Syntax (104)

Posted on July 26, 2008 by Dave

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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Please complete our audience survey. (103A)

Posted on July 25, 2008 by Dave

The Word Nerds would be very grateful if everyone listening could complete the audience survey on our website, thewordnerds.org. See the navigation column on the right side of the web page. This survey will give us valuable statistical evidence of who is listening to our show, so that any advertising we do is appropriate and directed at the right people.

If you complete the survey by August 30, 2008, you have the chance to win a number of prizes, including the grand prize of an iPod Touch.

Music: “Grapes” by Evan Stone

Time: 1:58

Size: 1.8 Mb

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Prosody (103)

Posted on July 7, 2008 by Dave

Prosody: Barbara Shepherd and Dave Shepherd try not to use “that tone” with each other as they discuss prosody in speech and in poetry.

Thanks to Marilyn O. for a PayPal donation (1:54)

Speech prosody: the rhythm, intonation, and grouping of sounds that are part of human speech. (2:17)

Music bumper from “Heartless” by Michael Burks (15:44)

Prosody in poetry and music (18:13)

Song: “Tongue Tied” by Hollins Steele (26:55)

Rude Word of the Week: “beyotch” (30:49)

Music bumper from “Necessary Rain” by Emile Westergaard. (33:40)

Characteristic systems of prosody in different languages; the prosody of presidential names (with thanks to Ian Ayres, writing in the Freakonomics blog of the New York Times) (34:14)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network

Theme music by Kick the Cat

Closing theme from “Grapes” by Evan Stone

time: 42:38

size: 39.1 Mb

rating: PG-13 (The Rude Word is a prosodic modification of a really rude word.)

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Rhetoric, part 3: Rhetoric in Famous Speeches (102)

Posted on May 25, 2008 by Dave

Rhetoric in Famous Speeches: Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd conclude their three-part series in rhetoric by presenting some examples of rhetoric and public discourse.

At the time this is posted, our web site is not fully functional. It will be fixed soon, so that you can find things and make PayPal donations. (1:54)

Dave and Barbara were recently featured in the Reduced Shakespeare Company’s podcast. (2:23)

This show features samples of great recorded rhetoric from the 20th and 21st centuries. Our principle sources were the websites American Rhetoric and The Free Information Society.

A couple of famous “mea culpa” speeches

Richard Nixon’s “Checkers” speech (September 23, 1952) (5:16)
Bill Clinton’s denial in the Monica Lewinsky scandal (January 26, 1998) (10:34)

Calls to action/calls to arms

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s call for war against Japan (December 8, 1941) (12:25)
Adolf Hitler’s declaration of war against Poland (September 1, 1939) (18:02)
Winston Churchill’s first speech as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (May 13, 1940) (21:56)

Music bumper from “Grapes” by Evan Stone (24:48)

Speeches at historical events

John F. Kennedy in Berlin (June 26, 1963) (26:02)
Ronald Reagan in Berlin (June 12, 1987) (28:31)
Martin Luther King at the Lincoln Memorial–the “Dream” speech (August 28, 1963) (30:20)

Song: “Speech” by LPG (35:40)

Rude Word of the Week: “broken record,” featuring a broken-record argument between Chris Matthews and Kevin James on MSNBC (Video of the full exchange) (May 15, 2008) (38:01)

Music bumper from “The Corner of Sacco and Vanzetti” by Shibboleth. (42:36)

Extemporaneous speech: Joseph Welch versus Joseph McCarthy in the U. S. Senate (Video clip) (June 9, 1954) (45:32)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network

Theme music by Kick the Cat

time: 53:22

size: 48.9 Mb

rating: PG (Passing reference to sexual relations in our discussion of Bill Clinton)

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Games and Wordplay (101)

Posted on April 20, 2008 by Dave

Games and Wordplay: Barbara Shepherd and Dave Shepherd explore word games, games with words, and ways of playing with words.

Dave thanks Brad and Naoko for donations, and Naoko, Ralsen, Asa, Jason and Hossein for their emails. (1:59)

This show was inspired by a game published by Brad Chase, Orijinz. We play a couple of rounds. (Thanks, Brad!) (6:51)

Music bumper from “Bongo Booty” by Vincent Van GoGo. (12:09)

Some of our favorite games for word nerds young and old (12:47)

Scrabble
Boggle
Taboo
Scattergories
Tribond

Some good sources for online word games: East of the Web, Word Plays, and good old Yahoo (21:29)

Song: “The Mating Game” by Bitter:Sweet (22:37)

Rude Word of the Week: “nucking futs” and other rude Spoonerisms (25:57)

Music bumper from “Tonight” by Zach Ashton. (29:39)

Spoonerisms as wordplay, including a very rude running skit from RTL Samstag Nacht Live based on a Spoonerism (30:07)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and Ioda Promonet

Theme music by Kick the Cat

Closing music from “Grapes” by Evan Stone

time: 38:59

size: 35.7 Mb

rating: R (Our rude word is a variant of the ever-rude “F-word.” We close with reference to a German television skit that is based totally on the “F-word.”)

Bitter:Sweet
“The Mating Game” (mp3)
from “The Mating Game”
(Quango)

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Baby Talk (100)

Posted on March 22, 2008 by Dave

Baby Talk: Howard Chang and Dave Shepherd use their best adult vocabulary as they discuss baby talk.

Dave thanks Andy, Beverley and Jianxia for their support through the PayPal donation button. (2:00)

This is show #100. The recording date, March 21, is the third anniversary not only of The Word Nerds, but also of Schlaflos in München. (2:14)

Thanks to Blue and Cihat for emails. (3:08)

Baby talk, reflecting the circle of human life; different applications for baby talk (4:18)

Music bumper from “Little Child” by Jamie Varley. (14:35)

How babies learn to speak: Noam Chomsky’s theory of universal grammar (15:27)

Song: “Boogie Woogie Baby” by Deanna Bogart (24:28)

Rude words of the week: “baby” (28:04)

Music bumper from “Court of Greedy Kings” by Val Davis. (30:25)

Stories of our own first words, and our children’s first words (30:43)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and Ioda Promonet

Theme music by Kick the Cat

Closing music from “Grapes” by Evan Stone

time: 37:28

size: 34.3 Mb

rating: PG (Howard very briefly mentions sexual contexts for baby talk.)

Deanna Bogart
“Boogie Woogie Baby” (mp3)
from “New Address”
(Deanna Bogart)

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Jamie Varley
“Little Child” (mp3)
from “You Ride”
(Sota Music)

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Rhetoric, part 2–Tropes and Schemes (99)

Posted on March 1, 2008 by Dave

Rhetoric, part 2–Tropes and Schemes: Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd continue their discussion of rhetoric by exploring tropes, schemes, and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

Grimace from the Word Nerds Forum corrects us on our example of a syllogism. (2:31)

Content versus style; tropes and schemes defined; and some examples of tropes. (Note: despite what Dave says in this segment, Edward P. J. Corbett’s book Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student is only available in hardback.) (4:46)

Music bumper from “Under the Stairs” by Sonic Deviant. (12:18)

Schemes: a transference of order; shifts of structure in language (12:54)

Song: “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” performed by The United States Air Force Band and the Singing Sergeants (29:15)

Rude word of the week: blowhard (34:11)

Music bumper from “Nada” by Jaime Beauchamp. (37:13)

Next time we will examine some examples of rhetoric in public speech. (37:52)

Dave reads Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. (38:39)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and the United States Air Force Band

Theme music by Kick the Cat

time: 42:48

size: 39.2 Mb

rating: PG (Howard gives one slightly suggestive example of litotes.)

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Body Words (98)

Posted on February 9, 2008 by Dave

Body Words: Howard Chang and Dave Shepherd put their noses to the grindstone and go toe-to-toe in a tete-a-tete, as they talk about body words.

Dave thanks Scott and Mary for their support through the PayPal donation button. (2:05)

This topic is, of course, the theme of Charles Hodgson’s book Carnal Knowledge. It was suggested to us by Julia MacAdam. (2:32)

Idioms that use parts of the human body, from head to toe (3:43)

Music bumper from “Broken Heart” by Briareus. (18:30)

Derivatives–English words derived from Latin words for body parts (19:21)

Song: “Head Over Heels” by Emelee (23:14)

Rude word of the week: “ass-kisser” (26:43)

Music bumper from “Mandan Heartbreak Song” by Keith Bear. (29:33)

The heart and muscle memory: there may be a biological reason we think of our innermost thoughts as connected to the heart. See The Lost Arts of the Mind by Darren Bridger and The Heart’s Code by Paul Pearsall (30:18)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and Ioda Promonet

Theme music by Kick the Cat

Closing music from “Grapes” by Evan Stone

time: 38:05

size: 34.9 Mb

rating: PG-13 (The Rude Word would get a middle-schooler sent to the office.)
Kiss Emelee
“Head Over Heels” (mp3)
from “Kiss”
(Barak Entertainment)