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

Day of Reckoning Media

Mike and Matt are two Americans stuck in London. Expect dodgy accents, transatlantic bantz and notes on queueing. 

  1. 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.

    43 min

  2. 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

    1h 5m

  3. 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!

    1h 11m

  4. 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

    1h 6m

  5. Mar 1

    9: Wake Up! It's the First of the Month

    As the homeland goes to war once again, we pick over the state of the union and find it ... totally great, no problems, all good. Cheap eggs, too. Really though, your hosts Matt and Mike play a quick game of two truths and a lie, and provide an urgent update for those of you with more than one passport.  Plus, is half of Royal Mail really stool and urine samples? We investigate. Because let's face it, nobody else is going to. Get in touch: colddarkmiserablepod@gmail.com

    44 min

  6. Feb 13

    8: The Love Boat ft. Derek Miller

    Today we're on a journey from Chicago to LA, via Indiana and New York, but as we know, all roads lead to ... Yorkshire. Actor, Windy City native and improv scene veteran Derek Miller tells us about winning money off of Green Day, finding love on the high seas, Tim Burton's strangely normal affect and how he ended up being the only American in the village.  Derek shares his thoughts on the UK comedy scene and how he landed a gig playing himself on current affairs television.  Plus in news corner we ask why the Epstein scandal is claiming scalps in Britain but seems to have left all the powerful people back home completely untouched. Weird, huh?  We're making a list of who we should have on next. Get in touch: colddarkmiserablepod@gmail.com And read more about Derek here: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2479885/bio/

    40 min

  7. Feb 7

    7: Cruise out of Control

    Was our good friend Tom Cruise forced from London by a smash-and-grab robbery, the relentless rain, or anti-Scientology villagers? Matt and Mike take on an impossible mission: decoding the sourcing in a story that has enthralled the tabloid press. In other news, we find that a Proud Boy punk plans to tour the UK later this month. Plus practical updates: on Indefinite Leave to Remain, which banks actually accept American customers, and what are the British equivalents of Venmo, Craigslist and Depop?  Finally, should the politics be confined to our theme tune? Let us know: colddarkmiserablepod@gmail.com Read more on the Misfit Proud Boy: https://thedayofreckoning.substack.com/p/exclusive-proud-boy-punk-who-was And on Tom Cruise: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/met-police-tom-cruise-knightsbridge-flat-rolex-robbery-london-b1269206.html

    48 min

  8. Feb 2

    6: Tipsy not lairy ft. Erich von Gehren

    Erich von Gehren survived the Beirut port explosion and after his dramatic brush with death decided to ... buy a pub in Hanwell.  He joins us this week to fill us in on all the details of a long, exciting career in the restaurant industry, and a much less exciting 1,000-page visa application.  The Duke of York, which Erich and his wife Lisa are refurbishing, is at 161 Uxbridge Road W7. It will be open the week after Easter, because to open on Easter weekend would be way too stressful.  And there's more information about Erich's cultural recommendation, the Hanwell Hootie, at www.hanwellhootie.co.uk. All that, plus if you listen to the end you can see if Matt's proposed theme tune makes the cut?!

    47 min
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Mike and Matt are two Americans stuck in London. Expect dodgy accents, transatlantic bantz and notes on queueing. 

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