Where do our modern English words come from? And what do their long histories tell us about our own ideas and the wider world? On Original Public Meaning, we unearth the ancient foundations of our language and consider how its vast, rich literature—fiction, essays, science, and more—can help us savor our words today.
Original Public Meaning
Claim This Podcastby Charles McNamara
5.0(3 reviews)
38 episodes
Updated Daily
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Podcast Overview
Where do our modern English words come from? And what do their long histories tell us about our own ideas and the wider world? On Original Public Meaning, we unearth the ancient foundations of our language and consider how its vast, rich literature—fiction, essays, science, and more—can help us savor our words today.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
1/2/2026
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Recent Episodes
July 3, 2026
Episode 38: distribute
<p>Questions of "distribution" have always been central to ethical and legal matters. The etymology of "distribute" itself comes with its own knotty questions and deceptive cousins—for instance, the loose and probably false connection between this word and "tribe." To close things out, we consider the opening paragraph of René Descartes's Discourse on the Method and its insistence that "good sense is the best distributed thing in the world."</p><p></p><p><strong>Suggest a word for a future episode or support this podcast</strong> at <a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wordswordswords" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wordswordswords</a></p><p><strong>Music</strong>: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maurice_Ravel_-_Sonatine_-_1._Mod%C3%A9r%C3%A9.flac" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a>, CC BY-SA 3.0)</p><p></p><p>---</p><p><a href="https://originalpublicmeaning.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://originalpublicmeaning.com</a></p>
June 24, 2026
Episode 37: exhaust
<p>We're back after a brief hiatus with the word "exhaust," a word that has broad application in English—sometimes a verb, sometimes a noun. It's an opportunity to review the idea of a "perfect passive participle," a fundamental grammatical concept observed in Latin words like exhaustus, from which our English word "exhaust" arises. Finally, we consider the character Neddy Merrill from John Cheever's story "The Swimmer." Exhausted at the end of the story, Neddy is just as exhausted as the stirred martinis that he has drunk over a summer afternoon.</p><p><strong>Suggest a word for a future episode or support this podcast</strong> at <a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wordswordswords" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wordswordswords</a></p><p><strong>Music</strong>: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maurice_Ravel_-_Sonatine_-_1._Mod%C3%A9r%C3%A9.flac" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a>, CC BY-SA 3.0)</p><p></p><p>---</p><p><a href="https://originalpublicmeaning.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://originalpublicmeaning.com</a></p>
June 8, 2026
Episode 36: dissolve
<p>The word "dissolve" likely brings up an image of a chemist's solutions or a sugar cube breaking apart in water. But this word has applications in a wide range of areas: a dissolute person, the dissolving of Parliament, even the final dissolving of the body and soul. As a more recent example, we consider the phrase "dissolving margins," a recurring theme in the Neapolitan Novels of Elena Ferrante, where a chaotic moment in life can disrupt our sense of order and definition.</p><p><strong>Suggest a word for a future episode or support this podcast</strong> at <a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wordswordswords" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.buymeacoffee.com/wordswordswords</a></p><p><strong>Music</strong>: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maurice_Ravel_-_Sonatine_-_1._Mod%C3%A9r%C3%A9.flac" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wikimedia Commons</a>, CC BY-SA 3.0)</p><p></p><p>---</p><p><a href="https://originalpublicmeaning.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://originalpublicmeaning.com</a></p>
38 total episodes available
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