The Word Nerds

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: 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: 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.)

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.)
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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Rhetoric, part 1: Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd explore the difference between rhetoric and dialectic. They invoke Plato, Aristotle, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Moore.

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.)

2008 New Year’s special edition: Dave Shepherd sends New Year’s greetings from the Word Nerds team, and responds to listener feedback.

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.

Silence and Speechlessness: Howard Chang and Dave Shepherd sit in silence for a few seconds–and then find that they have something to say after all. They explore speechlessness and silence.

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: Barbara Shepherd and Dave Shepherd look deep within their souls–without proselytizing–as they talk about the connection between religious language and everyday language.

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.)