It was great to hear Ruth Brown on your show today. It reminded me that several years ago, my wife stage managed a show that featured both Ruth Brown and Dr. John. She said the highlight of her day was eavesdropping on Ruth and Mac talking backstage with each of their unique accents, hipster/blues/show business slang, and the general mush mouth that musicians absorb over a few decades in New Orleans. She said the stories themselves were difficult to decipher, but that it was worth listening for the wildly exotic and unique accents, vocabulary, and expressions. If a recording existed, I'd love to hear your trained ear break down the roots of their language.
Another great episode as always. I've never listened to your podcasts or read your work without learning something or considering a new perspective. Keep up the great work.
I wondered why you never write about all the beautiful forms of Creole music. I’m enchanted by Peruvian Creole music, samba, and zydeco. Are these musical forms too simplistic for you, or are they just not your saucer of tea? It would seem to be a natural progression from Creole languages to Creole musical forms.
John, if you're still considering subscriber questions, I'd like to hear about how we went from "bad" to "worse." Looked it up, and "worse" and "worst" go back to the 12th century, "bad" only to the 13th. Yet "bad" is a concept so fundamental that any creature that communicates at all has some means of conveying it. "Worse" likely belongs to humankind alone. A word related to "worse" must have preceded "bad" and it would not have simply disappeared. So an excellent candidate emerges. Is our concept of "war" a consequence of semantic narrowing? Cheers...EconCCX.
It was great to hear Ruth Brown on your show today. It reminded me that several years ago, my wife stage managed a show that featured both Ruth Brown and Dr. John. She said the highlight of her day was eavesdropping on Ruth and Mac talking backstage with each of their unique accents, hipster/blues/show business slang, and the general mush mouth that musicians absorb over a few decades in New Orleans. She said the stories themselves were difficult to decipher, but that it was worth listening for the wildly exotic and unique accents, vocabulary, and expressions. If a recording existed, I'd love to hear your trained ear break down the roots of their language.
Another great episode as always. I've never listened to your podcasts or read your work without learning something or considering a new perspective. Keep up the great work.
I wondered why you never write about all the beautiful forms of Creole music. I’m enchanted by Peruvian Creole music, samba, and zydeco. Are these musical forms too simplistic for you, or are they just not your saucer of tea? It would seem to be a natural progression from Creole languages to Creole musical forms.
John, if you're still considering subscriber questions, I'd like to hear about how we went from "bad" to "worse." Looked it up, and "worse" and "worst" go back to the 12th century, "bad" only to the 13th. Yet "bad" is a concept so fundamental that any creature that communicates at all has some means of conveying it. "Worse" likely belongs to humankind alone. A word related to "worse" must have preceded "bad" and it would not have simply disappeared. So an excellent candidate emerges. Is our concept of "war" a consequence of semantic narrowing? Cheers...EconCCX.