This week’s topic was suggested by Abbie G., a smart 9th-grader. Ironically, this show ended up being rated “R” and given an explicit tag. (Sorry, Abbie!) (2:08)

Dave and Barbara just attended the show awarding the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, honoring the late George Carlin. Carlin was a master of American satire. This show will air on PBS on April 1, 2009. (2:40)

Comedy as a culturally-specific phenomenon; the two careers of George Carlin (7:00)

Music bumper from “Baja Taxi” by Brain Buckit (18:59)

Carlin’s famous “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television”; Lewis Black and censorship at the Kennedy Center (21:15)

Is George Carlin the modern Mark Twain? (27:13)

Song: “Chiron Beta Prime” by Jonathan Coulton (32:18)

Rude Word of the Week: “genius” (35:07)

Music bumper from “Round One” by Evan Tate. (38:30)

Parody vs. satire: Mad Magazine, Weird Al Yankovic, and Saturday Night Live’s take on Sarah Palin (39:10)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network

Theme music by Kick the Cat

Closing theme from “Grapes” by Evan Stone

time: 48:18

size: 44.2 Mb

rating: R (It is impossible to talk about the work of George Carlin without talking about “forbidden” words–and we use a couple of really taboo words several times. Once again, apologies, Abbie!)

George Carlin and his great “Modern Man” routine
(This routine is perfectly clean and a brilliant display of American English.)

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.)

Thanks to Alex Enkerli for an audio comment on MyChingo. (2:03)

This edition was inspired by an email from Paul Lawler (3:45)

Definitions of debate; what exactly constitutes a debate? (5:26)

Music bumper from “Arabesque” by Mauricio Cuburu (11:21)

Different types of debates for different purposes and in different forums; check out the Copley Debates website, as well as Trivium Pursuit and the Aberdeen Central High School site. We also discuss Robert’s Rules of Order.(13:26)

Song: “Support for My Argument” by Emma Wallace (25:11)

Rude Word of the Week: “filibuster” (28:55)

Music bumper from “Rebuttal” by The Working Title. (32:44)

When does an argument become a debate? A brief homage to Monty Python’s classic “Argument” sketch: “Just saying no isn’t an argument!” “Yes it is.” “No it isn’t!” (33:24)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network.

Theme music by Kick the Cat

Closing theme from “Grapes” by Evan Stone

time: 39:44

size: 36.4 Mb

rating: G (This entire discussion of debate is conducted in a civil and respectful manner.)

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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Thanks to Paul L., Smaran D., Mary M., Michelle M., Dolores B., and Peter D. for PayPal donations (1:52)

Emails from Paul L., Adam R., Maria C., and Anne J. Also, Evan Stone, who composed and played our closing theme music, played in Beijing for the Olympic marathon. (2:53)

Ambiguity defined: “Capability of being understood in two or more ways; double or dubious signification, ambiguousness.” Synonyms of ambiguous: enigmatic, equivocal, indeterminate, obscure, vague, unintelligible, dubious, double-entendre, ambivalent, uncertain (8:34)

Structural ambiguity: syntactic ambiguity, lexical ambiguity, and misinterpretation (such as mondegreens) (12:53)

Music bumper from “Whatever Stupid” by Ben Thomas (18:20)

Intentional ambiguity (19:11)

Song: “Whatever” by Natalie (25:21)

Rude Word of the Week: “whatever” (29:14)

Music bumper from “Telepop” by The Jerrys. (32:36)

Amusing intentional ambiguities: double entendres, jokes for adults buried in children’s shows (as done by Soupy Sales), and the mighty Groucho Marx (33:23)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network and Ioda Promonet

Theme music by Kick the Cat

Closing theme from “Grapes” by Evan Stone

time: 41:03

size: 37.6 Mb

rating: PG (Our song has a rude word for “poop,” and we talk about sexual double-entendres.)

Ben Thomas
“Whatever Stupid” (mp3)
from “The Mystagogue”
(Origin Records)

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Natalie
“Whatever” (mp3)
from “Rock Me”
(Bright Pink Music)

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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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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

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.)

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)

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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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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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.)

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.)
Emelee
“Head Over Heels” (mp3)
from “Kiss”
(Barak Entertainment)

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Keith Bear
“Mandan Heartbreak Song” (mp3)
from “Earthlodge”
(Makoché Music)

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Dave thanks Michael, Tim, Emma, and Clint for their support through their PayPal donations to the show. (See the button on the right-hand navigation column of our web page.) (2:00)

Rhetoric, dialectic, syllogism and enthymeme defined and illustrated. Howard’s major source is Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student by Edward P. J. Corbett. (2:26)

Music bumper from “Road to Rhodes” by Scott Helm. (10:44)

Modes of persuasion in contemporary discourse: Limbaugh/Moore vs. Obama/Huckabee (11:26)

Song: “Liar” by Shoestring Strap (19:15)

Rude word of the week: bullshit artist (22:34)

Music bumper from “Telepop” by The Jerrys. (27:09)

Anticipation of part 2: figures of speech and rhetorical techniques (27:56)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network

Theme music by Kick the Cat

time: 35:07

size: 36.8 Mb

rating: PG-13 (Our Rude Word would probably get you sent to the principal’s office in a U.S. middle school.)

Dave reads and responds to emails from Hillary, Idiosyncratic Idiot, Chris, Rob, and Donna. (3:10)

A bald-faced solicitation of your donations through our PayPal button. (See the right-hand navigation column on our website.) (15:47)

Shows we hope to do soon: rhetorical devices, many peoples divided by a common language, and the languages we teach. (16:59)

Theme music by Kick the Cat

time: 20:55

size: 19.2 Mb

rating: G. This week’s show is just a response to our listeners’ very courteous and decorous emails.

We are currently somewhat speechless because of overwork. (2:02)

Speechlessness: when words fail us. (3:33)

Music bumper from “Silence” by Caitlyn Smith. (10:29)

Silence: sometimes empty, sometimes expressive (11:42)

Song: “Silence” by Shannon Hurley (19:48)

Rude words of the week: “dum-dum” (23:43)

Music bumper from “Silence Speaks” by Rhymz Suhreal. (28:16)

The silent treatment: silence as a tool, and as a weapon (29:16)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network

Theme music by Kick the Cat

Closing music from “Grapes” by Evan Stone

time: 34:11

size: 31.3 Mb

rating: G (Silence is powerful, but by itself it is usually inoffensive.)

Religious words as they are re-appropriated into everyday life. Thanks to EJ for suggesting this topic, and letting us know about the technology evangelists. (1:58)

Howard Shepherd tells us about an interesting blog at No Thirst Software. (9:16)

Music bumper from “Faith” by Greg Federico. (14:32)

Secular shifts in meaning of some religious words (15:20)

Song: “Bad Religion” by Jimmie Bratcher (19:20)

Rude words of the week: “holy cow,” “holy Moses,” “holy smoke,” and “holy crap” (22:46)

Music bumper from “God Frequency Live” by Without Malice. (27:16)

Phrases from religion that are re-purposed in common speech (28:00)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network

Theme music by Kick the Cat

Closing music from “Grapes” by Evan Stone

time: 35:17

size: 32.3 Mb

rating: PG (Not very rude, really–although one of our Rude Words suggests another ruder word.)

Listener feedback (2:22)

Eke-names, mascots, and a shout-out to a former student (5:18)

Music bumper from “Grapes” by Evan Stone. (17:34)

Monikers–deliberately chosen or applied names (18:23)

Song: “Familar Names, Familiar Games” by Doug McLeod (22:50)

Rude word of the week: your worst nickname (27:05)

Music bumper from “Melancolica” by Mauricio Cuburu. (30:12)

Nicknames–conferred on us often without our consent, and frequently expressive of relationships (30:59)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network

Theme music by Kick the Cat

time: 40:10

size: 36.8 Mb

rating: PG (The president of the United States called his former chief of staff a rude nickname–and we cite it!)

Oratory, rhetoric, and forensics (2:02)

Music bumper from “Forensic” by Nick Murray (14:29)

“Everyday” public speakers: teachers, podcasters, managers, and toasters (15:10)

Song: “Beer Toast” by Bobby Chitwood (25:43)

Rude word of the week: “rabble-rouser” (29:18)

Music bumper from “Rendered Speechless” by Briareus (34:02)

How to improve your public speaking: our humble advice (34:41)

Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network

Theme music by Kick the Cat

Closing music from “Grapes” by Evan Stone

time: 43:16

size: Mb 39.6

rating: PG-13 (Our featured song is an unabashed celebration of alcohol consumption.)

Emails and voice messages from Angy, Joel, MrGraphxFargo, Ken, and Ric (2:33)

Change in our lives, and the continuum of change and transition (5:51)

Music bumper from “Ockham’s Shaving Kit” by Geo