58)
Age and experience and the ability to make subtler distinctions (27:30)
Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and IODA Promonet
Theme music by Kick the Cat
time: 34:02
size: 31.2 Mb
rating: PG (Only a tiny, mild bit of borderline rudeness in our audio feedback.)
Download “The Same One” (mp3)
from “The PM+Simmons Collection 1971-1982″
by Little Mack Simmons
Electro-Fi Records
Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorsense
Thanks for the link.
But commenters, please put just a word or two or “regular language” in your commments. Otherwise I am likely just to delete them as spam. That’s what I almost did with this one.
However, the link points to the German Wikipedia article on the “Motorsense,” which is the thing we called (and others might call, as well) a “Schnurmäher.”
Especially enjoyed the episode as I am a US expat living in Auggen (between Basel and Freiburg) since 1985 - so I deeply understand the differences between schörle (which is my wife’s favorite drink), gespritz, radlers and more.
I also podcast. My personal podcast is called RoughMix, which is my podcast about songwriting and the process, which is intentionally kept rough.
Keep up the good work!
Brian
http://KelleyNews.blogspot.com
The “I’ll give you a ride” story reminded me of a neighbor’s trip to England, where she was reprimanded for speaking of the comforter being “stuffed.”
Do American mistakes get less ridicule in a totally different language? Maybe it has to do with the local humor, as an American stands out linguistically almost as much in London as Berlin or Madrid.
Just now I was doing some housecleaning at our archive site, when I discovered that we had repeated this week’s Rude Word.
In edition #59, Puns, we used “dullard” as the Rude Word, to describe somebody who doesn’t get puns.
I don’t know whether my brother Howard and I are hung up on this idea of dullness, but I do know I don’t want to be perceived as a dullard.
Oh well. Nothing new under the sun, I guess.
The best ESL podcast I ever seen, thank youvery much for posting on this podcast. You guys really speak at the right rythm from a native speaker. I’m from Brazil, and use my english to support a huge US company in its systems. In my work the hearing work is a key to success, because if I don’t understand correctly what the client wants you can inagime what trouble it is.
Thanks.
Thanks for your great podcast,
In Australia we refer to the device you called a string trimmer (your podcast was the first time I’ve ever heard that phrase) as a “whipper snipper”. Is that phrase used in other countries, or is it peculiarly Australian?
Hi Guys,
What happy thrills you cause me when I discover a new episode. Like Pavlov’s dog drooling. The fact that the podcasts come less regular these days, makes it only more strong.
I am lucky to understand German, which made this particular episode go with a lot of recognized experiences. I have also written a review again at my blog (where I review so many podcasts).
http://anneisaman.blogspot.com/2007/07/twn-89-synonyms.html
Cheers and keep going
Anne
In the UK we call it a strimmer. Thinking about it now it must be s’trimmer but I’d never heard string trimmer before.
I just discovered your podcast. I teach high school English in Anacortes, Washington. I’ve read the “Mother Tongue.” Bryson also has a book on American English called “Made in America.” I look forward to listening to your podcast often.
My blog is an almanac of words that attempts to link every day of the year to something interesting about the English language. I hope you will check it out.
Thanks.
I am pleased with how you did this episode. Rather than focus on the fact that synonyms exist, you dig into how synonyms can be problematic (the unbeknownst shades of meaning) and you illustrate this in real-life terms.
You need to pump out more shows though.
Well, we NEED to earn a living and spend time with our families…
But we WANT to keep putting shows out regularly. I trust we will be able to stick to our every-three-weeks schedule for the time being. We will be recording several shows this week, in fact.
I know about your need of personal time. I am not suggesting that you quit your job or abandon your family. But my comment was directed at the fact that only three episodes have come out since late March. There is just this lack of intelligent people podcast about language. Also, I did praise your latest episode.
Just another addition from a German native speaker.
I just listened to this episode (better late than never…) and now stumbled over the “Motorsense”-entry in your comments here and I have to say: I always knew this tool by “Trimmer” even here in Germany I thought the term Motorsense (which means motor-scythe) only refers to those with a blade.
Your podcast is just the best: entertaining AND educating. Don’t stop it, ever…
I remember you talked about people saying ‘pop’ or ’soda’ or even ‘coke’, and today I stumbled upon this poll on Facebook and thought it may be of interest to you.
Many Facebook users are non-English native speakers.
http://www.facebook.com/polls.php?poll_id=4793451902&ref=pns