The Word Nerds

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 Howard’s current absence from the USA. (Howard visited Annik Rubens of Schlaflos in München while in Munich.) (2:03)
Howard and […]

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 Keeping Score,” by Spymob (26:11)
Rude word of the week: “palooka” […]

Howard Shepherd talks about his favorite summer reading book–Special Topics in Calamity Physics, a first novel by his former student Marisha Pessl. (2:47)
Reasons for equivocating (4:37)
Music bumper from “Ockham’s Shaving Kit,” by George Hrab (14:46)
Verbal and lingual ways of equivocating (15:27)
Song: “Maybe I’ll Wait,” by Robin Welty (21:36)
Rude word of the week: “weasel” (25:16)
Music […]

Dave Shepherd, Howard Shepherd, and Howard Chang talk about endings–of 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 envelope” (10:50)
Song: “Last to Leave,” by Hot Rod Cadets (17:49)
Rude word of the week: […]

Dave Shepherd, Howard Shepherd, and Howard Chang ponder a plethora of orotund expressions. That means they are talking about extravagant ways of expressing yourself. (Thanks to Michael Buchko for the topic suggestion.)
What we mean by fustian language: pompous, bombastic ways of saying very little by using a lot of syllables; some quotations from fustian speakers […]

Dave Shepherd, Howard Shepherd, and Howard Chang talk about jokes and humor. (What a bunch of chuckleheads!)
The philosophical underpinnings of humor (2:01)
Music bumper from by “The Corner of Sacco and Vanzetti” by Shibboleth (11:20)
Categories of humor (11:57)
Song: “Inside Joke,” by Little Thom (22:51)
Rude word of the week: “bombing” (or shall we say, this segment is […]

Dave Shepherd, Howard Shepherd, and Howard Chang discuss the rules, etiquette, and media of everyday conversations.
Various ways the Word Nerds audience can converse with us, and with each other (1:59)
Face-to-face conversation (4:59)
Music bumper from by “Conversations” by Saurab Bhargava (14:43)
Conversing on the telephone (15:21)
Song: “Cool Conversation,” by Dminor (20:51)
Rude word of the week: “loudmouth” (25:13)
Music […]

Dave Shepherd and Howard Shepherd try not to run their words together as they discuss slurring and elision in spoken language.
Responses to listener emails. Howard was recently a guest on EatFeed. (1:51)
Dysarthria: pathological elision (9:47)
Elision as an agent of language change: “everyday” elision and “expedient” elision (11:24)
Music bumper from by “Telepop” by The Jerrys (17:47)
Elision […]