Very Bad Words

Guest Producer Stephanie Billman helps guide us through the feelings, emotions, and history of the most violent, loaded word in the English lexicon, The N-Word. With guests Dr. Neil Lester [https://projecthumanities.asu.edu/content/about-dr-neal-lester], Dr. David Pilgrim [https://ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/speakerinfo.htm], Marcie Brown, Malik Crumpler [http://malikameer.com/biography/], Dardalie Brooks and Ernie Mendoza See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for privacy and opt-out information.

Nerf-herder? Frack? Farking Zarquon? Guest producers Forrest Phillips [https://twitter.com/Forrest] and Emily Block guide us through cursing in fictional Worlds. Special guests include Marc Okrand [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Okrand] - creator of Star Trek’s Klingon language, David J. Peterson [https://twitter.com/Dedalvs] - creator of Game of Thrones Dothraki language, and host of the Imaginary Worlds [@ImaginWorldsPod] podcast, Eric Molinsky. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for privacy and opt-out information.

Matt talks to Marc Okrand about cursing in Klingon. The fictional Star Trek language that has become nearly as popular as the franchise itself. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for privacy and opt-out information.

Certain topics in our society aren’t considered proper to talk about. To make it easier to talk about such sensitive subjects, we have invented terms that dance around the issues, instead of facing them directly. Join me and guests, Steven Pinker [https://stevenpinker.com/], Phyllis Sommer [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUqr4P7P3gM] and Kate Burridge [http://profiles.arts.monash.edu.au/kate-burridge/] as we dig into euphemisms. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for privacy and opt-out information.

In this week's minicast, Matt reflects on a death that is close to him and how we use or don't use words about "dead". We talk a little with Rabbi Physllis Sommer to help explain. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for privacy and opt-out information.