12 min listen
Honeymoon: A Bittersweet Beginning
FromScience Diction
ratings:
Length:
10 minutes
Released:
Aug 3, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Honeymoon: It just seems like a word that would have a lovely story behind it, doesn’t it?
When a listener named Eric emailed us from Centerville, Ohio asking about the word, that’s what we were hoping to find. Instead, we found a more bittersweet origin stretching all the way back to an early modern poem. Plus: We take a look at what’s going on in our brains during the honeymoon period—and whether it’s all downhill from there.
If you want us to cover a word on the show, get in touch! Give us a call, leave a message, and we might play it on the show. The number is 929-499-WORD, or 929-499-9673. Or, you can always send an email to podcasts@sciencefriday.com.
Guest:
Christine Proulx is an Associate Professor in Human Development and Family Science at the University of Missouri.
Footnotes & Further Reading:
Read the full John Heywood poem where the word "honeymoon" appears for the first time.
Learn more about what’s happening in your brain during the honeymoon phase.
Read the full study on how researchers used an fMRI to find activity in the ventral tegmental area of the brains of people who recently fell in love.
Credits:
Science Diction is produced by Johanna Mayer and Senior Producer Elah Feder. Daniel Peterschmidt is our composer, and they mastered the episode. Nadja Oertelt is our Chief Content Officer. Special thanks this week to Michael Lorber and Helen Fisher. See you soon.
When a listener named Eric emailed us from Centerville, Ohio asking about the word, that’s what we were hoping to find. Instead, we found a more bittersweet origin stretching all the way back to an early modern poem. Plus: We take a look at what’s going on in our brains during the honeymoon period—and whether it’s all downhill from there.
If you want us to cover a word on the show, get in touch! Give us a call, leave a message, and we might play it on the show. The number is 929-499-WORD, or 929-499-9673. Or, you can always send an email to podcasts@sciencefriday.com.
Guest:
Christine Proulx is an Associate Professor in Human Development and Family Science at the University of Missouri.
Footnotes & Further Reading:
Read the full John Heywood poem where the word "honeymoon" appears for the first time.
Learn more about what’s happening in your brain during the honeymoon phase.
Read the full study on how researchers used an fMRI to find activity in the ventral tegmental area of the brains of people who recently fell in love.
Credits:
Science Diction is produced by Johanna Mayer and Senior Producer Elah Feder. Daniel Peterschmidt is our composer, and they mastered the episode. Nadja Oertelt is our Chief Content Officer. Special thanks this week to Michael Lorber and Helen Fisher. See you soon.
Released:
Aug 3, 2021
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (43)
Meme: Remember that summer when the internet was one Distracted Boyfriend after another—that flannel-shirted dude rubbernecking at a passing woman, while his girlfriend glares at him? Everyone had their own take—the Boyfriend was you, staring directly at a solar eclipse, ignoring science. The Boyfriend was youth, seduced by socialism, spurning capitalism. The Boyfriend could be anyone you wanted him to be. We think of memes as a uniquely internet phenomenon. But the word meme originally had nothing to do with the internet. It came from an evolutionary biologist who noticed that genes weren’t the only thing that spread, mutated, and evolved. Want to stay up to speed with all thing Science Diction? Sign up for our newsletter. Guest: Gretchen McCulloch is an internet linguist. For some fun, check out her book, Because Internet, and her podcast Lingthusiasm. She’s also appeared on Science Friday. Footnotes And Further Reading: For an academic take on memes, read Memes in Digital Cultu by Science Diction