How much humor and personality can you pack into a 140-character update? A lot, it turns out. Martha and Grant talk about funny Twitter feeds. Also this week, the origins of skosh and "can't hold a candle," why dragonflies are sometimes called snake doctors, whether the word pre-plan is redundant, and how technology is affecting the experience of reading.
This episode first aired September 24, 2010.
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Favorite Twitter Feeds
Martha and Grant share some of their latest guilty-pleasure reading from Twitter feeds that show just how much meaning can be compressed into 140 characters. Cases in point: @veryshortstory and @GRAMMARHULK.
Hold a Candle
He can't "hold a candle" to someone means that he can't possibly compare to the other person. The hosts explain where this phrase comes from.
Watering Animals
A zoo tour guide wants a specific word to describe how elephants procure hydration.
This, That, and the Other Quiz
Quiz Guy John Chaneski presents a puzzle called "This, That, and the Other."
Intentionally Misspelled Words
A Facebook newbie asks if it's okay to misspell words on purpose when communicating via social media.
Audio Sting
The mother of eight-year-old twins wonders why one of her girls habitually adds "dun-dun-DUN!" to sentences in everyday conversation. The hosts suspect it's related to the audio element known as a "sting" in television and movie parlance, like this one in the famous "Dramatic Prairie Dog" video clip.
Just a Skosh
The term skosh means "a small amount," and derives from a Japanese word that means the same thing.
Changing How We Read
Remember when the expression "reading a book" meant, well, actually reading a book? Martha and Grant discuss a Los Angeles Times series about how electronic devices are changing the way we read.
Dragonfly Nicknames
The distinctive shape of the dragonfly has inspired lots of different nicknames for this insect, including snake doctor, devil's darning needle, skeeter hawk, spindle, snake eyes, and ear sewer, the last of which rhymes with "mower."
Sancho
What's the correct term for the male lover of a married woman? The hosts share suggestions from listeners, including paramour and sancho.
Pre-Plan
A firefighter is annoyed by his boss's use of the term pre-plan.
Hit and Giggle
Martha shares the term "hit and giggle", a bit of sports slang term she picked up while working as an announcer at this year's Mercury Insurance Open tennis tournament.
This episode is hosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, and produced by Stefanie Levine.
Photo by Garrett Heath. Used under a Creative Commons license.
Music Used in the Broadcast
| Title | Artist | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perfume Bottles | Galt McDermott | Shapes of Rhythm/Woman is Sweeter | Kilmarnock Records |
| Eastbound | Budos Band | The Budos Band | Daptone Records |
| Rock Island Rocket | Tom Scott and The LA Express | Tom Cat | Ode Records |
| Spinning Wheel | Jimmy McGriff | Electric Funk | Blue Note |
| Blue Juice | Jimmy McGriff | The Worm | Blue Note |
| Tom Cat | Tom Scott and The LA Express | Tom Cat | Ode Records |
| Santeria | Sublime | Sublime | Universal Music Ltd. |
| Down Home Funk | Richard "Groove" Holmes | Comin' On Home | Blue Note |
| Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off | Ella Fitzgerald | Ella Fitzgerald Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George and Ira Gershwin Song Book | Verve |
My ears pricked up when the conversation turned to "skosh," as this was my father's go-to word for a small amount of something (often related to food or drink). I had to laugh when the caller mentioned his father's service in Okinawa because my father served there also -- with the Air Force in the early 50s. Prior to the explanation of its Japanese origin on this episode, from the sound of it (I had no idea how it was spelled), I'd have guessed it was maybe Italian or Germanic.
Nice to have the mystery solved, eh?
I heard "skosh" a lot growing up, and I always assumed (taking into account who I heard it from) that it was a Yiddish term. Then I signed up for Japanese at community college and learned better. About the same time I remember an ad for relaxed-fit jeans that claimed they had "a skosh more room".
As for what to call it when elephants get themselves a drink, I'm almost positive I've heard the expression "take water" or "take on water" when the nature documentaries have a nomadic herd of them stopping off at the local oasis before traveling on. Matter of fact, I think I've heard the same expressions to refer to steam locomotives.
"She can't hold a candle to the old flame I still carry a torch for."
About the "dun-dun-DUN!" and other stings: there's a semi-profesional/profesional (mixed group) anime reviewers group called the DesuDesBrigade or D2Brigade who produce their own anime-themed podcast called DesuRattle. These guys can't seem to go an episode without one of them stings. Most used is something like "whackety-shmackety-doo!!" pronunced with a sing-song tone and as silly voice as possible and another one I can't, well - spell, but I call it "the fail sound", which I believe comes from Road Runner cartoons when the coyote does something exceedingly stupid and fails yet again at catching the Road Runner. That one would be pronunced in a sing-song tone as well. All this is done for comedic effect, of course, as the podcast frequently wanders off into a kind of impromptu performance.
The people on the Brigade are all in college, and I think 3 out of 4 of them study something related to media/TV/broadcasting and the like, so it is possible that their frequent use of these (including some less sophisticated company-appropriate like "bow-chicka-wow-wow" and the like) might be related to their education.