Words, Words, Words: A Podcast by Robert Tinajero: Recent Episodes
Robert Tinajero
Words, Words, Words focuses on the topics of language, word choice, discourse, and rhetoric while discussing various issues connected to society, science, sports, relationships, politics, etc. Host Robert Tinajero has a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Writing Studies from UT-El Paso. Join the conversation on Twitter @WordsWordsWord9 or Instagram @WordsWordsWordsPodcast
A look at the rap beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake and how it may mirror political discourse.
A post went viral of an English teacher’s punishment for students that use slang in her classroom. Is this “sus”?
A recap episode with two guests covering motivational sports speeches, racial comedy, and cussing.
A look at new warning labels being put on Mexican food products and how that same fight might come to the United States.
A look at a religious content creator who produced a video about the End Times and a 200 million man army.
A look at some if the discourse and phrases used by liberals and conservatives when it comes to issues like healthcare, taxes, guns, immigration, etc.
A look at several issues that arise when translating the Bible from choosing the translators, thinking about meaning, the use of commas, and pronouns, etc.
Thinking about the sometimes violent rhetoric coming from football coaches with a look back at “bountygate.”
A look at the etymology of the term “Christmas” and saying Merry Christmas vs. saying Happy Holidays.
A look at how Gen Zers find the thumbs up emoji passive aggressive and other emoji talk.
A quick look at puns, the Punslinger Finals, and a song about love and crossword puzzles.
A quick look at the literary and rhetorical devices of personification and anthropomorphism.
A look at pop culture body movements like the Dab, the Floss, and the Griddy and what they possibly communicate.
A look at how Russian nationalists see the Ukrainian language as “little Russian” but Ukrainians know it to be a distinct language.
A look at the new naming system for Covid-19 variants and why a place-based naming system isn’t best.
A look at the neologism (new slang term) “cheugy”. Wait, is it cheugy to be doing a podcast episode on “cheugy”? Probably.
A look at how cuss words are different than regular words and how cussing helps us tolerate pain.
A look at why composition classes became mandatory at most U.S. colleges and how they have changed over time.
A look at the idea of people being “connected but alone” as they use their smart phones and social media on a regular basis.
A look at some of the discourse used by Trump that led to the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
A look at the racial comedy used by some comedians and thinking about the possible positive and negative impact to society.
A look at some words and phrases used to motivate people during sports and working out.
A look at Rutgers University’s English Department’s new policies on race, racism, and Critical Race Theory.
In this episode I talk with two guests about topics from the previous nine episodes including vehicular rhetoric, Covid (mis)information, how to communicate when breaking up with someone, and a few other topics.
A look at the direct and indirect messages that our vehicles send. From color, to brand, to bumper stickers; what’s your car’s rhetorical message?
A look at “Black Lives Matter” vs “All Lives Matter”, plus the use of “battle space”, the visual rhetoric of Trump’s bible photo-op, and social media’s response to Trump’s messages.
Using your communication to deal with break ups, one night stands, dumping a friend, etc.
A look at how we change our rhetoric when talking to babies and toddlers and some possible reasons why.
A look at four love poems and how their rhetoric illustrates four different kinds of love.
A look at how rappers use literary devices like allusion, alliteration, metaphor, simile, simple rhyme, and multisyllabic rhyme.
A look at three legal cases involving signage connected to dog attacks, sex offenders, and earthquakes.
I look at how we interact with people as we walk by them. Head nods, smirks, hellos, and what’s ups.
A quick history lesson on the “Happy Birthday Song” and the various times and ways we say happy birthday.
This episode looks at the racist rhetoric of the President and of the El Paso shooter. #elpasostrong
A brief history of the smiley face emoticon and the difference between emoticons and emojis. :-)
A look at some of the most popular baby names searched online in 2019 and various thoughts on baby names.
A discussion with two friends about topics from episodes 11-19. Topics include labels for Hispanics, sports mascots, laughter, communication with healthcare professionals, biased illustrations, and labels used for vegan products.
A look at the history/etymology of the term “spelling bee” and a list of some commonly misused words and phrases.
A look at the various biases present in illustrations in medical and anatomy textbooks.
A look at word choices and labelling choices of vegetarian and vegan products, specifically those that use meat-related rhetoric in their labeling.
A look at how healthcare professionals communicate with patients and the effect it can have.
A look at how laughter is a form of communication and connected to emotions, social cues, stress reduction, and even to non-humans. Lol.
A look at the terms and phrases used when discussing various political issues and the slogans of presidential campaigns.
A look at some interesting facts and history about some NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL team names. Also, how should we feel about the team name Washington R**s?
This episode looks at different labels used for the Hispanic/Latino/LatinX community and why some might prefer one term over the others.
Episode 10: Recap of Episodes 1-9 with That Boy Ralph. Race, fertilization, sneezing, policing, car salespeople, etc.
A look at seven tactics used by car sales-people and how to avoid their rhetorical traps.
This episode focuses on a study of police interactions with drivers and how their language displays varying levels of respect.
This episode discusses cussing, swearing, using profanities, etc. Specifically it delves into the etymology of “profane”, “shit”, and “fuck” along with bringing up questions that have to do with our use of profanity in society.
What is the history of saying “bless you” when someone sneezes? Do you say it? What is your sneeze-to-bless you ratio?
Discussion about emails sent to Chinese students at Duke University encouraging them to speak English “100% of the time” when on campus or in professional settings.
Do we still need to teach cursive handwriting in elementary schools? Is texting killing language? We explore these questions on today’s episode.
We look at a pre-game speech by NFL coach Gregg Williams where he encourages players to knock heads and take out ACLs and at a proposed “English-proficiency” rule by the LPGA.