Getting Down & Wordy

Today we are joined by Heddwen Newton. Heddwen is half Dutch, half British, and writes two entertaining newsletters about language. 

English and the Dutch is about how Dutch people speak English (hint: sometimes badly), and also dives into interesting etymologies that link the two languages. 

Heddwen has been writing about difficult-to-translate Dutch words and idioms since 2017 on her blog HoezegjeinhetEngels.nl.

English in Progress lists neologisms and Gen Z slang in a way that is funny but also lexicographically sound.

And we are talking about the Dutch influence on English including loan words and cultural intersections. Obviously we're pairing this with Tyler the Creator because, well, he made a song with a Dutch title, Yonkers. Find out what Yonkers means in the podcast.

For Eurovision this week we talk about the Netherlands' 2024 performer Joost Klein (and also learn how to say Joost Klein), and we talk about the aftermath and resolution to the controversy that happened with him during Eurovision.

Find Heddwen and her content at these links:

https://englishandthedutch.substack.com/

https://englishinprogress.substack.com/

https://hoezegjeinhetengels.nl/

Find us on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gettingdownandwordy/

And email us at [email protected]

Huge thanks to Patsy Walker for the use of our theme song “Who’s Wordy Now”!

This week’s promoted podcast is Thick Thighs & Creepy Vibes. Find them anywhere you get podcasts or at this link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thick-thighs-and-creepy-vibes/id1736179086

Find them, us, and lots of other great podcasts on our podcast network podmoth.network

With the diabetes and the tooth decay and so on, what's scarier than sugary sweetness? Waking up early, according to Hozier!

We talk about how to say Hozier, and other things about this artist such as his penchant for activism.

And we discuss the word sweet, its origins and etymology.

In Eurovision, we discuss Portugal's 2024 entry "Grito" by Iolanda, because it's Halloween, and grito means scream, sort of.

Find us on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gettingdownandwordy/

And email us at [email protected]

Huge thanks to Patsy Walker for the use of our theme song “Who’s Wordy Now”!

This week’s promoted podcast is Crime & Spirits. Find them anywhere you get podcasts or at this link: https://linktr.ee/crimeandspiritspodcast

Find them, us, and lots of other great podcasts on our podcast network podmoth.network

We discuss the Bruce Springsteen of Vermont, Noah Kahan, and that one song he has that really sticks in your head. Also, what is stick season anyway?

We talk about the word stick and related words. And, no spoilers, but there are a lot of related words. We also look at some stick-based idioms like "more than you can shake a stick at", "the short end of the stick", "stuck up", and "sticks and stones".

For Eurovision, we discuss Georgia's 2024 song "Firefighter" by Nutsa Buzaladze. And we discuss the months of the Georgian calendar.

Find us on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gettingdownandwordy/

And email us at [email protected]

Huge thanks to Patsy Walker for the use of our theme song “Who’s Wordy Now”!

This week’s promoted podcast is Speak of the Devil. Find them anywhere you get podcasts or at this link: https://linktr.ee/speakofthedevil
Find them, us, and lots of other great podcasts on our podcast network podmoth.network

Sacre Bleu, it's the return of Billie Eilish, and she's singing in French! Oh wait she's not, just the song title is in French. Well anyway! C'est la vie.

We talk about the rise of queerness in music. And then we talk about French, the language of love. Why is it thought of as the most romantic language?

For Eurovision, we discuss Luxembourg's 2024 song "Fighter" by TALI, and the Luxembourgian language's word for love.

Find us on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gettingdownandwordy/

And email us at [email protected]

Huge thanks to Patsy Walker for the use of our theme song “Who’s Wordy Now”!

This week’s promoted podcast is Brutal, Bizarre, and Boozy. Find them anywhere you get podcasts or at this link: https://open.spotify.com/show/44Z9VDxjEVGpbPBkYzQorh?si=0556a1a9b65048bd&nd=1&dlsi=44ebdc801f444221
Find them, us, and lots of other great podcasts on our podcast network podmoth.network

Today we're talking about a super sunny song and the darkness that lies within.

And we're pairing that with the topic of covert hate speech, basically. A lot of numbers. Bigots seem to really like numbers. Kind of good to know what the tainted numbers are so you don't accidentally use them, just saying.

For Eurovision, we are finally talking about the winner of Eurovision, Switzerland's Nemo, and their song "The Code".

Find us on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gettingdownandwordy/

And email us at [email protected]

Huge thanks to Patsy Walker for the use of our theme song “Who’s Wordy Now”!

This week’s promoted podcast is Haunted Moonlight. Find them anywhere you get podcasts or at this link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/haunted-moonlight/id1703911242
Find them, us, and lots of other great podcasts on our podcast network podmoth.network

We're talking about perhaps the greatest Metallica song, probably the most listened to now that it got the Stranger Things bump.

And we're talking about "puppet". The word, the history, the creep factor, the surprising relevance and popularity of puppets today. If anything, they're more popular than ever before.

For Eurovision, we talk about Estonia's 2024 entry 5MIINUST and Puuluup ‘(nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi.’ Definitely in my (Russell's) top 3 favorite songs of the competition. This is also the last episode we recorded pre-Eurovision so after this one we'll finally know what the rest of the world has known for months regarding the winner, the controversies, etc.

This is of course our second episode on the topic of puppets. If you haven't listened to our interview with Matt Sandbank the puppeteer yet, go back and give that a listen before or after this one.

You can find Matt Sandbank at these links:

His instagram here: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/sandbank_shadow_factory/⁠

Or his website: ⁠http://www.sandbankshadowfactory.com/⁠

Find us on instagram here: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/gettingdownandwordy/⁠

And email us at ⁠[email protected]⁠

Huge thanks to Patsy Walker for the use of our theme song “Who’s Wordy Now”!

This week’s promoted podcast is Bad Acts. Find them anywhere you get podcasts or at this link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bad-acts-a-true-crime-podcast/id1538464479

Find them, us, and lots of other great podcasts on our podcast network ⁠podmoth.network

Next week's episode will be about the word "puppet", the etymology, history, and cultural stuff surrounding the word.

So this week, I am interviewing my favorite puppeteer, Matt Sandbank. Matt Sandbank does lightbox shadow puppetry. His shows are clever, poignant, and hilarious. He is based in North Carolina, but he does shows around the country.

We talk about his puppet work, and his ideas and views of puppetry.

You can find Matt Sandbank on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/sandbank_shadow_factory/

Or at his website: http://www.sandbankshadowfactory.com/

Find us on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gettingdownandwordy/

And email us at [email protected]

Huge thanks to Patsy Walker for the use of our theme song “Who’s Wordy Now”!

This week’s promoted podcast is Anything Bones. Find them anywhere you get podcasts or at this link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anything-bones/id1536352309

Find them, us, and lots of other great podcasts on our podcast network podmoth.network

We selected the cringiest musical artist we could think of to feature in our discussion of cringe. What is this complex emotion and how has it evolved? And where did the word come from? Is it an ideophone? What's an ideophone? We discuss it.

In Eurovision, we discuss Austria's 2024 song "We Will Rave" by a Kaleen.

Find us on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gettingdownandwordy/

And email us at [email protected]

Huge thanks to Patsy Walker for the use of our theme song “Who’s Wordy Now”!

This week’s promoted podcast is Haunted Apartment Complex. Find them anywhere you get podcasts or at this link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jack-billings-presents-haunted-apartment-complex/id1572711048
Find them, us, and lots of other great podcasts on our podcast network podmoth.network

Recently I got into the band Mannequin Pussy, and I thought it's interesting that they have trouble with censors in media and platforms such as Tiktok, for "pussy", a word that not that long ago was acceptable to use in any context because it had two meanings - cat and genitals. So we're exploring how it shifted over time from first meaning only cat, to then meaning cat and genitals, to now meaning only genitals. And now, it's even become grammaticized to a suffix in -ussy, as in bussy, pizussy, clussy, etc.

And what better song to represent pussy than Khia's "My Neck My Back"? Please, don't waste my timeussy, there is no better song.

In Eurovision we talk about the opposite of a pussy, a tower, with Poland's 2024 offering "The Tower" by Luna. And we talk about what Polish people call the female genitalia.

Find us on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gettingdownandwordy/

And email us at [email protected]

Huge thanks to Patsy Walker for the use of our theme song “Who’s Wordy Now”!

This week’s promoted podcast is Freaky Fridays. Find them anywhere you get podcasts or at this link: https://linktr.ee/freakyfridayspod
Find them, us, and lots of other great podcasts on our podcast network podmoth.network

Welp, we watched the musical Wonka movie. And one of us loved it and one of us did not. Which of us is which may not surprise you.

It's a "funny" movie with some funny words, so we thought we'd talk about what makes some words funny. We look at the discourse and research into what makes a word funny. And we list lots of examples of words that various people have pointed out as being funny words.

We also talk about Roald Dahl, a man who made a career out of making up funny sounding words.

In Eurovision, we discuss Spain's 2024 offering, "Zorra" by Nebulossa.

Find us on instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/gettingdownandwordy/

And email us at [email protected]

Huge thanks to Patsy Walker for the use of our theme song “Who’s Wordy Now”!

This week’s promoted podcast is Thick Thighs & Creepy Vibes. Find them anywhere you get podcasts or at this link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thick-thighs-and-creepy-vibes/id1736179086
Find them, us, and lots of other great podcasts on our podcast network podmoth.network