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Dead Air

Dead Air

By Bulldog Z

Learn about the English language, culture, history and traditions with the Bulldogz team of native teachers and special guests!
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Dead Air 2.4 - Beer here

Dead AirMay 01, 2020

00:00
31:54
Need to know - Saint George
Apr 23, 202306:05
Need to Know: Saint Patrick
Mar 16, 202305:16
Interesting Etymoliges Series One Finale
Feb 23, 202307:26
Soundbook: The Bet by Anton Chekhov
Feb 03, 202317:49
Interesting Etymologies Opposites
Jan 25, 202306:33
Interesting Etymologies African
Jan 18, 202304:06
Soundbook: Moon-face by Jack London

Soundbook: Moon-face by Jack London

A short story by Jack London published in 1902 explores the protagonist and how he is consumed with his irrational hatred of another man, John Claverhouse. His hatred drives him to increasingly horrendous actions to force suffering on the cheerful neighbour. When Claverhouse seems unfazed by the relentless misfortune that is wrought upon him, the narrator makes the decision to kill him.   

You can learn more about Jack London in the article about him on our website   

 A downloadable PDF of the story, the cover artwork and a brief summary of the story are available here


Introduction and end music : Another Autumn in Despair by techtheist

Dec 20, 202214:23
Dead Air: Strange Christmas Traditions
Dec 15, 202224:54
Interesting Etymologies Scottish
Dec 14, 202205:14
Interesting Etymologies: Flowers
Dec 07, 202206:18
Need to Know: Saint Nicholas
Dec 05, 202212:48
Interesting Etymologies The Alphabet
Dec 01, 202209:26
Need to know Saint Andrew
Nov 30, 202206:49
Interesting Etymologies: Hybrids
Nov 23, 202204:03
Need to know Saint Cecilia
Nov 22, 202206:03
Interesting Etymologies: Greek 3
Nov 16, 202207:29
Interesting Etymologies: Greek 2
Nov 09, 202206:36
Interesting Etymologies: Greek 1

Interesting Etymologies: Greek 1

"Hello again word lovers"  We begin our dive into Ancient Greek with some prefixes and parts of the  body. There is a huge amount of material to cover and this is only the  beginning so strap in and away we go....

Nov 03, 202208:15
Need to know Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot
Nov 02, 202216:56
Interesting Etymologies - The Bible

Interesting Etymologies - The Bible

"Hello word lovers!"

We deviate from our usual path this episode to investigate some translation from the Bible. The word of God can be tricky and translation can be challenging.

Is the virgin birth down to a misunderstanding of language?

Did you know Jesus liked a word play joke?

Did John the Baptist actually survive on a diet of locusts?

These and many other mysteries are examined by Charly on this latest episode.

A full associated article with more consideration of some of the  theological implications of these translations is available on our  website:

https://www.bulldogz.org/post/interesting-etymologies-48-the-bible


Oct 26, 202213:31
Interesting Etymologies - Old Norse 3

Interesting Etymologies - Old Norse 3

"Hello again Word Lovers"  

This is the third installment of words that come into English through  Old Norse. We cover some basic nouns, adjectives in this last look at Old Norse before we return another day.   


Full details in the accompanying article on our website: https://www.bulldogz.org/post/interesting-etymologies-47-3-old-norse

Oct 19, 202205:03
Interesting Etymologies - Old Norse 2
May 04, 202206:43
Interesting Etymologies - Old Norse
Apr 26, 202206:39
Interesting Etymologies - Philosophy
Apr 20, 202215:60
Interesting Etymologies - Irish
Apr 05, 202206:41
Interesting Etymologies - Etymologists
Mar 30, 202210:42
Interesting Etymologies - Heraldry
Mar 25, 202207:47
Interesting Etymologies - People
Mar 08, 202207:52
Need to know - Cincomarzada
Mar 07, 202205:42
Need to know - Saint Valentine
Feb 13, 202205:39
Interesting Etymologies - Persian

Interesting Etymologies - Persian

"Hello again word lovers!"


In this show we are going to look at words that have merged from Persian. This is a relative mystery to our host Charly, who knows no Farsi (the modern equivalent language) but it seems like an interesting branch to explore, especially as it is the root of many modern Arab words.


Now it will come as no surprise that many words considered Arabic come from Persian but the real shock is the number of words considered quintessentially Indian that made the journey east from Persia.


There are definitely a couple of surprises in store here, even the Russians are stripped of a word that is considered one of their own. There is also some fun to be had with the original meaning of musk!


An action-packed 5 minutes of etymological discovery. At least one o f these pieces of information is going to get you points in a pub quiz at some point in your life


Full article on our website:

Feb 09, 202204:55
Need to know - Santa Agueda

Need to know - Santa Agueda

Have you noticed cakes in shop windows that look like, ahem, well, boobs?
Have you wanted to know what this was all about but too terrified to ask?
Well, never fear, we have all the answers here. Discover the story of Santa Agueda, celebrated on February 5th. It's a grim tale of torture and rejection, earthquakes and murder, oh, and cakes shaped like, well, boobs....
Feb 04, 202203:55
Interesting Etymologies - Political correctness

Interesting Etymologies - Political correctness

PLEASE BE ADVISED: This episode involves discussion of some terms that may cause offence.


"Hello again word lovers!" In this episode we dip our toes in the complicated waters of political correctness. When society understand words or phrases to have an unpleasant etymology but study reveals no such connection things can get very uncomfortable.


Charly explores some specific examples of this grey area of language: Chave and Pikey come under the microscope alongside hysterical/hysteria. Tranny and illegal are also explored before we take a look at some very controversial expressions. Nitty-gritty and Squaw have both come under fire as words that should be removed from the lexicon due to offensive or pejorative foundations. Charly sees if he can find evidence to support these claims. "N*ggardly" (asterisk employed to avoid the wrath of the algorithm) Charly explores the etymology of this word that has become archaic because it sounds so similar to "the N word" but shares no etymological root whatsoever. It actually comes via Old English from Old Norse.


Please note Charly states in his programme that the mayor of Washington, Anthony Williams, resigned in 1999 after using the above term. As clarified in our article, it was in fact David Howard, the then Head of the Office of the Public Advocate who stumbled into difficulty.


This episode can be listened to as a complement to episodes 26: Reappropriation and 23: Insults, which can be found in the programme archive.


Full article on our website:
www.bulldogz.org/post/interesting-etymologies-40-political-correctness

Feb 03, 202215:18
Interesting Etymologies - Dead Languages
Jan 27, 202206:04
Need to know - San Valero

Need to know - San Valero

San Valero, Rosconero y ventolero! All you need to know about this celebration of Saint Valero, the Patron Saint of Zaragoza, is right here.
Jan 26, 202204:15
Interesting Etymologies - Non-PIE
Jan 18, 202206:26
Interesting Etymologies - Mythical beasts
Jan 12, 202207:27
Interesting Etymologies - Acronyms
Jan 05, 202206:01
Need to know - Three Kings
Jan 04, 202205:26
Interesting Etymologies - Ebonics
Dec 29, 202106:43
Interesting Etymologies - Chinese
Dec 14, 202106:41
Interesting Etymologies - Latin
Dec 08, 202107:01
Interesting Etymologies - Disease
Dec 02, 202106:26
Interesting Etymologies - Turkic
Nov 23, 202107:27
Interesting Etymologies - World War Two
Nov 19, 202105:34
Interesting Etymologies - World War One
Nov 10, 202105:50
Interesting Etymologies - Fiction
Nov 10, 202107:13
Tales from the Other Side - the Hallowe'en Pumpkin (the story of Stingy Jack)
Oct 29, 202111:10
Interesting Etymologies - Cockney rhyming slang
Oct 28, 202107:18
Tales from the Other Side - the origins of Halloween
Oct 26, 202108:59