Nostalgia: Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd are on location in one of the important places of their young adulthood, where they talk about nostalgia.

Thanks to Maureen B. for a PayPal donation. Dave makes a couple of corrections. Thanks to Jack Sprat Café on E. Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for providing space for the Word Nerds’ remote studio. (2:08)

Nostalgia of place: We have returned to Chapel Hill, NC, where we both attended university; the meaning of the word “nostalgia” and related concepts; history vs. nostalgia. (4:08)

Music bumper from “Back in the Days” by Teej (10:08)

Some of our Chapel Hill memories; nostalgia as an emotional phenomenon. Can you go home again (with apologies to Thomas Wolfe)? Nostalgia and technology (11:56)

Song: “The Good Old Days” by The Lodger (29:46)

Rude Word of the Week: “sappy” (33:07)

Music bumper from “Natural Man” by Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials. (36:14)

The dark side of nostalgia: wishing for good old days that were not so good (36:42)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and the Ioda Promonet

Theme music by Kick the Cat

time: 44:49

size: 41.1 Mb

rating: PG (One of our definitions of our Rude Word gets slightly crude at one point.)

The Lodger
“The Good Old Days” (mp3)
from “Life Is Sweet”
(Slumberland)

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Teej
“Back In The Days” (mp3)
from “Schenectady”
(Afrazmusic Corp)

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Translation: Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd bring a certain je ne sais quoi to their discussion of translation.

Thanks to renaissance247 for the email suggestion of this show topic. (2:33)

Practical problems in translation; “good” and “bad” translation; the importance of accuracy (3:36)

Music bumper from “Foreign Affair” by Brad Wheeler (9:37)

Translating well-known texts: Martin Luther, Rainer Maria Rilke (10:33)

Song: “Strange Day in Mexico” by The Clintons (19:26)

Rude Word of the Week: “shmuck” (23:21)

Music bumper from “Make Me Understand” by Matt Thorpe (26:48)

Unfortunate mistakes in translation (including one on our very website!) (27:45)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and the Ioda Promonet

Theme music by Kick the Cat

time: 36:39

size: 33.6 Mb

rating: PG-13 (Our Rude Word is a rude word in Yiddish, we use some other rude words to discuss it, and we talk about the rudeness of the name of the talk-back link on our website.)

Brad Wheeler
“Foreign Affair” (mp3)
from “The Future Was Yesterday”
(Origin Records)

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Currency: Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd cash in on the latest news and trends as they talk about currency–in 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 Charles Hodgson of the 1980s (8:30)

Music bumper from “Topsy” by The Jay Lawrence Trio (10:39)

Reputation as value: political capital, economic perception, relative value (13:05)

Song: “Gimme the Money” by Harper (21:50)

Rude Word of the Week: “piss-poor” (26:19)

Music bumper from “Just Looking” by The Jerrys. (28:41)

What creates value? Tangible vs. intangible exchanges (29:26)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and the Ioda Promonet

Theme music by Kick the Cat

time: 39:59

size: 36.6 Mb

rating: PG-13 (We discuss some taboo insults from non-English languages.)

Jay Lawrence Trio
“Topsy” (mp3)
from “Thermal Strut”
(OA2 Records)

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Harper
“Gimme The Money” (mp3)
from “Down To The Rhythm”
(Blind Pig Records)

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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 to revisit “old” topics (3:16)

Palimpsest, adaptation, homage, interpretation (5:07)

Music bumper from “Second Life” by The Dave Stapleton Quintet (15:34)

Changing and evolving styles; the evolution of slang (17:34)

Song: “Rehash” by JLK (21:07)

Rude Word of the Week: “has-been” (24:20)

Music bumper from “Tonight” by Zach Ashton. (27:25)

Historical and cultural context (27:54)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and the Ioda Promonet

Theme music by Kick the Cat

time: 33:41

size: 30.9

rating: PG (Explication of a possibly rude German slang word.)

Dave Stapleton Quintet
“Second Life” (mp3)
from “The House Always Wins”
(Edition Records)

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JLK
“Rehash” (mp3)
from “Nothing More Than Something To Wear”
(Karmic Hit)

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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 the International Storytelling Center and host to the National Storytelling Festival. (2:19)

Why do people tell stories? Morality tales, expressions of heritage, stories that break the ice, stories that support the ego (5:14)

Music bumper from “Edgar Meyer Winter” by Shibboleth (13:28)

Different kinds of storytelling performances that we have seen: folk music, reminiscence stories, cowboy poetry, telling traditional tales (15:20)

Song: “The Story” by Jason Silver (22:19)

Rude Word of the Week: “turkey” (25:41)

Music bumper from “Nada” by Jaime Beauchamp. (29:36)

The future of storytelling: what will storytelling look and sound like in future generations? Benjamin Shepherd, Ruthanna Ruben, Caden Watts (30:17)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network

Theme music by Kick the Cat

time: 37:35

size: 34.4 Mb

rating: G (No “adult stories” were recounted in this edition. Furthermore, kids should be told stories all the time.)

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Linguistic tics: Friends, this week Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd sort of, you know, explore little linguistic tics, right?

Paralinguistic vs. linguistic tics (1:59)

Causes of linguistic tics; tics as style identifiers; some classic linguist tics (5:32)

Music bumper from “Telepop” by The Jerrys (16:35)

Linguistic tics in languages other than English (17:15)

Song: “Uh Huh-Oh No” by Anne Summers (21:16)

Rude Word of the Week: “dingbat” (23:58)

Music bumper from “Road to Rhodes” by Scott Helm. (28:35)

Some uses of linguistic tics (29:18)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and the Ioda Promonet

Theme music by Kick the Cat

time: 35:32

size: 32.6 Mb

rating: PG (Our song has a couple of mildly suggestive moments.)

Anne Summers
“Uh-Huh, Oh-No” (mp3)
from “Very Classy”
(Beatville Records)

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Syntax: This week it’s shake-up the order of sentences that Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd do, as explore the topic of syntax they shall.

Thanks to Emma H. and Mary T. for PayPal donations (2:07)

Syntax: not just word order, but sentence structure in general. Which came first, the thing or the act? (2:33)

Music bumper from “Finger Food” by the Shook-Russo Quartet (11:27)

Rhetorical uses of syntax (14:14)

Song: “Upside-Down” by Yo La Tengo (20:07)

Rude Word of the Week: “flip-flopper” (24:04)

Music bumper from “Tell Me a Bedtime Story” by the Jay Lawrence Trio. (27:37)

Syntactical variations from language to language (28:42)

Music courtesy of the Ioda Promonet

Theme music by Kick the Cat

time: 34:49

size: 31.9 Mb

rating: G (We quote from a poem about Santa Claus.)

Yo La Tengo
“Upside-Down” (mp3)
from “Upside-Down”
(Alias)

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The Shook-Russo Quartet
“Finger Food” (mp3)
from “Shook-Russo Quartet Featuring Greg Gisbert”
(Summit Records)

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Jay Lawrence Trio
“Tell Me a Bedtime Story” (mp3)
from “Thermal Strut”
(OA2 Records)

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