15 Comments

Dr McWhorter, are you aware that you also pronounce the word "were" like "warr"? Is that a Philly accent thing?

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NO! It's just weird me. My students mention it all the time!

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I was wondering about that the whole time! I guess we all have our quirks.

I somehow developed the habit of saying the words "lever" and "evolution" as "leaver" and "eevolution" instead of "lehver" and "ehvolution" (which I think are more standard in American English). I suspect it's because I spent a lot of time listening to Richard Dawkins talk when I was younger.

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I mean, I also pronounce "lever" rhymes with "fever", but only because it's the pronunciation from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".

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I live in Easttown. It is nothing like the HBO Easttown. The real Easttown is on the Main Line in Chester County - not Delaware County. The homes in the TV neighborhood look nothing like those in the real Easttown. And few people in Easttown talk with a Philadelphia accent.

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Yet another great show. I don't know how Professor McWhorter keeps the fountain of good ideas flowing. I'm a fan. I still can't get this show or Bully Pulpit on iTunes on my PC, though. Somehow I get the Banished podcast. But not these shows. I hope that glitch gets fixed soon.

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That worked perfectly. Thank you so much. I am now subscribed to, following, and able to listen to all the booksmart podcasts on iTunes on my PC. Very happy about that.

I was only able to get the subscriber content (Is a hotdog a sandwich) on my iPhone, though--not iTunes on my PC yet.

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So glad it's mostly working! To get subscriber content through iTunes on your PC, you should be to go to the File menu and click "Add a Show by URL..." and then paste in the same link you used for your iPhone. Please comment here if it's not working and we can figure it out!

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Got it! Wasn't exactly as described here but it led me to the solution. For some reason on my PC, instead of File, "add a show by url," it was file, "subscribe to podcast." (for some reason no "add a show by url" showed up at all) Then I pasted the URL into the popup box that came up after clicking on "subscribe to podcast." And it worked. The subscriber episode appeared. Thank you very much!

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I'll be visiting Seurasaari soon myself, hoping to interact with some squirrels. Red squirrels are the best.

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Amazing episode! I am a subscriber, how would I be able to listen to the bonus segment please? Thanks

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Bonus segment comes during the week between full episodes! Stay tuned.

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Dr McWhorter, thank you for this episode. (Although I live in Berks County PA now (where some people still have a "Dutch" accent, not as many as did when I moved here in 1978) I grew up in Philadelphia (leaving in 1978) and I heard myself in the podcast. And also a big thank you for differentiating us from NYC. Sometimes I think people think that the only accents north of Maryland are Boston and New York.

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When I was in college in Providence in the 60's, I could tell North Providence, from East Providence, or Cranston. Boston had even more variations. Is there really only one Philadelphia accent?

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