Word Bomb
Channel Details
Word Bomb
Language moves fast and Word Bomb is here to help. Unpacking one explosive word per week, hosts Pippa Johnstone and Karina Palmitesta talk to experts and dive deep into lived experiences to share stories the dictionary doesn't tell you.
Recent Episodes
41 episodesIt's time to reevaluate resilience
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 w...
Is our culture getting more culty?
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...
Deaf or deaf? Capitalizing a community
What a difference capitalization makes: Pippa and Karina dive into the hotly debated and deeply personal terminology around being Deaf/deaf. They're j...
Sorry, we're at capacity
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 a...
Don't you know that you're toxic?
From relationships, to workplaces, to masculinity, "toxic" is a label we've embraced enthusiastically for the last few years. Pippa and Karina trace t...
Defining the mission of abolition
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 Wal...
Homing in on houselessness
Amid an affordable housing crisis, the language around homelessness is changing - but is it helping? With insights from housing activist Lorraine Lam...
We're simps for semantics
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...
We need to talk about genocide
The discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves near residential schools across the country has re-launched a national conversation on the word "genocide...
Word Bomb is back for season four!
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.
BIPOC: Can a term be too inclusive?
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...
Sex: The words and the bees
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...
Expat: A passport to privilege
Why are some people living abroad called "expats" and others called "immigrants" or "migrants"? Is it simply semantics, or something much deeper? In t...
Organic: Farm to label
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...
Cancel: Dispatches from the culture wars
2020 is definitely #cancelled, but who can cancel who, and where does boycotting end and cancelling start? Pippa and Karina data-mine Twitter, sort th...
Karen: Calling cops and naming names
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 Live...
Republican: Grand Old Party in the U.S.A.
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 pu...
Nice: A journey into the friendzone
Pippa and Karina follow this surface-level word straight into one of the darkest corners of the internet: the manosphere, complete with Nice Guys, goo...
Hustle: The millennials aren't alright
Millennials are often called the "hustle generation." They're famous for side gigging, bootstrapping, and burning out. But what really is hustling, an...
Latinx: Solving for x in a binary world
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 psycholinguis...
Season three is coming soon
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 seas...
Ep. 9 - 'Toronto': Live at Hot Docs
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...
Ep. 8 - 'White': The Great YT North
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 surp...
Ep. 7 - 'Drag': From drag balls to RuPaul
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 pe...
Ep. 6 - 'Troll': From the internet to IRL
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 wha...
Ep. 5 - 'Meme': Weird episode, but OK
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 al...
Ep. 4 - 'Anthropocene': Naming the climate crisis
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...
Ep. 3 - 'Crazy': How to De-craze Our Conversations
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...
Ep. 2 - 'Addict': On drug use and language usage
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...
Ep. 1 - 'Polyamory': Opening up the vocab of non-monogamy
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 "pol...
Word Bomb is back for Season 2!
Listen to hosts Pippa Johnstone and Karina Palmitesta in season 2 of Word Bomb. Subscribe now!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...
Ep. 9 - 'Native': O Canada, don't label, just listen
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 ap...
Ep. 8 - 'Renoviction': Portmanteau as protest
What happens when landlords evict tenants to renovate their units and triple the rents? Bitter disputes, drawn-out court battles, fierce housing activ...
Ep. 7 - 'Partner': The best name for your better half?
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 choo...
Ep. 6 - 'Singular They': Busting open the binary
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"...
Ep. 5 - 'Moist': The ick factor and damp semantics
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 ha...
Ep. 4 - 'Trigger': The word behind the warning
TW: everything. This week, Pippa and Karina tackle the word "trigger", interviewing a PhD student, a mental health advocate and a filmmaker. Safe spac...
Ep. 3 - 'Like': Tackling a like/hate relationship
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 thei...
Ep. 2 - 'Doxx': Hacking the language of the internet
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 cultu...
Ep. 1 - 'Fat': Go ahead, say the F-word
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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