Notes from a Small (Cold, Dark, Miserable) Island

Day of Reckoning Media
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Comedy

Your Yank guide to everything Brit. Mike and Matt are two Americans stuck in London. Expect dodgy accents, transatlantic bantz and copious notes on queueing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. Jul 24

    17: Pronunciation Bowl: US vs UK battle!!!

    For our season finale we present a new fixture on the verbal sporting calendar. It's the first annual Pronunciation Bowl! Who says it better - Brits or Yanks? Representing the United States of America, our very own Matt who also, er, devised all the rules. And fighting on behalf of the plucky United Kingdom, our friend Anthony Mannion who joins us from Hastings - a small portion of which will forever be devoted to American freedom and tax evasion.  Joining us as special guest judge is James Christensen, who as an Australian is both completely neutral and minimally comprehensible to the rest of the panel. Who will win? How many goals will be scored? And what exactly are the rules? Get in touch: colddarkmiserablepod@gmail.com Or reach Matt and Mike on the socials. Mike's blog is thedayofreckoning.substack.com NFASCDMI will be back in the fall (or "autumn" lol). Until then, have a great holibob! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. Jul 1

    16: Five Star Fourth

    Early July is a particularly poignant time for American expats, as it's when we celebrate kicking British ass by detonating explosives and eating copious amounts of whatever it is that ends up in a hot dog. So how can you recreate fun Fourth of July celebrations away from home? Fortunately your hosts are on hand to get you in the mood by reminiscing about Midwestern suburbs, sugar-filled parades and voluminous air pollution.  Matt and Mike also discuss whether the Founding Fathers pulled a fast one on us all just because they wanted a holiday right in the middle of summer.  Happy Independence Day!  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. Jun 26

    15: Football shirts and soccer jerseys ft. Joey D'Urso

    We're currently in the thick of the World Super Cup of Soccerball and wow, has the 2026 tournament been a doozy. This week we're joined by Joey D'Urso - dedicated footie fan, political journalist and author of More Than A Shirt: How Football Shirts Explain Global Politics, Money and Power. Joey is just back from New York and tells us how excited Americans about hydration breaks, ruthless commercial opportunities and penalties for using their hands.  Can the USA break through the knockout stages? What happens as England progresses nervously through the next few rounds? And what are the real political stakes of Austria v Jordan? We tackle all the tough questions.  Joey's book is More Than A Shirt: How Football Shirts Explain Global Politics, Money and Power and his Substack can be found here.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. Jun 11

    14: Education, Education, Education ft. Emily Gann

    Fresh off our half‑term adventures, what better moment to dive into the delightful strangeness that is the British education system. Class might be out for summer back in the homeland, but here in London pupils will still be slogging away for weeks - dreaming of undercooked potatoes on pebbly beaches and EasyJet flights packed tighter than a Year 9 lunch queue headed to destinations with visible sunlight.   This week we’re joined by Emily Gann, an American teacher in British schools who helpfully explains what the acronym GCSE means.  Should A‑level results day be a national holiday, what is the right reaction when a small child asks for a "rubber", and why is everybody so obsessed with the details of school uniforms? It turns out the old saying is true: you really do learn something new every day.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. May 26

    13: Oxford American Dictionary ft. Ben Yagoda

    Brits fiercely gatekeep their language, which they haughtily named "English" after some of their people, and Americanization is hated almost as much as the invasive gray squirrel. Or grey squirrel? Anyway, the process doesn't just go one way. The British are coming for your words and soon the internet will have us all talking like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.  Today your hosts are joined by Ben Yagoda, author of the blog Not One Off Britishisms, which catalogues the ways in which British idioms are worming into American English. Fortunately this gives us a head start when leaning the lingo, even if it does occasionally leave us feeling gazumped (um, this doesn't makes sense - ed.)  Plus we go up the Arsenal with a sport update and cover the latest political intrigue as Matt and Mike don't correct some completely accurate information they gave out in the last episode.  Ben Yagoda is the author of Gobsmacked!: The British Invasion of American English and hosts the excellent podcast The Lives They're Living. His latest book is the novel Alias O. Henry. His Not One off Britishisms blog is at: https://notoneoffbritishisms.com/ Google's Ngram viewer shows a surprising result in the red vs. grey squirrel match. You can see it here.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. May 6

    12: Raw Milk Politics

    With the local elections coming up we're here to explain the UK's complicated political system, why it doesn't neatly map onto American politics and how to pronounce Plaid Cymru.  Plus all the hot and cold takes from the King's comedy tour of Washington. Mike recounts a bank holiday encounter with farmer hawking raw milk out in the shires and Matt runs down his list of top fictional transatlantic couples, not all of which met a tragic end. Which fav of yours didn't make the list? Tell us here:  colddarkmiserablepod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. Apr 19

    11: Holiday Time ft. Max Geller

    What's more British than a proper British holiday resort with proper British people eating proper British food, somewhere far away from Britain? This week the hosts are joined by Matt's neighbour Max Geller, a Bostonian who explains how he found love on the campaign trail and how that eventually led to, uh, package holidays on the Mediterranean. While Matt and Max each spent their recent holibobs with their famalams in one of those Great British foreign resorts, Mike didn't even leave the country and instead went on long walks around villages and rocky beaches. So of course under this nation's strange class rules, his vacation was posh. Yes, British holidays can be an absolute minefield - particularly since, fellow Americans, you're expected to actually take those vacation days - but we're here to break it all down.  Chips with everything! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  8. Mar 26

    10: The Sport(s) Episode

    Your hosts tackle the wide world of British sport, from football (soccer) to snooker (pool, but much, much more difficult).  Will we ever make a proper footie fan out of Matt. And what's the right way to appreciate "the beautiful game"? Mike argues that all the British sports are basically just different versions of the American games you know and love. Go team!  Plus a mercifully brief update on what's going on the world, and why you should think twice before you take your Trader Joe's tote out of the house. *** Mike's latest work on the blood sport that is the current battle for the Republican Party can be found on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002sf55 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Your Yank guide to everything Brit. Mike and Matt are two Americans stuck in London. Expect dodgy accents, transatlantic bantz and copious notes on queueing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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