Peel (ft. ZIZO)

It's spider season here in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, you read that correctly, we have a spider season. And they're hard at work making beautiful art for me to walk through every morning. They're beautiful, if you look at them the right way, and I love them (as long as they stay outside).

Woven Crystal

Listen, Stream, Buy

Woven Crystal (Extended Mix)

Live recording from Patchwork @ Zuzu's, Cambridge MA, October 2nd 2025

All music done with M8 + Collider delay/reverb

Metal Tiger - Live at Patchwork - October 2025

CRUNCHT

MMC October. Rhythmic ambient electronic, made with FL Studio.

Armadillage

We often invoke the idea of language by showing the mouth or the hands. But the nose is important to both signed and spoken languages: it can be a resonating chamber that air can get shaped by, as well as a salient location for the hand to be in contact with. 

In this episode, your hosts Gretchen McCulloch and Lauren Gawne get enthusiastic about the nose! We talk about why noses are so popular cross-linguistically (seriously, nasals are in 98% of the world's languages), what the nose looks like inside (it's bigger than you think!), and increasingly cursed methods that linguists have tried to use to see inside the nose (from giving yourself the worst headache to, yes, sticking earbuds up your nostrils). We also share our favourite obscure nose-related idioms, map the surprisingly large distribution of the "cock-a-snook" gesture, and try to pin down why the nose feels like an intrinsically funny part of the body. 

Click here for a link to this episode in your podcast player of choice: https://pod.link/1186056137/episode/dGFnOnNvdW5kY2xvdWQsMjAxMDp0cmFja3MvMjE5MjExNjA3MQ
Read the transcript here: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/797612331588812800/transcript-episode-109-on-the-nose

Announcements:
We're 9 years old! For our anniversary, we're hope you could leave us a rating our review on your favourite podcast app to help people who encounter the show want to click "play" for the first time: we'll read out a few of our favourite reviews at the end of the show over the next year so this could be your words!  

People have responded super enthusiastically to the jazzed up version of our logo that we sent to patrons earlier this year! So we’ve now made this design available on some very cute merch. Wear your Lingthusiasm fandom on a shirt or a mug or a notebook to help spot fellow linguistics nerds! https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/172870982

We've also made a new greeting card design that says {Merry/marry/Mary} Holidays! Whether you say these words the same or differently, we hope this card leads to joyful discussions of linguistic variation: https://redbubble.com/shop/ap/172871033

In this month’s bonus episode we get enthusiastic about our favourite words ending in nym! We talk about We talk about how there are so many kinds of nym words that are weirder and wackier than classic synonyms and antonyms, how even synonyms and antonyms aren't quite as straightforward as they seem, and why retronyms make people mad but are Gretchen's absolute favourite. Plus: a tiny quiz segment on our favourite obscure and cool-sounding nyms!.

Join us on Patreon now to get access to this and 100+ other bonus episodes. You’ll also get access to the Lingthusiasm Discord server where you can chat with other language nerds.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/140247095

For links to things mentioned in this episode: https://lingthusiasm.com/post/797612132291182592/lingthusiasm-episode-109-on-the-nose-how-the

109: On the nose - How the nose shapes language

"The universe expects you to play your part in this story - Will you struggle against it or will you submit to your fate?" Made on commission for a TTRPG.

Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/KwqElfBr9Bk
Download .0cc (made in 0cc-Famitracker 0.3.15.3): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hOhwXr2sqiQpnUN72PX6WWRhqnlh3teM/view?usp=sharing
Download .nsf (visualized in NSFPlay Synthesia): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bdoc14akU9f1CViWkGQVh9DM0f2OU0Ku/view?usp=sharing

This song is Creative Commons licensed. You can use it for anything you please with attribution!

[8-Bit JRPG Boss Battle] FATEBROKEN

From the Vampire: The Masquerade audio drama by The Not Ready for Opsec Players ( blooddollpod.com ), this haunting track is featured on episode 2 of the series. Dark, brooding, electrifying, and enchanting, "Blood Doll" evokes notes of Boris Brejcha and Stan Kolev. Overall, it's a single that will make your blood run hot.

Contemplative Piano 1

J.P. Tuttle