Appraise The Phrase

Underdog Podcasts
  • 4.9 (13)
  • Society & Culture
  • Updated Weekly

The show that puts your favorite (or not so favorite) everyday expressions under a microscope and into the hot seat. Tune in as Mario and his special guests dive into the meanings and origins of common sayings, expressions, and idioms. We may introduce you to a few too! Once it's all said and done, will these sayings live up to their common usage or will they crash and burn from some investigation? Join us as we take a moment to appraise the phrase! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 6d ago

    Knocking On The Devil's Door

    On this episode of Appraise The Phrase: Origins of Everyday Expressions... Six dictionaries have no definition for "knocking on the devil's door." We found out why — and then we found the actual door. Where does "knocking on the devil's door" come from, and what does it actually mean? Merriam-Webster, Cambridge, Oxford, Collins, dictionary.com and TheFreeDictionary all come up empty — the first phrase in six seasons of this show that no published dictionary will touch. Wiktionary's only nearby entry is "devil's doorbell," which is something else entirely. So we went looking for the origin ourselves. There is a real devil's door: a sealed entrance on the north wall of medieval English churches, including Durham Cathedral, built to be used and then bricked shut. But the name is nowhere near as old as the door. The earliest record of anyone calling one a "devil's door" comes from an 1832 demolition in Nottinghamshire — three centuries after the doors went up, when nobody could remember what they were for and the Victorians were ready with an explanation. Along the way: why Terrence Howard's line in Four Brothers is where most people have actually heard this phrase, how Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" swallowed the devil version whole, and why the Robert Johnson crossroads legend belongs to a different bluesman named Tommy Johnson. Mario and Twenty are joined by cunda, Rello and angie of Circle The Block — Where Culture and Nostalgia Come Full Circle — for the phrase submitted by Coach Trav of The Mental Health Playbook. Both shows are Underdog Podcasts affiliates. An etymology podcast on the origins of everyday expressions. Every episode we unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value. This one graded out at a B−.Value is in the eye of the appraiser. Shop: appraisethephrase.com/shop Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Knocking On The Devil's Door

  2. Oct 14

    If The Shoe Fits

    The man who coined this phrase had already been pilloried and imprisoned for writing satire people took literally. So the next time he went after Parliament, he built himself an escape hatch. On this episode of Appraise The Phrase, Mario and Twenty unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of “if the shoe fits.” It starts in 1705 with Daniel Defoe — printed in London under the pretense that it came from Danzig, credited to an author who didn't exist, because the poem was a direct attack on the English Parliament. Defoe names nobody in it. He just writes that if a member recognizes himself in the satire, that recognition is the reader's act, not the writer's accusation. Twenty's read: he invented the disclaimer. Then the phrase crosses the Atlantic. May 1773, the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, a city weeks from tearing itself apart over the Tea Act, in the one genre where anonymity did the most work. And somewhere in that crossing, the object changes. Also: the Cinderella theory and why it doesn't hold, the 1773 subtweet, what Google didn't bother correcting, and a Dictionary of Misinformation entry that will make you check your own vocabulary. 0:00 Green Goblin, Family Matters, And A Late Submission1:03 The ATP Intro Theme1:42 What's Good: LA, Venice Beach, And Morning Walks7:02 Shout Out To Mo And The Event8:01 Today's Phrase: If The Shoe Fits10:25 Twenty: It Went From Positive To Negative13:07 Mario Wrote This Episode From A Negative Place14:27 Shout Out To Kayla And Kinara Books15:27 Nobody Says “Wear It” Anymore16:19 You Already Have The Shoe On16:59 Confirm The Meaning: Four Dictionaries This Time18:00 The Last-Minute Submission Always Wins21:33 Which Ones Are Negative And Which Are Neutral22:05 Twenty Picks Two Dictionaries — A First22:53 Unveil The Origin: 1705, Daniel Defoe23:12 The Green Goblin Problem24:41 Printed In London, Credited To A Man Who Didn't Exist26:09 Defoe Had Already Been Pilloried For Satire27:13 A Legal Deniability Device28:56 “He Invented The Disclaimer”29:38 Have You Ever Jumped In Front Of A Bullet Nobody Fired?31:27 You Gotta Show Me My ID In The Film35:14 Are You Slower To Anger Now?36:07 Why A Point Of No Return Is A Good Thing37:28 Crashing Out, And The Flu Game Meme38:43 May 1773: The Cap Becomes A Shoe40:23 The Defensive Character Genre41:26 Hugh Gaine, The Printer Who Stayed Neutral42:46 Influence Before Influencers43:00 The Tea Act And A City About To Break44:41 The Original Subtweet45:22 Twenty's Twitter Era50:25 The Cinderella Hypothesis52:00 Why The Case Against It Is Stronger54:50 Google Didn't Correct The Story Either56:33 Pop Culture Impact: The Top Four57:30 #1 Hamilton, Cabinet Battle #158:37 The Appraisal1:00:45 Dictionary Of Misinformation: The Subconscious Isn't Freudian1:02:23 Closing Thoughts1:02:55 Shop, Partners, And Credits REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODEDaniel Defoe, The Diet of Poland (1705) · Daniel Defoe, The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (1702) · New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, May 1773 · Hugh Gaine, printer · Alexander McDougall writing as “Hampden,” New York Journal (1773) · Giambattista Basile, Pentamerone (1634) · Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854) · Hamilton, “Cabinet Battle #1” · Spider-Man (2002) · Family Matters COMMENT: Have you ever gotten defensive about something nobody was actually saying about you? And settle this — is a subtweet a disclaimer or a coward move? ATP SHOP — every phrase gets a grade. Some of them get a mug.appraisethephrase.com/shop Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    If The Shoe Fits

  3. Oct 7

    Go Against The Grain

    The first person to say “against the grain” was lying. Not figuratively. He was coaching other people to lie, and the phrase was the lie. On this episode of Appraise The Phrase, Mario and Twenty are joined by Kayla, founder of Kinara Bookstore in Tulsa, to unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of “go against the grain.” It debuts in Shakespeare's Coriolanus around 1607, in the mouth of Sicinius — a tribune coaching Roman citizens to claim they'd been pressured into their vote, and that speaking up went against the grain. They were doing exactly what authority wanted. The first recorded figurative use of the phrase describes someone going with the grain. Mario's name for it is inverted debut. And the carpentry story everyone repeats? Every source on earth says this comes from woodworking. Gary Martin appears to be the only person who actually checked, and none of the early citations reference wood at all — the carpentry explanation only shows up after Shakespeare. It's not what you know. It's what you can prove. Also: why the play itself is about grain, how a phrase gets rationalized backwards, what clickbait did to writing, and Kayla on opening a bookstore in the gap left when Tulsa's only Black bookstore closed. Value is in the eye of the appraiser. 0:00 Gladiator, Holograms, And What You Can Prove0:51 The ATP Intro Theme2:30 Introducing Our Guest3:44 Kayla On Founding Kinara Bookstore In Tulsa7:17 Who Decides What The Rules Are?15:11 Confirm The Meaning: Merriam-Webster18:11 Twenty Would Have Written It Differently22:28 Unveil The Origin: 1607, Coriolanus23:33 Our First Hologram Guest Should Be Shakespeare23:53 Sicinius, The Tribune, And The Coached Lie25:47 The Play Is Literally About Grain: The Corn Riot28:34 Inverted Debut: The First Use Was Inauthentic33:47 Kayla Does Not Fly Southwest37:54 Every Source On Earth Says Carpentry38:45 Gary Martin Is The Only One Who Checked39:51 Retroactive Etymological Rationalization42:16 Seed Oils, And Things That Sound True44:34 What Clickbait Did To Writing51:39 Is Any Of This Real? Clickbait Meets AI53:20 À Rebours, Bad Religion, And Garth Brooks55:44 Evaluative Reversal: When The Act Stops Mattering57:36 Do You Own “Going Against The Grain”?58:44 Building A Space For Us, By Us1:00:40 Twenty: Save The Last Dance1:04:23 The Phrase As A Banner People Wave1:08:23 The Appraisal: Power1:11:12 Speed1:12:07 Preference, Handed To The Guest1:13:31 Dictionary Of Misinformation1:15:04 The Kremlin Is Not A Building1:16:11 Where To Find Kinara Bookstore1:17:43 Shop, Credits, And Where To Find Us REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODEWilliam Shakespeare, Coriolanus (c. 1607–08) · Plutarch, via North's translation · Merriam-Webster · Dictionary.com · Gary Martin, Phrase Finder · J.-K. Huysmans, À rebours (1884), published in English as Against the Grain · Bad Religion, Against the Grain (1990) · Garth Brooks, “Against the Grain,” written by Bruce Bouton, Larry Cordle and Carl Jackson · Marion Nestle, NYU · Gladiator (2000) · Training Day (2001) · Save the Last Dance (2001) GUEST: Kayla, founder of Kinara Bookstore — Tulsa's pop-up bookstore centering Black, brown, queer and disabled readers. Instagram, Threads and TikTok @kinara.books · kinarabookstore.com COMMENT: Have you ever actually gone against the grain, or did you just say you did? And settle this for us — open seating or assigned? ATP SHOP — every phrase gets a grade. Some of them get a mug.appraisethephrase.com/shop THE BRACKET — the board keeps filling. Tournament comes March 2027. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Go Against The Grain

  4. Sep 30

    Wet My Whistle

    Everybody thinks medieval pubs had cups with whistles baked into them. You blew the whistle, you got a refill. It's a great story and somebody made it up. On this episode, Mario and Twenty are joined by Myron to trace the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of "wet my whistle." The whistle was never an object. It was your throat; a usage running through Beaumont and Fletcher, where you could "cut your whistle," and all the way back to Chaucer in 1386. The cup came later, invented backwards to explain a phrase people no longer understood. Mario's term for it is retroactive prop invention. Then there's the H. "Whet your whistle" shows up in Thomas Flatman's Belly God in 1674 and never leaves, because whet sounds more literate than wet — a 350-year hypercorrection that people still defend today. Also: the requirements for a proper swig, why nobody can agree on what a thumbs-up means, the dietary guidelines dropping their actual numbers, medieval life as imprisonment by civilization, and a Dictionary of Misinformation entry that will change how you sit in meetings. 0:00 The Departed, Cranberry Juice, And A Phrase We Might Have To Retire0:44 The ATP Intro Theme1:33 Myron's In The Building1:58 Spoke Too Soon About The Sports Teams8:39 The Requirements For A Proper Swig9:24 Preferably Over 32 Ounces11:45 Ain't Nobody Going Out For Cranberry Juice14:03 Myron Has Been In The Store Too Long16:41 Unveil The Origin: Chaucer, 1386 (Content Warning)18:00 "So Was Her Jolly Whistle Well Wet"22:25 The Northern Clerks And Tolkien's Paper On The Reeve's Tale26:41 Rules We Enforce And Don't Follow27:57 Text Me, Don't Call Me29:00 Don't Read My Texts In A James Earl Jones Voice29:08 The Thumbs-Up Problem33:20 Emoji Etiquette In The Group Chat34:24 Confirm The Meaning: Beaumont And Fletcher, "Cut Your Whistle"36:39 Thomas Flatman's Belly God, 167437:19 Wet vs. Whet: 350 Years Of Trying To Sound Smarter39:25 The Dietary Guidelines Dropped The Actual Numbers43:39 Myron Amends His Take46:07 The Myth: Cups With Whistles Baked In47:05 Twenty: Medieval Life Was A Prison49:10 Retroactive Prop Invention50:56 "Am I Gonna Have To Stop Saying Wet My Whistle?"52:43 Myron's Hit List: It Is What It Is53:51 Why Won't You Explain Your Real Reasoning?56:16 Capacity, And Having Your Own Stuff Going On59:25 Using A Phrase To Avoid Confrontation59:52 Pop Culture Impact: The Top Four1:01:47 #1 Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade1:02:19 The Appraisal1:07:30 Dictionary Of Misinformation: Meeting Minutes1:09:50 Shop, Credits, And Where To Find Us REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODEGeoffrey Chaucer, The Reeve's Tale (c. 1386) · John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse (1530) · The Towneley Plays · Beaumont and Fletcher · Thomas Flatman, Belly God (1674) · Henry Fielding, Joseph Andrews (1742) · J.R.R. Tolkien, "Chaucer as a Philologist: The Reeve's Tale," Transactions of the Philological Society · Michael Quinion, World Wide Words · The Departed (2006) · To Have and Have Not (1944) · Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) COMMENT: Wet or whet — which are you, and are you prepared to defend it? And settle this for us: what does a thumbs-up actually mean? ATP SHOP: every phrase gets a grade. Some of them get a mug.appraisethephrase.com/shopTHE BRACKET: the board is filling up. Tournament comes March 2027.Subscribe to Appraise The Phrase on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheUnderdogAppraise The Phrase official site: appraisethephrase.comCheck out our other ATP produced shows: appraisethephrase.com/communityFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theappraisethephraseshowFollow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@appraisethephraseFollow us on X/Twitter: https://x.com/TheATPShow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Wet My Whistle

  5. Sep 23

    In The Nick of Time

    On this episode of Appraise The Phrase, Mario and Twenty trace the origin of "in the nick of time" and explains how it started out as pudding time. It starts in 1546 with John Heywood's book of proverbs, where arriving "in pudding time" meant showing up right as dinner started — because in the 16th century, pudding was savory, closer to sausage than dessert, and it was served first. Then pudding drifted to the end of the meal, and the phrase stopped making sense. The phrase never changed. The world did. Enter the nick: a notch cut into a tally stick, the wooden receipts the English Exchequer kept for centuries. And in 1834, when officials finally burned the obsolete sticks in the furnaces beneath the House of Lords, they burned down Parliament with them. The thing that gave us the phrase went up in smoke. The phrase survived. Also: Merriam-Webster watching too much Indiana Jones, referential collapse, the leap second being abolished right now, what you still say about yourself that stopped being true, and why we all keep the bags under the sink. 0:00 Indiana Jones, Janice, Drake, And The Nick Of Time0:51 The ATP Intro Theme1:37 What's Good: Football Season Is Here2:34 The Dolphins, Malik Willis, And Quarterback Fit9:07 Yes, This Is Still A Word Show10:28 Today's Phrase: In The Nick Of Time13:14 Twenty: This Phrase Is Janice From Accounting15:03 Confirm The Meaning: Merriam-Webster vs. Cambridge16:01 Trim The Fat: What A Definition Should Actually Do16:53 Merriam-Webster Has Been Watching Too Much Indiana Jones19:03 Unveil The Origin: Before The Nick, There Was Pudding Time20:44 1546: John Heywood's Book Of Proverbs21:46 Pudding Was Sausage — And It Came First22:53 How Pudding Became Dessert And Broke The Phrase24:55 Referential Collapse: When The World Leaves A Phrase Behind26:00 What Do You Still Say About Yourself That Stopped Being True?30:37 Performative Caring In The Social Media Era31:37 Mario: I Still Tell People I'm An Athlete33:43 Twenty Has Been Avoiding Fences On Purpose36:29 The Tudors Want Something Sharper: Golding, Ovid, And "Nick"37:58 What Even Is A Notch? The Exchequer's Tally Sticks39:13 So The Teachers Were Wrong40:05 The Leap Second Is Being Abolished42:12 What Would You Let Drift, And What Would You Never Let Go?46:42 1834: The Nick Burns Down Parliament49:05 Turner Painted It From A Boat On The Thames49:24 Infrastructural Afterlife: A Fossil Metaphor49:54 What Have You Held Onto Past Its Usefulness?50:38 Keep The Bags Under The Sink, Throw Away The Boxes52:27 Pop Culture #4: Every Film Called In The Nick Of Time53:22 #3: The In The Nick Of Time Clock In Newport, Wales53:51 #2 Charles Dickens / #1 Turner's The Burning Of The Houses Of Lords And Commons54:59 The Appraisal: Impact56:04 Speed57:30 Preference59:58 Dictionary Of Misinformation: Typhoid Mary1:00:30 Closing REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODEJohn Heywood, A Dialogue Conteynyng the Nomber in Effect of All the Prouerbes in the Englishe Tongue (1546) · Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia (1732) · Arthur Golding's translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses (1565–67) · Caroline Shenton, The Day Parliament Burned Down (2012) · J.M.W. Turner, The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons (1835) · Charles Dickens, speech to the Administrative Reform Association (1855) · IERS Bulletin C · Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) · Wanted (2008) COMMENT: What do you still say about yourself that stopped being true? And what are you holding onto long past its usefulness — bags under the sink count. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    In The Nick of Time

  6. Sep 16

    On The Back Burner

    Everybody knows what it means. Almost nobody can tell you where it came from...and that turns out to be the whole story. #OnTheBackBurner #Etymology #WordOrigins On this episode of Appraise The Phrase, Mario and Twenty unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of ""on the back burner,"" the youngest phrase this show has ever appraised. Before gas, American stoves didn't have burners at all. They had eyes — removable lids over a single firebox — so cooks were back-burning constantly, by physics, with no words to describe what they were doing. The concept sat around for a century waiting on the technology to name it. Then the gas range arrives in the 1920s and the phrase still doesn't show up until 1945, with Oxford holding out until 1963. Why the lag? Because a thing has to get boring before it can become a figure of speech. Also: the two twists that make this phrase strange — a name that may run backwards, and an American metaphor whose earliest written evidence sits in the Times of London. Plus gas stove bans in San Francisco, Colorado, New York and Virginia, what you were doing for years before you had a word for it, the gap-filling friend, and a Dictionary of Misinformation entry about what robins are actually doing on your lawn. Then we grade it. It does not go well. Value is in the eye of the appraiser. 0:00 If Billy Don't Say It, It Ain't No Phrase 0:57 The ATP Intro Theme 1:45 What's Good: The Holiday We Won't Timestamp 5:08 DC Heat vs. Southern Heat 7:08 When Great Directors Have To Explain Their Own Movies 8:10 Today's Phrase: On The Back Burner 9:26 Twenty's Take: Not My First Choice, But It Gets The Job Done 10:15 Mario's Take: Why It Feels Like Disrespect 12:17 A Question For The Chefs: Are The Burners Actually Weighted? 13:13 Confirm The Meaning: Merriam-Webster, Cambridge, Collins 14:25 Priority vs. Importance 18:00 The Youngest Phrase We've Ever Done 18:36 Unveil The Origin: When Stoves Didn't Have Burners 20:29 No Word For It Because There Was Nothing To Name 21:00 The Lexical Gap 21:47 What Were You Doing For Years Before You Had A Word For It? 22:04 Twenty: Humor As A Defense Mechanism 25:32 Older Generations Didn't Have ""Depression."" They Had Melancholy 26:25 The Happiest Beat About Fighting Off Depression 29:47 The 1920s: The Appliance Arrives, The Phrase Doesn't 30:53 Gas Companies Lose Lighting And Move Into The Kitchen 32:30 1945 To 1963: Why The Phrase Took 30 Years To Land 33:22 Metaphor Lag: A Thing Has To Get Boring First 34:20 Gas Stove Bans: San Francisco, Colorado, New York, Virginia 37:13 Should A Restaurant Kitchen Be Told To Go Electric? 39:53 Take Your Ass Outside And Grill 40:38 Twist One: The Name May Run Backwards 42:37 Twist Two: An American Phrase First Printed In London 44:01 Is This Phrase An Industry Plant? 45:19 Back-Formation And The Missing Paper Trail 46:45 The Plan-Making Friend And The Gap-Filling Friend 50:22 Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself 53:13 Pop Culture Impact: Only A Top Three This Time 54:49 #2 The Burner Branch: Burner Phone, Burner Account, Burner Email 55:40 #1 The Wire, Season 3, Episode 7: ""Back Burners"" 57:09 The Appraisal: Impact 58:58 Speed 1:00:50 Preference 1:01:26 This Phrase Is Boston Market 1:02:09 Dictionary Of Misinformation: Birds Do Not Listen For Worms 1:04:50 Closing Thoughts 1:05:08 Shop, Credits, And Where To Find Us REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE Merriam-Webster · Cambridge Dictionary · Collins Dictionary · Oxford English Dictionary · Cambridge English Corpus · The Times of London · The Wire, ""Back Burners,"" S3E7, aired November 7, 2004 — teleplay by Joy Lusco Kecken, story by David Simon & Joy Lusco Kecken, directed by Tim Van Patten COMMENT: Lefties — do you actually use the front left burner? And what's something Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. Sep 9

    Train Of Thought

    Everybody pictures a locomotive. Everybody is wrong.On this episode of Appraise The Phrase, Mario and Twenty unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of "train of thought" — a phrase that shows up in Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan in 1651 and John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1690, roughly 165 years before locomotives existed. The railroad imagery in your head? That's folk etymology doing what folk etymology always does: replacing the real reason with a better story.Along the way: why every major dictionary fumbles the definition, what "brain rot" and "train of thought" have in common as conceptual metaphors, how ideological sedimentation means you're often repeating arguments you weren't alive for, and why AI reasoning is the modern version of the same problem. Plus Twenty loses his actual train of thought live on the mic, which may be the most on-topic thing to ever happen on this show.Also discussed: Damon Darling getting banned from Walmart for buying strangers' groceries, the I, Robot Sonny conspiracy, the Mandela Effect hill we will die on, and why red Kool-Aid is not strawberry.Then we appraise it. Power grade, Speed grade, Preference. And we close with the Dictionary of Misinformation on the Thanksgiving turkey you think the pilgrims ate.Value is in the eye of the appraiser.0:00 Sherlock Holmes' Deductions, AI, And Someone Else's Train Of Thought1:08 The ATP Intro Theme1:52 What's Good: Back To School And Breaking The Monotony4:19 Today's Phrase: Train Of Thought4:41 Twenty's Take: You Only Say It When You've Lost It6:10 Mario's Take: The Phrase Paints A Picture7:25 Confirm The Meaning: Merriam-Webster vs. Cambridge vs. Dictionary.com10:15 Why "A Path Of Reasoning" Can't Be The Definition10:44 Unveil The Origin: "Train" In The 14th Century Meant To Drag Or Trail12:50 Conceptual Metaphors And Brain Rot (Oxford's 2024 Word Of The Year)13:50 Twenty Loses His Train Of Thought On An Episode About Train Of Thought14:59 Brain Rot Confessions: Instagram, Love Island, Love Is Blind20:11 Walmart Banned Damon Darling For Buying People Groceries22:36 1651: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, And The First Recorded Use23:57 Ideological Sedimentation: Inheriting Arguments You Never Had26:16 I, Robot: "Can A Robot Write A Symphony?" "Can You?"27:00 The Sonny Conspiracy: The Actor They Refused To Promote31:45 Why AI Gets Things Confidently Wrong32:14 Believed With Our Whole Chest: Y2K, The Mayans, And Flying Cars36:24 1690: John Locke, Association Of Ideas, And "Food For Thought"38:43 Train Of Thought Predates The Railroad By 165 Years40:11 "Sounds Like A Train To Me": How The Locomotive Got Its Name41:52 Edison Slander, Tesla, And The Prestige45:28 Institutional Formalization And Gen Z Slang Creep47:30 Folk Etymology: When The Better Lie Wins48:55 The Mandela Effect And The Shazam Hill We Will Die On50:55 Confidently Wrong: Red Kool-Aid Is Not Strawberry53:47 Pop Culture #1: Pixar's Inside Out54:44 #2: Sherlock Holmes And Guy Ritchie's Slow-Motion Deductions58:14 #3 The Greatest American Hero / #4 The Lost Train Of Thought59:28 The Appraisal: Power Grade And Impact Grade1:01:36 Final Grade1:02:37 Dictionary Of Misinformation: The Thanksgiving Turkey Myth1:04:41 The Watch List And Closing Thoughts1:05:48 Shop, Credits, And Where To Find Us REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651) · John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) · David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739) · Pixar's Inside Out (2015) · Sherlock Holmes (2009, dir. Guy Ritchie) · I, Robot (2004) · The Prestige (2006) · Slumdog Millionaire (2008) · The Greatest American Hero, "Train of Thought" (1982) · The Lost Train of Thought, The Seems series (2009) COMMENT: Which pop culture moment captures a train of thought best — Inside Out or Sherlock? And what's a folk etymology you defended with your whole chest before you found out it was wrong? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  8. Sep 2

    In A Nutshell

    "Help! I'm in a nutshell!" — Austin Powers already knew this phrase was funnier taken literally. We trace "in a nutshell" back almost 2,000 years to a claim that might just be one of history's oldest fake news stories.Mario and Twenty unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of "in a nutshell." The trail starts with a wild secondhand claim: Pliny the Elder wrote that Cicero once said the entire Iliad was copied onto parchment small enough to fit inside a nutshell...a claim scholars now treat as an ancient game of telephone more than a fact. From there it survives centuries of translation and rebranding: a 1387 English translation by John Trevisa, a 1579 pamphlet trashing the theater world by Stephen Golson, and finally Shakespeare himself, who dropped it into Hamlet in 1603 — "I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I had bad dreams"... cementing it forever.Along the way: three dictionary definitions (Cambridge, Dictionary.com, Vocabulary.com), a confession from both hosts about whether they actually live by the phrase they're covering, a deeply personal debate about where bias sneaks into things that are supposed to be neutral, and one host's non-negotiable stance on mayonnaise. Then it's Power Grade, Speed Grade, and a Preference Grade twist that neither host saw coming — plus a Dictionary of Misinformation segment busting the myth behind "no love lost."0:00 Austin Powers In A Nutshell Opener0:48 Intro Theme & Catching Up9:36 Introducing "In A Nutshell"10:43 Confession: Do We Even Live By This Phrase?14:41 Confirm The Meaning: Dictionary Definitions: Cambridge, Dictionary.com, Vocabulary.com19:44 Unveil The Origin: Cicero, Pliny the Elder & the Iliad-in-a-Nutshell Claim26:00 Story Time: Reflection - The Story That Can't Get Distorted28:19 The Mayonnaise Biopic Bit32:58 Unveil The Origin: Literary Lineage - John Trevisa's 1387 Translation37:24 Unveil The Origin: William Shakespeare Enters the Chat39:39 Story Time: Reflection - Where Bias Sneaks Into "Neutral" Things43:19 Story Time: Reflection - The Modest Thing That Does the Heavy Lifting50:07 Unveil The Origin: The Line That Made It Famous: Hamlet, 160352:29 Cultural Impact: A Novel, a German Brand & the Elevator Pitch54:34 Assess The Value: Power Grade56:31 Assess The Value: Speed Grade56:54 Assess The Value: Preference Grade - A Twist Ending58:33 Dictionary of Misinformation: "No Love Lost"1:01:02 Outro & ShopLINKSSubscribe to Appraise The Phrase on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheUnderdog Appraise The Phrase official site: appraisethephrase.com ATP Shop — mugs & merch: appraisethephrase.com/shop Check out our other ATP produced shows: appraisethephrase.com/community Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4jLFx2WLEslKF3BHWWvIlv?si=367e5762bdb9464a Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/appraise-the-phrase/id1570186367 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theappraisethephraseshow Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@appraisethephrase Follow us on X/Twitter: https://x.com/TheATPShow Previous Episodes: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmMMLmEcgaa3C1d_wZrZuWAJGB_mYQraB&si=Igvwjz9UT5dbnx7T Episode Clips: https://www.youtube.com/@AppraiseThePhraseClips ABOUT APPRAISE THE PHRASEAppraise The Phrase is a weekly podcast from the Underdog Podcast Network where the hosts unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of the everyday phrases and idioms we all use without ever asking where they came from. Each episode ends with a Power Grade and a round of the Dictionary of Misinformation, debunking a popular word-origin myth.New episodes every week. Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss the next one. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Ratings & Reviews

4.9
out of 5
13 Ratings

About

The show that puts your favorite (or not so favorite) everyday expressions under a microscope and into the hot seat. Tune in as Mario and his special guests dive into the meanings and origins of common sayings, expressions, and idioms. We may introduce you to a few too! Once it's all said and done, will these sayings live up to their common usage or will they crash and burn from some investigation? Join us as we take a moment to appraise the phrase! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Underdog Podcasts
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    131
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2024
  • Show Website
    Appraise The Phrase