Episode # 28 - Language Laughs and the Sticky Truth

Why do we park in driveways and drive on parkways? Come along as we unravel this puzzling enigma, and many more, with a healthy dose of humor and a sprinkle of historical insight. Prepare for a rollercoaster ride through the lexicon as we ponder why a cake baked in a pan doesn’t magically transform into a pancake, and how shipment and cargo took on their respective transportational forms. If you've ever wondered why glue stubbornly refuses to stick to the inside of its bottle, we’ve got the sticky answers you crave.

Listening to this episode is like discovering the inside jokes of the English language, from parkways to paste-eating clubs. We promise a light-hearted exploration of the oddities of words, with our unique spin on why these phrases are far more than the sum of their parts. So, grab a comfy seat and a curious mind, because we’re about to untangle some of the funniest mysteries that our everyday language has to offer. Whether you’re in it for the fun or the facts, get ready to be entertained and educated in equal measure.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I apologize for the auditory anxiety you may be experiencing. My podcast has been described as listening to a cat trying to sing a lullaby. Drumroll, please, episode number 28. And diving into the stupid of the internet and I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before the question why do cars park in a driveway but drive in a parkway? My off-the-cuff response is different definitions of park and drive in those two phrasings, idiots. But let's do a nice reasoned response. So a driveway is the private road leading to a house or garage. It's a place where cars drive to park. A parkway is a broad landscaped road, often with trees and grassy areas, maybe even flowers, where it looks like a park. It's a place where cars drive through enjoying the scenery. So, while they both involve driving and parking, they serve different purposes and are used in different contexts, and that's it. That's what it comes down to. So a lot of flipping words around. For example, if you bake a cake in a pan, why aren't you baking a pan into a pancake? And this next one I don't hate nearly as bad, because who speaks English and speaks other languages? That resides in good old America. Why is that?

Speaker 1: 1:50

When you transport something by car, it's called a shipment, but when you transport something by ship, it's called cargo. Yeah, the difference in terms stems from historical and practical reasons. Difference in terms stems from historical and practical reasons. The act of shipping that which is shipped for shipment term probably originated from the idea of sending or dispatching goods, especially when using land-based transportations like carts or wagons, so well before cars. Then cargo is thought to be derived from the Italian word carico, which means load, also freight loaded on ship, from the Spanish cargo Burden and a few other places Depends, where you look, specifically associated with goods carried by sea, likely because ships were historically used for transporting large quantities of goods over long distances. So, while both terms refer to transportation of goods, different historical contexts in which they were used led to their distinct meanings.

Speaker 1: 3:04

And cargo is one word. If you were to go by car, you would say it's time for this car to go. Two separate words, allah, oh, and I wasn't going to do this one. But why doesn't glue stick to the inside of a bottle? Well, there's no air inside the bottle of glue, ideally, and air is part of the chemical reaction that turns glue from liquid to solid for adhesion. Also, the glue wouldn't taste as good as paste, so why bother right Paste Eater of the Month Club. Yeah, I was never a member. I couldn't qualify. My credit wasn't that good in kindergarten.