Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics
Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne
109 episodes
1 month ago
We often invoke the idea of language by showing the mouth or the hands. But the nose is important to both signed and spoken languages: it can be a resonating chamber that air can get shaped by, as well as a salient location for the hand to be in contact with.
In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about the nose! We talk about why noses are so popular cross-linguistically (seriously, nasals are in 98% of the world's languages), what the nose looks like inside (it's bigger than you think!), and increasingly cursed methods that linguists have tried to use to see inside the nose (from giving yourself the worst headache to, yes, sticking earbuds up your nostrils). We also share our favourite obscure nose-related idioms, map the surprisingly large distribution of the "cock-a-snook" gesture, and try to pin down why the nose feels like an intrinsically funny part of the body.
Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice: https://pod.link/1186056137/episode/dGFnOnNvdW5kY2xvdWQsMjAxMDp0cmFja3MvMjE5MjExNjA3MQ
Read the transcript here: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/797612331588812800/transcript-episode-109-on-the-nose
Announcements:
We're 9 years old! For our anniversary, we're hope you could leave us a rating our review on your favourite podcast app to help people who encounter the show want to click "play" for the first time: we'll read out a few of our favourite reviews at the end of the show over the next year so this could be your words!
People have responded super enthusiastically to the jazzed up version of our logo that we sent to patrons earlier this year! So we’ve now made this design available on some very cute merch. Wear your Lingthusiasm fandom on a shirt or a mug or a notebook to help spot fellow linguistics nerds! https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/172870982
We've also made a new greeting card design that says {Merry/marry/Mary} Holidays! Whether you say these words the same or differently, we hope this card leads to joyful discussions of linguistic variation: https://redbubble.com/shop/ap/172871033
In this month’s bonus episode we get enthusiastic about our favourite words ending in nym! We talk about We talk about how there are so many kinds of nym words that are weirder and wackier than classic synonyms and antonyms, how even synonyms and antonyms aren't quite as straightforward as they seem, and why retronyms make people mad but are Gretchen's absolute favourite. Plus: a tiny quiz segment on our favourite obscure and cool-sounding nyms!.
Join us on Patreon now to get access to this and 100+ other bonus episodes. You’ll also get access to the Lingthusiasm Discord server where you can chat with other language nerds.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/140247095
For links to things mentioned in this episode: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/797612132291182592/lingthusiasm-episode-109-on-the-nose-how-the
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We often invoke the idea of language by showing the mouth or the hands. But the nose is important to both signed and spoken languages: it can be a resonating chamber that air can get shaped by, as well as a salient location for the hand to be in contact with.
In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about the nose! We talk about why noses are so popular cross-linguistically (seriously, nasals are in 98% of the world's languages), what the nose looks like inside (it's bigger than you think!), and increasingly cursed methods that linguists have tried to use to see inside the nose (from giving yourself the worst headache to, yes, sticking earbuds up your nostrils). We also share our favourite obscure nose-related idioms, map the surprisingly large distribution of the "cock-a-snook" gesture, and try to pin down why the nose feels like an intrinsically funny part of the body.
Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice: https://pod.link/1186056137/episode/dGFnOnNvdW5kY2xvdWQsMjAxMDp0cmFja3MvMjE5MjExNjA3MQ
Read the transcript here: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/797612331588812800/transcript-episode-109-on-the-nose
Announcements:
We're 9 years old! For our anniversary, we're hope you could leave us a rating our review on your favourite podcast app to help people who encounter the show want to click "play" for the first time: we'll read out a few of our favourite reviews at the end of the show over the next year so this could be your words!
People have responded super enthusiastically to the jazzed up version of our logo that we sent to patrons earlier this year! So we’ve now made this design available on some very cute merch. Wear your Lingthusiasm fandom on a shirt or a mug or a notebook to help spot fellow linguistics nerds! https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/172870982
We've also made a new greeting card design that says {Merry/marry/Mary} Holidays! Whether you say these words the same or differently, we hope this card leads to joyful discussions of linguistic variation: https://redbubble.com/shop/ap/172871033
In this month’s bonus episode we get enthusiastic about our favourite words ending in nym! We talk about We talk about how there are so many kinds of nym words that are weirder and wackier than classic synonyms and antonyms, how even synonyms and antonyms aren't quite as straightforward as they seem, and why retronyms make people mad but are Gretchen's absolute favourite. Plus: a tiny quiz segment on our favourite obscure and cool-sounding nyms!.
Join us on Patreon now to get access to this and 100+ other bonus episodes. You’ll also get access to the Lingthusiasm Discord server where you can chat with other language nerds.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/140247095
For links to things mentioned in this episode: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/797612132291182592/lingthusiasm-episode-109-on-the-nose-how-the
106: Is a hotdog a sandwich? The problem with definitions
Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics
33 minutes 32 seconds
4 months ago
106: Is a hotdog a sandwich? The problem with definitions
We asked you if a burrito was a sandwich, and you said 'no'. We asked you if ravioli was a sandwich and you said 'heck no'. We asked you if an ice cream sandwich was a sandwich and things...started to get a little murky. This isn't just a sandwich problem: you can also have similar arguments about what counts as a cup, a bird, a fish, furniture, art, and more!
So wait...does any word mean anything anymore? Have we just broken language?? It's okay, linguistics has a solution!
In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about why deciding what's in and what's out of the definition of a word is so dang tricky, why people love to argue about it, and how prototype theory solves all the "is X a Y" arguments once and for all.
Note that this episode originally aired as Bonus 9: Is X a sandwich? Solving the word-meaning argument once and for all. We’ve added an updated announcements section to the top and a few new things about prototypes and meaning to the end. We’re excited to share one of our favourite bonus episodes from Patreon with a broader audience, while at the same time giving everyone who works on the show a bit of a break.
Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice: https://episodes.fm/1186056137/episode/dGFnOnNvdW5kY2xvdWQsMjAxMDp0cmFja3MvMjEzMjEwMjkwNw
Read the transcript here: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/789370350172602368/transcript-episode-106-is-x-a-sandwich-bonus
Announcements:
In this month’s bonus episode we get enthusiastic about fictional gestures with Eric Molinsky, host of Imaginary Worlds, a podcast about sci-fi, fantasy and other genres of speculative fiction! We talk about the Vulcan salute from Star Trek, the Wakanda Forever salute from Black Panther, and the three-finger Hunger Games salute, and how all three have crossed over with additional symbolism into the real world. We also talk about gestures that have crossed over in the other direction, from the real-world origins of the Vulcan salute in a Jewish blessing, the two-finger blessing in the Foundation tv series from classical Latin and Greek oratory via Christian traditions, as well as religious gesture in the Penric and Desdemona series, smiles and shrugs in A Memory Called Empire, and more.
Join us on Patreon now to get access to this and 100+ other bonus episodes. You’ll also get access to the Lingthusiasm Discord server where you can chat with other language nerds: https://www.patreon.com/posts/133185606
For links to things mentioned in this episode: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/789369946731937792/episode-106-is-a-hotdog-a-sandwich-the-problem
Lingthusiasm - A podcast that's enthusiastic about linguistics
We often invoke the idea of language by showing the mouth or the hands. But the nose is important to both signed and spoken languages: it can be a resonating chamber that air can get shaped by, as well as a salient location for the hand to be in contact with.
In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about the nose! We talk about why noses are so popular cross-linguistically (seriously, nasals are in 98% of the world's languages), what the nose looks like inside (it's bigger than you think!), and increasingly cursed methods that linguists have tried to use to see inside the nose (from giving yourself the worst headache to, yes, sticking earbuds up your nostrils). We also share our favourite obscure nose-related idioms, map the surprisingly large distribution of the "cock-a-snook" gesture, and try to pin down why the nose feels like an intrinsically funny part of the body.
Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice: https://pod.link/1186056137/episode/dGFnOnNvdW5kY2xvdWQsMjAxMDp0cmFja3MvMjE5MjExNjA3MQ
Read the transcript here: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/797612331588812800/transcript-episode-109-on-the-nose
Announcements:
We're 9 years old! For our anniversary, we're hope you could leave us a rating our review on your favourite podcast app to help people who encounter the show want to click "play" for the first time: we'll read out a few of our favourite reviews at the end of the show over the next year so this could be your words!
People have responded super enthusiastically to the jazzed up version of our logo that we sent to patrons earlier this year! So we’ve now made this design available on some very cute merch. Wear your Lingthusiasm fandom on a shirt or a mug or a notebook to help spot fellow linguistics nerds! https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/172870982
We've also made a new greeting card design that says {Merry/marry/Mary} Holidays! Whether you say these words the same or differently, we hope this card leads to joyful discussions of linguistic variation: https://redbubble.com/shop/ap/172871033
In this month’s bonus episode we get enthusiastic about our favourite words ending in nym! We talk about We talk about how there are so many kinds of nym words that are weirder and wackier than classic synonyms and antonyms, how even synonyms and antonyms aren't quite as straightforward as they seem, and why retronyms make people mad but are Gretchen's absolute favourite. Plus: a tiny quiz segment on our favourite obscure and cool-sounding nyms!.
Join us on Patreon now to get access to this and 100+ other bonus episodes. You’ll also get access to the Lingthusiasm Discord server where you can chat with other language nerds.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/140247095
For links to things mentioned in this episode: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/797612132291182592/lingthusiasm-episode-109-on-the-nose-how-the
