Tag Archives: podcast

The sound of Povember

Not everyone who reads Sesquiotica may know that for the last year and more I’ve been record an audio version of every new word tasting and similar article I post. I usually don’t have the time to record it for a few days after posting the original article, and I always release it early for Patreon subscribers first before putting it on SoundCloud and embedding it in the article. So by the time I add it to the article, most subscribers have moved on. But it’s there, waiting for you to come back and listen to it whenever you want.

I’ve finally finished adding all my audio versions of my Povember poems. To save you the hassle of looking them all up, I’ve embedded them all below. Click on any one to listen to it! Continue reading

The many names of Christmas: the podcast

A couple of years ago, I did an article for The Week on the names different languages have for Christmas, and how many of them have no “Christ” in them. This year we’ve made a podcast of it, so you can hear me actually say all these different names. It’s not that long…

Almost every language has a word for ‘Christmas.’ Few reference Christ.

Hulk smash puny podcast!

A while back, I did an article for The Week on the grammar of the Incredible Hulk. My producer at the week thought it would make a fun podcast, so she trimmed it a bit, I recorded it, she edited it with some other clips, and now you can listen to it:

A linguist’s guide to HULK SMASH

Beatboxing: the podcast

A couple of years ago, I did an article on beatboxing for The Week – how much of it is made of tweaked-up speech sounds. We’ve dug it up and turned it into a podcast now. If you have seven minutes and are curious, give it a listen:

A phonological description of beatbox noises

Talking turkey

Last year I did an article on what the turkey is called in different languages – and why. This year we (specifically my splendid producer at The Week, Lauren Hansen, and I) made an audio version of it. So you get to hear me saying the words for ‘turkey’ in all those different languages. Give it a listen!

How the Thanksgiving turkey was named after the country Turkey

 

They made a podcast. I know, right?

Sometimes when the weather gets so summery I just get so busy summering that I forget things I did a while ago and sent off. I know right? Well, here’s one: a podcast version of my article on “I know, right?” It’s a nice reminder of how much of what we say is verbal gesture rather than literal denotation.

‘I know, right?’: The anatomy of a wonderfully nonsensical phrase

The Donald: The podcast

You may recall that I recently wrote an article on Donald Trump’s language techniques. We’ve made that into a podcast now, so you can listen to it rather than just reading it – if you can stand the sound of Trump’s voice.

How Donald Trump hypnotized America

 

Here’s me saying some words that no one says “correctly”

My latest podcast for The Week comes from my article on words we don’t say the “proper” (unexpected) way anymore. In case my pronunciation guides didn’t communicate well, now you can hear me saying them:

5 words we’ve forgotten how to pronounce

 

2050: The podcast

Remember that article I did on what American English will sound like in 2050? The one I had radio interviews about? We’ve made a podcast of it:

What Americans will sound like in 2050

 

A podcast? Yup.

My recent article for The Week on yup, nope, and related words has become a podcast. As always, my producer, Lauren Hansen, has added some extra audio illustrations. Give it a listen if you have five minutes:

Why do we have so many words for yes and no?