Say What

I have a little surprise. Today I'm bringing you the first full episode of my new show, "Say What The Podcast", for word nerds and history geeks. Enjoy!

Come and hang out on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/saywhatthepodcast

You can follow for free on your favourite listening app HERE
Please share and leave us a review on your favourite podcast app including Apple - it makes it easier for others to find the us.

Sound engineering and original music by Jeff Willis. You can find his tunes on Spotify and iTunes

It's the most hashtagged flavour of icecream, the second most expensive spices in the word, and it's much maligned. How did vanilla go from being a rare orchid that, to this day, is hand-pollinated, to meaning boring? And what does it have to do with bondage? We'll find out in this episode.

Join me on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/saywhatthepodcast

It's unRipe's 1st Birthday! And I have a little surprise. Today I'm bringing you a taste of my new show, "Say What The Podcast", for word nerds and history geeks. Enjoy!

Come and hang out on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/saywhatthepodcast

You can follow for free on your favourite listening app HERE
Please share and leave us a review on your favourite podcast app including Apple - it makes it easier for others to find the us.

Sound engineering and original music by Jeff Willis. You can find his tunes on Spotify and iTunes

Produced by Jo Vraca

Hi word nerds and history geeks, you’re tuned into Say What.

I’m Jo Vraca and each episode, I’m going to rub shoulders with the glitterati of language where we’ll learn that some of the more colourful, and even, dare I say it, humdrum words that we use every day have remarkable origins. From true crime to music and pop culture, religion to social movements…

Where do words come from?

Who came up with them?

Who policies them?

What is the secret history of words?

And it’s not just the origins that I’m going to explore. I will look into how these everyday words came to mean what they do today. So we’ll be rocking through dictionaries AND encyclopedias exploring the what, when, how, who and most definitely the why of words.

Like vanilla. How did a flavouring that is use in cakes and icecreams come to mean, in some circles boring, hum-drum, run-of-the-mill (and yes, we’ll be talking about bondage and S&M for this one).

How did vanilla come to mean “basic” when the actual vanilla pod is one of the most expensive spices in the world, requires bees and hummingbirds to pollinate, and only grows in very select climates?

And how about spinster? Today it’s come to mean a sad and miserable unmarried childless woman (and I have a bit to say about that!) but did you know that a spinster was once an independent, unmarried working woman? And let’s not forget that one of the fiercest queens England was a celebrated spinster (and possibly a virgin).

And in today’s age of qanon, I’ll tell you how we came to use the term Tin Foil Hat to refer to conspiracy theories. Jack Black will make an appearance in this story.

And have I mentioned quarantine? Now that’s a history I can’t wait to share with you.

And we’ll launch a grenade at problematic words that just need to be buried.

Of course, as an Italian (Sicilain, actually) living in Australia, we’ll head down the slippery slope of Aussie vernacular because it’s often hilarious.

So who am I to talk about language? I’m a lover and a fighter. I’ll start and end sentences with prepositions because when we know the rules, we can break them.

I may be a grammar autocrat, but I’m not here to teach grammar and tell you that what you’re saying is wrong. But don’t use whom incorrectly, because that is one word that drives me crazy.

I’ll say cactuses and octopuses knowing I’ll be ridiculed because I know what’s right.

I’m a Sicilian living in Australia, I only spoke Italian, Sicilian actually, until I started school, and I went on to study French, Spanish, Italian and French linguistics, so I’m the perfect wanker for this task.

So… Join me as I travel along the road of words and sayings that we use, pretty much on the daily, but that we never really spare a thought for.

Do you have a word or phrase that you always wondered about and wish someone else would do the research on? Send me an email.

You can also find me on Instagram as saywhatthepodcast where I’ll share even more of my daily encounters with words and the people who butcher them.

In Part 2, Jeff (my husband) and I answer your questions about how we live our lives as a childless couple. Like, what brings us joy? How have we managed not to get divorced? Do we actually work together every day? What happened to our friends when they had kids? And, what does the future look like?

Join the Conversation:
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/unripepodcast
Private Group: @unripecommunitygroup – https://www.facebook.com/groups/unripecommunitygroup
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/unripecommunity

Please share and leave us a review on your favourite podcast app including: Apple and Spotify
Or find your favourite listening app HERE

Sound engineering and original music by Jeff Willis. You can find his tunes on Spotify and iTunes

Produced by Jo Vraca

I got really curious about some of the things that we childless women are told, like how we’re selfish, we don’t know what true love is unless we’ve had a baby, and so on. Some people in the childless community refer to these as “bingos”. What are bingos?

In Part 1 of 2, I tell you my story and how came to be (happily) childless after infertility. Plus, my husband, Jeff, who is also the sound engineer for the show, talks about his life in the States, and how he sees our childless life. I learn a few new things about him, after almost 28 years and I tell about the moment he broke my heart at the end of our IVF and fertility journey.

Join the Conversation:
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/unripepodcast
Private Group: @unripecommunitygroup – https://www.facebook.com/groups/unripecommunitygroup
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/unripecommunity

Please share and leave us a review on your favourite podcast app including: Apple and Spotify
Or find your favourite listening app HERE

Sound engineering and original music by Jeff Willis. You can find his tunes on Spotify and iTunes

Produced by Jo Vraca

In the childless and childfree community, we talk about building a community with adults, where we’re not always surrounded by babies, kids, pregnant women and people talking about their kids. And it’s not just the childfree who are looking for a reprieve. Even us childless folk talk about adult only spaces – like planes, restaurants, resorts, you get it. 

What If I told you there is a perfect adult only space, a real community where nobody brings their kids, it’s unlikely there will be any pregnant women, and, actually, nobody talks about their kids at all?

What if I told you that these communities could be found everywhere. In your neighbourhood. Maybe even your street. 

Would that group pique your curiosity? I mean, an adult only space where kids are pretty much never mentioned? Would you want to join that group?

In this episode, I speak with Joy Sharp, originally from Israel, about her 9 IVF cycles, divorce and her rebirth as a rope master in the Kink community.

You can find our more about the kink community over at fetlife.com
Listen to Joy's Podcast, Transcendental Kink HERE
Join the "Friends with Benefits" Group HERE
You can find our more about the kink community over at fetlife.com

Join the Conversation:
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/unripecommunity
Private Group: @unripecommunitygroup – https://www.facebook.com/groups/unripecommunitygroup
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/unripecommunity

Please share and leave us a review on your favourite podcast app including: Apple and Spotify
Or find your favourite listening app HERE

Sound engineering and original music by Jeff Willis. You can find his tunes on Spotify and iTunes

Produced by Jo Vraca

When I first heard about childless stepmums, I thought to myself, how lucky! You may not have had your own, but here you are, an instant family.

But then I started hearing from women who have this exact experience and, honestly, it seems so fraught and complex. Not only are you dealing with, potentially, angry exes, but kids who don’t really want a new parent. Plus, having someone else’s family doesn’t take away from the grief of not having your own biological family. 

On today’s episode, I speak with Sue Fagalde Lick, who wrote about her experience as a childless stepmother in the memoir “Childless by Marriage”, based on her blog by the same name, which she started in 2007. On both the blog and in the book, Sue talks about what it’s like to raise someone else’s kids, knowing that your husband doesn’t want any more.

You can find Sue on Instagram: @suefagaldelick/
Sue's Blog: https://childlessbymarriageblog.com/author/suelick/
Sue's books on Amazon

Join the Conversation:
 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/unripecommunity
Private Group: @unripecommunitygroup – https://www.facebook.com/groups/unripecommunitygroup
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/unripecommunity

Please share and leave us a review on your favourite podcast app including: Apple and Spotify

Sound engineering and original music by Jeff Willis. You can find his tunes on Spotify and iTunes

Produced by Jo Vraca

Tanya Hubbard and her husband live in Vancouver Canada and, like Australia, they have a robust public healthcare system with long waiting periods for elective, non-emergency surgery – and it certainly doesn’t over IVF. Tanya explains that, like so many of us, she didn’t start trying to get pregnant until her mid to late 30s, and by that time, she learned she had a massive fibroid that needed attention before she could even think of trying got carry a baby.

As always, with guests, I’m curious about what brought them to this space, how they came to be childless not by choice, and what they’re doing instead.

In today's episode, I talk to Tanya about  Post Traumatic Growth, Toxic Positivity, giant fibroids, being one of the 30% of childless women with unexplained infertility, and how she processes her childlessness while helping her clients navigate theirs.

You can find Tanya on Instagram: @tanyahubbardcounselling
Tanya offers FREE 15-minute consultations. You can check her out over at: https://www.tanyahubbard.com/

Join the Conversation:
 Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/unripecommunity
Private Group: @unripecommunitygroup – https://www.facebook.com/groups/unripecommunitygroup
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/unripecommunity

Please share and leave us a review on your favourite podcast app including: Apple and Spotify

Sound engineering and original music by Jeff Willis. You can find his tunes on Spotify and iTunes

Produced by Jo Vraca