Get the Word! with Mike Butler

This is a special episode. The word we'll be picking apart today is 'nostalgia'. But this isn't your typical Get the Word! episode. It's an interview with the great Naomi Carmack of the Dope Nostalgia podcast. We discuss the origin and history of the word 'nostalgia', as well as what it means to us, and how it has shaped us and culture in general. We also discuss the music artist Morrissey quite a bit, as that is the tie-in to her podcast, Dope Nostalgia, about 90's music and culture. Find links below to Naomi's podcast, as well as the version of the interview on her end, which includes some Morrissey tunes. Sorry, there is no audio transcript for this episode.

Hey everyone! Mike here about to tell everyone to go eat the rich. Now before you go on assuming that this podcast has totally just gone off the rails and has turned into my soapbox for spewing my views on oligarchy within an ever growing destructive, unjust and immoral global system of capitalism, well… BEFORE you assume that, consider this: 

There is an interesting history to this phrase that dates all the way back to the French Revolution. It’s still an etymology episode.

But yes, I will admit, I’ve been thinking a lot about this phrase and inequality in recent weeks, after seeing headlines about billionaires launching their rockets in space for what amounts to little more than cosmic joyrides...

Bonjour fellow word nerds. It’s Mike. I apologize already to any of my French listeners. Bonjour and Bon Voyage will be pretty much the only French words I speak today. I also apologize for starting right off the bat with the most stereotypical French music I could find. In all reality, I love French culture, French films and I love the influence that French has had on the English language. 

In English we see many words that have derived from French throughout the centuries, of course, but we also sometimes use words and expressions when speaking English that are taken directly from French. Déjà vu comes to my mind right away. This term appears in English dictionaries, and is taken directly from French meaning ‘already seen’. Déjà vu comes to my mind right away. This term appears in English dictionaries, and is taken directly from French meaning ‘already seen’. 

The full audio transcript is now available exclusively to Patreon supporters of The English Sessions: www.patreon.com/theenglishsessions

Greetings nerds. It’s Mike, host of Get the Word! Don’t worry, I’m a nerd too so… I mean it as a term of endearment. I’ve always been a nerd. I guess it was just my fate. Or was it my destiny? Hmmm. In this episode we’ll dive into both words to figure out the best word to choose. 

In a recent session with a student of mine, I was asked the question: “What is the difference between fate and destiny?”. I didn’t have a good answer! I felt as dumb as a computer terminal with no independent processing capability. 

I felt as dumb as the contestants on the great trivia podcast Go Fact Yourself during their What’s the Difference round. Big thanks to Helen Hong and J. Keith van Straaten over at Go Fact Yourself for plugging Get the Word! in a recent episode. I paid them to, but either way much appreciated.

AUDIO TRANSCRIPT: https://www.englishsessionswithmike.com/2021/09/get-word-podcast-episode-fate-or-destiny.html

Hi, everyone. It’s Mike. I’m going to talk today about the word gaslight. The term, as a verb, as an action, is no laughing matter, so I’m not going to joke around much in today’s episode. Gaslighting is very real and many have gone through it. Unfortunately, it’s often hard to know that it is happening to you. It is a form of manipulation through psychological means whereby the abuser convinces the victim into questioning their own sanity. Its motivation often centers around harmful and unethical power dynamics and is a means of controlling another human being. 

Many have heard this term before, but did you know that the term comes from a popular work of fiction from not that long ago in the grand scheme of things?

It’s Mike. I was just gabbing recently about how I should probably start covering words and phrases that are trending right now in popular media. “What a great way to get the word out about Get the Word!”, I thought to myself. People are already hearing a word or phrase being used all the time right now, so they will be more interested in learning about the origin and history of that word or phrase specifically. A great idea indeed. It would be a great thing to do, sure...

Ahoy there all my nerdy friends. It’s Mike. Fancy spotting you here in the endless podcast sea. Today we’re talking about an idiom, or idiomatic expression. What’s that? It’s a phrase with a meaning that is not clear just looking at the individual words, or by its literal meaning. My Two Cents was another episode about an idiomatic expression. Today since we’re here floating on the waters of the sea of etymology, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the origin of the phrase ‘ships passing in the night’.

Hi everyone, it’s Mike. Today we’re talking about a word that most would argue is definitely past its peak popularity. Groovy. We’ll look at the interesting origin of this word and also why we have seen a resurgence in popularity of the word groovy over recent decades. 

Let’s start with the definition. The most common uses of groovy are standing in for words like excellent, enjoyable, exciting…. There are about a million synonyms for groovy, but I’ll narrow it down to just some of my favorites: awesome; dynamite; cool; primo; radical; righteous; stellar. You get the idea...

Make sure to go to the website, ( www.englishsessionswithmike.com ) for some embedded videos of songs mentioned in the podcast today, and for the audio transcript, as always. 

Hello everyone. It’s Mike, your host of Get the Word! an etymology podcast for word nerds. I’m also an ESL teacher. I guide people through their journey of learning the English language. On a regular basis, I end up being the one learning new words from my students. Today’s word for our podcast episode is one of those words that I learned from a student of mine. Ben. 

Audio transcript: https://www.englishsessionswithmike.com/2021/07/get-word-podcast-episode-have-you-been.html