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184. Worm.so w/ Kara Raynoha

Kyle and Emily sit down with Kara Raynoha this week to share the good word about a new name in book tracking apps: worm.so. Kara walks the hosts through how the idea first took root, and why the current landscape of reader platforms leaves a lot to be desired.

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183. Parvenu: New Money Through a French Lens

Emily and Kyle get a little bourgeois this week, and uncover why that’s considered such a bad thing. They’ll look at French history, wealthy upstarts, and some classic New York literature as they explore the word parvenu.

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180. Jujube: How the Odyssey Almost Ended Early

Kyle and Emily unwrap a deceptively sweet treat this week: jujube. What seems only to be a humble fruit quickly reveals a tangled history of biblical proportions. From man’s original sin, to Odysseus’ fruit-addled men, what was once medicine is now a sweet tooth’s dream.

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179. Zugzwang: From the Rules of Chess to Global Stress

Kyle and Emily find themselves boxed in this week by a word that describes the worst kind of obligation: zugzwang. It’s a bad decision no matter what as Kyle and Emily are forced to explore the German roots of this chess-inspired word.

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176. Psammophile: A Beach Bum Like No Other

Get your pails and shovels ready! Kyle and Emily are digging into the history and usage of the word psammophile, and building a castle fit for beach grasses, kangaroo rats, and microbiologists alike.

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175. Atavism: Skipping a Generation… Or a Few Thousand

Don’t you just love a good throwback? Emily and Kyle certainly do—and, in this episode, so do botanists, doctors, pseudoscientists, and more! Join our hosts in taking some inspiration from the past and exploring the word atavism.

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174. Uchronia

Time is running out! And then running in again, but weirder! Kyle and Emily are joined by producer Seth, who helps them sort reality from fiction from nonsense, and discovers the time-bending truths of the word uchronia.

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173. E-Prime

Kyle and Emily stumble into an old Shakespearean dilemma this Chump season when Seth introduces them to E-Prime. To be or not to be? That is a question, but the bigger question is just semantics.

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172. Verglas

This week, Kyle and Emily take a slippery step into the world of verglas. A sleek French borrowing with roots in poetry, peril, and absolutely eating it on the pavement. What does it have to do with medieval “Verses of Death”, physics, and the word vitriol? You may want to tread carefully.

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171. Jorum

Kyle and Emily allow their cups to spilleth over in this cheery, beery, and all around festive dive into the word ‘jorum’. From Hebrew scripture to Arabic pottery to Jesus himself, these biblical vessels are full to the brim with etymological curiosity.

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170. Halcyon

Emily and Kyle enjoy a bit of a break in the weather, and bring you on a journey of a lovesick couple, gods both vengeful and kindhearted, seafaring birds, and the word halcyon.

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169. Gegenschein

As dusk falls, Kyle and Emily set out a blanket and do some stargazing, trying to catch a glimpse of that rare and captivating phenomenon: the gegenschein.

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168. Lexipedia with Joshua Blackburn

Kyle and Emily welcome back the creator of the League of the Lexicon Joshua Blackburn, whose latest work is not a game, but a gorgeously illustrated compendium for the incurably curious, The Language-Lover’s Lexipedia.

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167. Palindrome w/ Barry Duncan

Kyle and Emily go back and forth this week with palindromist Barry Duncan, whose masterfully mirrored sentences are more than just clever tricks of language.

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166. Koan

This week’s word gets Emily and Kyle one step closer to enlightenment. Well, linguistic enlightenment, if not spiritual. Settle in for a crash course in eastern Buddhism, a ponderous paradox or two, and the history of the word koan.

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165. Scribal Error

This week, the Lexiconicon drags Kyle and Emily to Wordition, a hellish realm of scribal errors. Plunging the duo into the fiery margins of medieval manuscripts, the pair must banish an infernal force that now possesses Seth the morally ambiguous word wizard.

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