I'm only starting to go through the archive after subscribing. This episode got me thinking about something, so I'll comment here.
As you say here, English has many more synonyms for words than most other languages. I've noticed that if you repeat a word frequently in English it looks lazy. Style encourages the use of synonyms, and tools like Grammarly do this as well (which gets annoying in technical text).
In other languages, Spanish for instance, does it sound wrong when you use the same word many times in a paragraph?
Catching up belatedly with this episode. Poland also has a tradition of "dyktando/ pl. dyktanda)", which is used to torture school kids, and there is a big national competition every two years in which participants are not kids but actual grownups! The texts for these are written by leading linguists and there are hundreds of participants, so we take our spelling extremely seriously. Polish is a fairly easy language to read once you learn the rules (although my non-native friends love to point out the words like "jabłko" or "czosnkowy", where some written consonants get squeezed out in normal speech), but there are some sounds which can be represented in different ways. "Dyktando" is like the French dictée, but most of the time you can't figure out the proper spelling by using grammar, unless you mean historical grammar and going back all the way to the Middle Ages to find out why /u/ can be written either as "u" or "ó", and /x/ can be written either as "h" or "ch". (The former used to be voiced, but the pronunciation difference is lost in modern Polish.) This being said, when I read the texts of the national dyktando, the words that usually trip me up are compound words (hyphenated or not?)
it was really interesting learn that "mirth" and "aftermath" are in the same category of -th-takers as "length" and "warmth". But, John, are you really not aware of "coolth"? The word has an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary! They attest the first of the three senses they list back to 1547, though they annotate it "Now chiefly literary, archaic, or humorous." But it was revived for the slang sense of "cool" in the mid-20th century; I'm aware of it in association with jazz culture. Harlan Ellison even wrote a short story titled "Have Coolth", which can be found in the collection "Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation".
I enjoyed the episode very much! I was certain, when you said you had a favorite '-th' word, that it was actually going to be _truth_. I wonder if native English speakers (I am not one) think of "truth" as a th-suffixed word. It's less obvious than warmth, strength etc.
etymonline.com is a really great word origin dictionary. And you're right! It does have the -th suffix
truth (n.)
Old English triewð (West Saxon), treowð (Mercian) "faith, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty; veracity, quality of being true; pledge, covenant," from Germanic abstract noun *treuwitho, from Proto-Germanic treuwaz "having or characterized by good faith," from PIE *drew-o-, a suffixed form of the root *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast." With Germanic abstract noun suffix *-itho (see -th (2)).
Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a simple download button on Substack, but if you are willing to pull back the curtain and dig into the page source, it is possible.
Depending on what browser you have, you can right click the player and click something like "Inspect element," and you should be able to find the web address of the actual audio. Then you can just right click and there should be an option to download it.
Good podcast. Hey, producers: the volume was so low I had to turn this podcast way up, compared to other podcasts.
Thanks for the heads up!
Is there an rss feed? My podcast app doesn't list the show
It should be visible in search shortly! Until then you should be able to add this RSS feed to your podcast app: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/366168/s/2522.rss
Transcript please! Many of us prefer reading to listening.
You got it! Stay tuned...
I'd have thought girth and girdle were related to whatever 'gir' was.
Ah, just looked it up. Belt, of course. Not fatness, just middle of body-ness.
Alright! Here we go!
Can’t seem to arrange a paid subscription. Any advice?
I'm only starting to go through the archive after subscribing. This episode got me thinking about something, so I'll comment here.
As you say here, English has many more synonyms for words than most other languages. I've noticed that if you repeat a word frequently in English it looks lazy. Style encourages the use of synonyms, and tools like Grammarly do this as well (which gets annoying in technical text).
In other languages, Spanish for instance, does it sound wrong when you use the same word many times in a paragraph?
John, where in the HELL did you come upon "The Husking Bee"
Catching up belatedly with this episode. Poland also has a tradition of "dyktando/ pl. dyktanda)", which is used to torture school kids, and there is a big national competition every two years in which participants are not kids but actual grownups! The texts for these are written by leading linguists and there are hundreds of participants, so we take our spelling extremely seriously. Polish is a fairly easy language to read once you learn the rules (although my non-native friends love to point out the words like "jabłko" or "czosnkowy", where some written consonants get squeezed out in normal speech), but there are some sounds which can be represented in different ways. "Dyktando" is like the French dictée, but most of the time you can't figure out the proper spelling by using grammar, unless you mean historical grammar and going back all the way to the Middle Ages to find out why /u/ can be written either as "u" or "ó", and /x/ can be written either as "h" or "ch". (The former used to be voiced, but the pronunciation difference is lost in modern Polish.) This being said, when I read the texts of the national dyktando, the words that usually trip me up are compound words (hyphenated or not?)
I can’t get RSS address to play on Google Podcast ☹️ Love learning about the -th suffix!
Now I'm hunting other -th words to see if it's that suffix. Dearth: yep, "dear" + -th. "Wealth", yes. "Worth": no. "Wealth", yes. "Stealth", yes.
it was really interesting learn that "mirth" and "aftermath" are in the same category of -th-takers as "length" and "warmth". But, John, are you really not aware of "coolth"? The word has an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary! They attest the first of the three senses they list back to 1547, though they annotate it "Now chiefly literary, archaic, or humorous." But it was revived for the slang sense of "cool" in the mid-20th century; I'm aware of it in association with jazz culture. Harlan Ellison even wrote a short story titled "Have Coolth", which can be found in the collection "Gentleman Junkie and Other Stories of the Hung-Up Generation".
Late to the party, but how about breadth? After a few days thought I’m guessing the adjective is broad.
Also, what about height. Was it originally heighth and the H got dropped? By the way, I’ve heard people pronounce it with the terminal h.
How do I get this in a podcast app? I usually use stitcher and can’t find this
It should be visible in Stitcher search shortly! Until then you should be able to add this RSS feed to your podcast app: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/366168/s/2522.rss
I enjoyed the episode very much! I was certain, when you said you had a favorite '-th' word, that it was actually going to be _truth_. I wonder if native English speakers (I am not one) think of "truth" as a th-suffixed word. It's less obvious than warmth, strength etc.
My old gang of post-Beat cool cats definitely talked about our level of "coolth"! But yes, we knew it was a humorous creation..
I'm not going to explain how the pairing "Mirth and Girth" is an odd part of Chicago's arts and politics history!
etymonline.com is a really great word origin dictionary. And you're right! It does have the -th suffix
truth (n.)
Old English triewð (West Saxon), treowð (Mercian) "faith, faithfulness, fidelity, loyalty; veracity, quality of being true; pledge, covenant," from Germanic abstract noun *treuwitho, from Proto-Germanic treuwaz "having or characterized by good faith," from PIE *drew-o-, a suffixed form of the root *deru- "be firm, solid, steadfast." With Germanic abstract noun suffix *-itho (see -th (2)).
Also, I could only get it on itunes for my iphone. Couldn't get it for itunes on my PC.
We're looking into it!
Yes! I couldn't find a way to contact Booksmart studios to find out how to do this.
We're looking into it!
Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a simple download button on Substack, but if you are willing to pull back the curtain and dig into the page source, it is possible.
Depending on what browser you have, you can right click the player and click something like "Inspect element," and you should be able to find the web address of the actual audio. Then you can just right click and there should be an option to download it.
For instance, here is the specific address for this audio: https://cdn.substack.com/public/audio/05f6c345-ad59-4b8c-9599-8dc46eee392e.mpga ... from there you can right click on the play button and select the download option.
I'm sorry it's not a simpler process, but it can be done! We'll update you if we find out an easier way.
-Matt
Executive Producer, Booksmart Studios