Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is an apostrophe podcast production. We're going to show you our big new Studebaker. That's a spicy meatball. What love doesn't conquer. You're under the influence with Terry O'Reilly.
As a writer, I am in love with words. I love the impact they can have, how shadings of different words have slightly different temperatures, and how a surprising verb can make a sentence not only memorable, but quote-worthy. When I write, I always have my thesaurus and dictionary close by, and often I'll look up the meaning of an everyday word and actually be surprised at its origins.
You have to wonder how their meanings have changed so drastically over time. For example, the word nice used to mean silly, foolish, and simple. The word awful once meant something was worthy of awe. That actually makes sense. Full of awe. Awful. Who knew? And naughty used to mean you had nothing. Or not.
Every year, the Washington Post publishes the winning submissions to its annual contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for common words. Here are the winners. Coffee. The person upon whom one coughs. Flabbergasted, to be appalled over how much weight you've gained. Abdicate, meaning to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
Esplanade, to attempt an explanation while drunk. Willy-nilly, an adjective meaning impotent, funny. Negligent, a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your negligee. Lymph, an adjective meaning to walk with a lisp. Gargoyle, a gross olive-flavored mouthwash. Flatulence, an emergency vehicle that picks you up after you've been run over by a steamroller. Cue Wile E. Coyote.
Balderdash, a rapidly receding hairline. I resemble that remark.
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Chapter 2: Why are numbers important in marketing?
Pokemon, a Rastafarian proctologist. And lastly, Circumvent, the opening at the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men. Welcome to our annual Bookmarks episode. We read a lot of books to research under the influence, but every season there isn't enough room to include all the great stories we find. So this episode is dedicated to those stories that didn't fit into our regular shows.
Sometimes they are surprising, and many times they are words to live by.
You're under the influence.
One day, when I was in university studying radio and television back in the Jurassic period, the professor was talking about what all of us in that room had in common. He said, we all love movies, we all love television, we all love radio, we all love great writing. Everybody was nodding yes. Then the professor said, and we are all terrible at math.
and all 40 of us couldn't argue with that, which made me laugh. But it's true, creative people are, generally speaking, bad at math. But I'm intrigued by math. As a wise man once said, your fear is your task, and my task is understanding math. On that note, a book I read not long ago is titled The Grapes of Math.
Subtitle, How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life by author Alex Bellows. As someone who directed humorous commercials for a living, I've always believed that 11 is the funniest number. 10 is a round number, a prime number. 11 is one too many. If I said there were 11 angry florists outside your door right now, it's funny. If I said there were 10, it's less funny. It just is.
Alex Bellow shares my view, sort of. In his book, he says the number 11 is powerful. For example, it is an essential element of KFC's corporate mythology. Its fried chicken is seasoned with Colonel Sanders' original recipe of 11 different herbs and spices. the reason. The number 11 represents going one better, an extra ingredient beyond the ordinary. 10 is the order of things.
11 is exploring the possibilities beyond. I know what you're thinking.
If you can see... The numbers all go to 11. Look, right across the board. 11, 11, 11. And most of the amps go up to 10. Exactly. Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder? Well, it's one louder, isn't it?
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