Episode 82: Plagues, with Moxie from Your Brain on Facts

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Transcript of this episode

Episode 79: Sex & Gender

Aven McMaster February 11, 2020

photo credit: Flickr user get directly down

We trace the etymologies and development of the words “sex” and “gender”, as well as words for women and men in Greek, Latin, and English, touching on Roman, Greek, and medieval English ideas about gender. Then we discuss the grammatical term “gender” and how it differs across languages around the world.

The History of Sex Podcast

The “Pink Lady” cocktail

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Episode 76: Do You Believe in Magic?

Aven McMaster October 31, 2019

Happy Halloween! This year we’re talking about the etymology and origins of “Magic”, the differences between religion and magic, Greek and Roman spells and curses, and some rather bizarre tales about Virgil & Aristotle.

Our “Magic” video

Cocktail: Black Magic

Religion in the Roman Empire, James B Rives, 2007

Arcana Mundi,Georg Luck, 2006

Tomyris with the head of Cyrus the Great

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Weird Sisters Blood & Hand Punch

Episode 73: Things Get Weird

Aven McMaster August 13, 2019

The Fates have decreed that it’s time for us to talk about the word “Weird”! We discuss its etymology, the concept of fate in the ancient and medieval world, whether mythical women really do usually appear in threes, and Shakespeare.

Twist of Fate cocktail

Shakespeare Not Stirred book

“Weird” video

“Does English have a future tense?” video

“Arrow” video

“As We Like It Podcast” – Macbeth episode

Chart of ‘strange’ vs ‘weird’ usage

Chart of ‘weird’, ‘uncanny’, ‘eerie’, & ‘unearthly’

More information about the Moirai

Hesiod passage about the Fates

Catullus 64

Theoi site for Greek mythology

Articles about WEIRD linguistics and WEIRD psychology

Professor Elemental “Everybody’s Weird”

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Sound Education podcasting conference

Episode 60: What We Did on Our Summer Vacation

Mark Sundaram August 24, 2018

We report on our trips to EduCon, VidCon, Iceland, & England. Lots of museums and historical places, and check out the web page for pictures of some of our favourite artifacts and images.

We Create Edu community

Travelling Etymologies: Names in Iceland and England

Golden Circle Tour

Volcano House

Westman Island Eruption

Penis Museum

Vagina Museum

Rodin and the Art of Ancient Greece

Earliest English Word video

Episode with James Andean

Sator square

Our friend Michael (Wombat)’s blog post about the Battle of Towton

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Medieval Pets by Kathleen Walker-Meikle

Episode 55: Our Pet Topic (part two, with cats)

Mark Sundaram March 21, 2018

In part two of our miniseries on pets, we cover cats, monkeys, birds, and more. Find out the surprising origins of the word for parrot, what medieval people named their cats, and what bird was symbolic of the Virgin Mary.

Show Notes

@AllEndlessKnot on Twitter

"Greek and Roman Household Pets", Francis D. Lazenby

Animals for Show and Pleasure in Ancient Rome, George Dennison

Companion Animals and Us: Exploring the Relationships Between People and Pets Anthony L. Podberscek, Elizabeth S. Paul, James A. Serpell, eds.

Our episode on farm animals

Paw prints on a manuscript

Mosaic from Istanbul (from Caitlin Green's blog)

Dr. Caitlin Green's blog

Medieval Pets by Kathleen Walker-Meikle

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Episode 54: Our Pet Topic (part one)

Mark Sundaram February 27, 2018

The Lady and the Unicorn, Desire (Musée de Cluny

What makes an animal a pet? Who kept pets in the ancient and medieval worlds? What kinds of animals were they? And why are all the words for pets in English of (mostly) unknown origin?! We start a mini two-part series with a general discussion of ancient and medieval pets, and then some great stories about some Very Good Dogs.

Show Notes

@AllEndlessKnot on Twitter

"Greek and Roman Household Pets", Francis D. Lazenby

Federico II Gonzaga by Titian

Odyssey, 17. 309-10

Martial, 1.109

Petronius, Satyricon, 71

The Lady and the Unicorn, Desire

Animals for Show and Pleasure in Ancient Rome, George Dennison

Companion Animals and Us: Exploring the Relationships Between People and Pets Anthony L. Podberscek, Elizabeth S. Paul, James A. Serpell, eds.

Full transcript of this episode

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Episode 44: "Us" & "Them" in the Ancient & Early English Worlds

Mark Sundaram October 13, 2017

What words did the Greeks, Romans, and early medieval English use to talk about different groups of people? What differences did they think were important? How do those compare to modern conceptions of ethnicity, national identity, or race? We try to give some basic background on this complicated question, starting with the etymology of the vocabulary and addressing some of the ways differences were conceptualized.

Show Notes

#2PodsADay

Video on the Anglo-Saxon Invasion, collaboration with Jabzy

Ethnicity in Herodotus--The Honest Entry

How is the Ancient Mediterranean Diverse If Everyone There Is "White"?

“Black Odysseus, White Caesar: When Did "White People" Become "White"?” James H. Dee. The Classical Journal. Vol. 99, No. 2 (Dec., 2003 - Jan., 2004), pp. 157-167

“Did ancient identity depend on ethnicity? A preliminary probe” Erich Gruen. Phoenix. Vol. 67, No. 1/2 (2013), pp. 1-22.

Were Medieval People Racist?

“Medieval and Modern Concepts of Race and Ethnicity” Robert Bartlett.

Caitlin Green’s blog, for general evidence of diversity in Britain

Race and Ethnicity in Anglo-Saxon Literature. Stephen Harris, Taylor & Francis, 2003.

Where the the term "White People" come from?

Colorlines in Classical North Africa

Episode 43: Hercules the Much-Filmed

Mark Sundaram September 27, 2017

Time to talk about the greatest hero of them all! Why are there so many movies about Hercules? Why do they all have lions and snakes in them, but no journeys to the underworld, and only a sprinkling of family murder? Who's the most Herculean Hercules, and how did Mr. Universe do in the role? And, most importantly, how much virtue is in every part of the mighty Hercules???

Show Notes

The Atlas Cocktail

Movies discussed:
Hercules, 1957, Steve Reeves
Hercules in New York, 1969, Arnold Schwarzenegger
The Adventures of Hercules, 1985, Lou Ferrigno
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, 1995-1999, Kevin Sorbo
Hercules, 1997, Disney, Animated
Hercules, 2005, Paul Telfer
Hercules, 2014, Dwayne Johnson
The Legend of Hercules, 2014, Kellan Lutz

Wyke, Maria. “Herculean Muscle!: The Classicizing Rhetoric of Bodybuilding.” Arion: A Journal of Humanities and the Classics, vol. 4, no. 3, 1997, pp. 51–79. JSTOR

Lexicon Valley Podcast -- Arrival episode

Episode 41: Arrival, Linguistics, & Time

Aven McMaster August 30, 2017

We're declaring this the first episode of Season 3 of the podcast! In this episode, long after everyone else has talked about it, we review the movie Arrival and discuss the linguistic and philosophical issues that it raises, including of course the infamous Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Oh, and check out our attempt at creating a theme cocktail!

Show Notes

Arrival

Talk the Talk Podcast -- Arrival episode

Lingthusiasm Podcast -- Arrival episode

LingSpace -- Arrival video

Anglo-Saxon Invasion video

Episode 36: Looking for the Legend in Guy Ritchie's King Arthur

Aven McMaster June 7, 2017

We discuss how the recent Guy Ritchie movie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword fits into the history of adaptations of the Arthur legend. What kind of Arthur does it present, how does it interact with the Arthurian tradition, and what themes does it explore? And who has the biggest...er...elephants?

Show Notes

"What is the Earliest English Word?" video

History of English podcast episode on the English King Arthur

Episode 33: Purple, Pink, & Brown

Aven McMaster April 28, 2017

Show Notes

We finish up our colour series (for now!) with a discussion of Purple, Pink, & Brown. From Phoenician shellfish, Virgil's Aeneas,& Propertius's Cynthia, to flowers, beavers, & bears, this episode covers a lot of ground. Let us know what fun colour facts we've missed, and what colourful topics you might like us to cover in the future!

Note: one area of discussion we rather left out is the place of purple in Byzantium/the Eastern Empire... maybe we’ll pick that up in the next episode briefly!

Talk the Talk Podcast

Let’s Talk Talk Podcast

Article on mealtime terms

Episode 27: Yellow & Orange

Aven McMaster January 31, 2017

We return to our series on colour words with a discussion of Yellow and Orange in Greek, Latin, & English. The Roman and medieval associations of the colours take us from a wedding hymn by Catullus to Mary Magdalene & pawnbrokers -- and finally to modern connections to cowboys and Cheetos.

Gastropod Ice cream episode

Show Notes

Words for Granted Podcast

Gagliardo Cocktail

Golden Dream Cocktail

Catullus poem 61 & English translation

Lexicon Valley episode on Orange

Ben Zimmer's Word Routes article on Orange

Episode 26: Rogue One

Aven McMaster January 13, 2017

We're joined by Sam McLean to discuss Rogue One's connections to Germanic heroism, Norse thautr, Roman epic, Terry Pratchett, heist films, & The Dirty Dozen. Following up last year's conversation about The Force Awakens, we're interested in seeing how the newest Star Wars film changes genres and develops new themes.

Episode 9: The Force Awakens

Show Notes

Sam McLean

British Naval History

Episode 23: Dirk Gently

Aven McMaster November 14, 2016

We discuss Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently novels, the 2010 BBC miniseries, and the new BBC America adaptation, with Samuel Barnett & Elijah Wood, written by Max Landis. We talk about "the fundamental interconnectedness of all things" as inspiration for Mark's work, the process of adaptation, and 1980's Englishness.

@HumCommCasters & @HumCommVids

Show Notes

Michael Wombat's website & blog

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, BBC America, 2016

Episode 20: Blue & Green

Aven McMaster September 12, 2016

We explore the terms for blue & green in Greek, Latin, and English, and discuss their symbolism and meaning in the various cultures. Is it true the ancient Greeks couldn't see blue? Why do we go 'green with envy'? And what did chariot racing, colours, and religious riots in Constantinople have to do with the Italian national football team?

Article about Greeks not seeing the colour blue

Our Patreon page -- and thank you to our newest supporter, Rémi Belleau!

Show Notes

Mythtake podcast

Linoleum video

Our merchandise

Berlin & Kay colour list

Talk the Talk podcast

Article about ultramarine

Horace Ode 1.9 (Soracte) in English

Horace Ode 2.5 (Heifer) in English

Horace Odes Book 1 in Latin

Horace Odes Book 2 in Latin

Mosaic of the charioteers

Episode 18: Beer

Aven McMaster July 12, 2016

All about beer! From experiments in baking bread with the leftovers from brewing beer to the etymology of beery words, and the complicated question of how fizzy beer has been through the ages. We follow up on questions raised in our Loaf podcast, and get some tips from other foodie podcasters.

The Feast Podcast Episode 3: The Medieval Michelin Guide: Finding Food on the Camino de Santiago, 1490

Our Patreon page -- and thank you to all our Patreon supporters!

Show Notes

Recreating Egyptian Bread by @miguelesquirol

Recipe for medieval trencher bread and recipe for spent grain tea biscuits, via @Feast_Podcast

Our experiment making bread from leftover beer sludge

Gastropod: Everything Old is Brew Again

Posts on traditional Peruvian beer and traditional South African beer via @beervana

Sources for history of barrels: here & here.

Artificial carbonation of beer & cask and bottle conditioning via @Gastropodcast

Episode 16: Red

Aven McMaster May 18, 2016

We talk about Old English, Greek, and Latin words for red, the cultural importance of dyes, basic colour terms, blushes, blood, and gods. And a little bit about sex and phalluses, but only in the most genteel way. We promise.

MythTakes Podcast

Lexicon Valley: Red Herring

Our Patreon page -- and thank you to all our Patreon supporters!

Show Notes

Lexicon Valley: Orange and Ben Zimmer's blogpost

"Album" podcast episode

Our "Weird" video

Episode 9: The Force Awakens

Aven McMaster January 14, 2016

We talk about the ways Star Wars: The Force Awakens connects to Classical epic, myth, and Norse sagas, and literary and theoretical aspects of the movie, while we drink some starry cocktails. Spoilers!

(Also, I say "Empire" but mean "Jedi" at least once. Sorry. Please don't hate me. -- Aven)