Podcasts by Word Bomb

It's time to reevaluate resilience from 2021-12-09T10:00

Well into the second year of the pandemic, is "resilience" really what we need to be cultivating? Pippa and Karina are joined by Julie S. Lalonde, a women's rights advocate and author of the memoir...

Is our culture getting more culty? from 2021-12-02T10:00

What sets a cult apart from a religion? Is it a harmless groupthink, or something much darker? And why are cults having such a moment right now, from pop culture to politics? Pippa and Karina drink...

Deaf or deaf? Capitalizing a community from 2021-11-25T10:00

What a difference capitalization makes: Pippa and Karina dive into the hotly debated and deeply personal terminology around being Deaf/deaf. They're joined by deaf podcaster Caroline Mincks to b...

Sorry, we're at capacity from 2021-11-18T10:00

When and how do we decide that someone can't make their own decisions? As the "grey wave" of aging baby boomers approaches, ,capacity, has become an all-important metric. Pippa and Karina speak to ...

Don't you know that you're toxic? from 2021-11-11T10:00

From relationships, to workplaces, to masculinity, "toxic" is a label we've embraced enthusiastically for the last few years. Pippa and Karina trace this overused metaphor from a 1980s fringe men's...

Defining the mission of abolition from 2021-11-04T09:00

The abolition movement has hit the mainstream, and calls to disarm, defund, and dismantle the system as we know it have never been louder. Rinaldo Walcott, author of "On Property," joins Pippa and ...

Homing in on houselessness from 2021-10-28T09:00

Amid an affordable housing crisis, the language around homelessness is changing - but is it helping? With insights from housing activist Lorraine Lam and Toronto Drop-in Network coordinator Dian...

We're simps for semantics from 2021-10-21T09:00

Pippa and Karina embark on a totally hard-hitting investigation into the past, present, and future of the word "simp," from 1970s hip-hop to 1990s rap to Tiktok. With its overtones of misogyny, ...

We need to talk about genocide from 2021-10-14T09:00

The discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves near residential schools across the country has re-launched a national conversation on the word "genocide" and why politicians tread lightly around i...

Word Bomb is back for season four! from 2021-10-07T13:00

Word Bomb is back with nine episodes that tell the story behind hot-button words like genocide, homeless, and deaf. Season four drops October 14th.

Let’s continue to explore languag...

BIPOC: Can a term be too inclusive? from 2020-12-08T10:00

The acronym BIPOC has been around for years-but in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and BLM protests across North America this summer, it's been thrust into the spotlight. Is this hot-butt...

Sex: The words and the bees from 2020-12-01T10:00

Now that we've got your attention: Pippa and Karina investigate how sex drives slang creation in the English language. With Jonathon Green, one of the world's leading lexicographers and author of G...

Expat: A passport to privilege from 2020-11-24T10:00

Why are some people living abroad called "expats" and others called "immigrants" or "migrants"? Is it simply semantics, or something much deeper? In this episode, Pippa and Karina decode the politi...

Organic: Farm to label from 2020-11-17T10:00

Karina and Pippa take a trip down the grocery aisle to peel back the "organic" label. The organic food industry is booming-but is it all marketing and markup at Whole Foods, or the future of sustai...

Cancel: Dispatches from the culture wars from 2020-11-10T10:00

2020 is definitely #cancelled, but who can cancel who, and where does boycotting end and cancelling start? Pippa and Karina data-mine Twitter, sort through the endless op-eds, and debate the cathar...

Karen: Calling cops and naming names from 2020-11-03T10:00

Pippa and Karina talk to an entire chorus of Karens and break down the memeification of this now-infamous first name, from the baby boom to Black Lives Matter. Women weaponizing their whiteness hav...

Republican: Grand Old Party in the U.S.A. from 2020-10-28T09:00

Pippa and Karina take a quick break from doomscrolling to ring in the U.S. presidential election with an episode on the word "Republican." From res publica to revolution, from the party of Lincoln ...

Nice: A journey into the friendzone from 2020-10-20T09:00

Pippa and Karina follow this surface-level word straight into one of the darkest corners of the internet: the manosphere, complete with Nice Guys, good boys, incels, and MRAs. How did one boring, o...

Hustle: The millennials aren't alright from 2020-10-13T09:00

Millennials are often called the "hustle generation." They're famous for side gigging, bootstrapping, and burning out. But what really is hustling, and where did it come from? This week on Word ...

Latinx: Solving for x in a binary world from 2020-10-06T10:00

In this episode of Word Bomb, Pippa and Karina examine the myriad of modern ways to self-identify as Latin American. Joined by a Chicanx psycholinguist and a Venezuelanx performer, they dig into...

Season three is coming soon from 2020-09-29T10:00

In 2020, language has been moving faster than ever, and Word Bomb is here to help. Hosts Pippa Johnstone and Karina Palmitesta return for a third season to unpack one explosive word per week, talk ...

Ep. 9 - 'Toronto': Live at Hot Docs from 2019-11-26T08:00

Tkaronto, York, Toronto the Good, T-Dot, Hogtown, the 6ix... Canada's largest city has gone by many names over the years and Pippa and Karina explore the myths and origin stories behind all of t...

Ep. 8 - 'White': The Great YT North from 2019-11-19T08:00

Are Canadians too polite to talk about race? When it comes to whiteness in Canada, it's a conversation worth having. Pippa and Karina explore the surprising origins of the words "white" and "Caucas...

Ep. 7 - 'Drag': From drag balls to RuPaul from 2019-11-12T08:00

Serving realness, throwing shade, reading - RuPaul's Drag Race put drag slang on the map, for better and for worse. Pippa and Karina talk to a drag performer and an anthropology scholar about the a...

Ep. 6 - 'Troll': From the internet to IRL from 2019-11-05T08:00

Being a butt on the internet just isn't what it used to be. From the early '90s to the age of Trump and troll farms, there's a lot to unpack about what we mean when we call someone a troll. Pippa a...

Ep. 5 - 'Meme': Weird episode, but OK from 2019-10-29T08:00

LOLcats and starter packs. Evil Kermit and Pepe the Frog. One does not simply record a podcast episode on memes, but they can't stop all of us, let alone 30-50 feral hogs. In this mini-episode, Pip...

Ep. 4 - 'Anthropocene': Naming the climate crisis from 2019-10-22T08:00

As the Earth responds ever more rapidly to human activity, a controversial group of scientists is proposing that we've entered a new epoch: the age of the Anthropocene. Pippa and Karina sit down wi...

Ep. 3 - 'Crazy': How to De-craze Our Conversations from 2019-10-15T10:00

Dude, that's craaazy. In this mini episode, Pippa and Karina discuss one of the most-used adjectives in their vocabulary, what they mean when they use the word "crazy," and the subtle ways that abl...

Ep. 2 - 'Addict': On drug use and language usage from 2019-10-08T08:00

With an opioid epidemic sweeping North America, there has never been a more urgent time to question how we talk about people who use drugs. Pippa and Karina dive into diagnostic manuals to track th...

Ep. 1 - 'Polyamory': Opening up the vocab of non-monogamy from 2019-10-01T15:00

Polyamory in North America is on the rise-and with it comes a plethora of brand-new words to describe how non-monogamous relationships work, like "polycule" and "compersion". Karina and Pippa talk ...

Word Bomb is back for Season 2! from 2019-09-26T17:00

Listen to hosts Pippa Johnstone and Karina Palmitesta in season 2 of Word Bomb. Subscribe now!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ep. 9 - 'Native': O Canada, don't label, just listen from 2018-11-13T11:00

In this episode, Karina and Pippa consider the word Native, using it to explore Canada's painful colonial past and present. They discuss the labels applied to Indigenous peoples and sit down with t...

Ep. 8 - 'Renoviction': Portmanteau as protest from 2018-11-06T11:00

What happens when landlords evict tenants to renovate their units and triple the rents? Bitter disputes, drawn-out court battles, fierce housing activism - and a brand-new portmanteau that's catchi...

Ep. 7 - 'Partner': The best name for your better half? from 2018-10-30T11:00

Girlfriend, boyfriend, S.O., bae, better half, sweetheart, beau ... what's in a name? Pippa and Karina debate and dismantle all the names you may choose to call that special someone and discuss the...

Ep. 6 - 'Singular They': Busting open the binary from 2018-10-23T11:00

Pippa and Karina journey from the fifteenth century to the present day, tracing the course of a small word with an outsized impact. As singular "they" gains ground as the gender-neutral pronoun of ...

Ep. 5 - 'Moist': The ick factor and damp semantics from 2018-10-16T11:00

Why are people so hung up on the word "moist"? Pippa and Karina wade into the damp, the humid and the slightly wet as they dismantle English's most hated word (and repeat it enough to cure themselv...

Ep. 4 - 'Trigger': The word behind the warning from 2018-10-09T11:00

TW: everything. This week, Pippa and Karina tackle the word "trigger", interviewing a PhD student, a mental health advocate and a filmmaker. Safe spaces, content warnings and "snowflakes" all featu...

Ep. 3 - 'Like': Tackling a like/hate relationship from 2018-10-02T11:00

What does it mean when we pepper everything we say with "like"? Word Bomb hosts Pippa Johnstone and Karina Palmitesta take a good, hard listen to their own speech patterns and reveal some surprisin...

Ep. 2 - 'Doxx': Hacking the language of the internet from 2018-10-02T11:00

What does it mean to "doxx somebody?" Word Bomb hosts Pippa Johnstone and Karina Palmitesta delve deep into the dark history of an ever-evolving culture of online discourse.

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Ep. 1 - 'Fat': Go ahead, say the F-word from 2018-10-02T11:00

In our very first episode of Word Bomb, hosts Pippa Johnstone and Karina Palmitesta discuss the word "fat," bias, and the "euphemism treadmill."

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Coming Soon: Word Bomb, a TVO Podcast from 2018-09-23T14:26

Welcome to Word Bomb, the podcast that helps us understand our words in a whole new way. Subscribe now for episodes that begin in October 2018.

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