One of my side projects in 2026 has been to record brief audio essays about the rich histories of English words, particularly as they emerge from their Greek and Roman ancestors, for a new podcast called Original Public Meaning. I was inspired to create these recordings, at least in part, by how much I enjoyed producing a similar audio essay on the Latin verb proficio for the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae in 2025. And cultural-criticism-via-word-history has been a favorite beat of mine for many years.
I’ve been recording two episodes of this show per week. A few of my favorites are listed below.
“nostalgia” defined as a longing for one’s home, one’s past, and one’s own psychological space:
“convention” considered both as a meeting place and as a prevailing social practice:
“incandescent” viewed through the lenses of technological and moral development:
I’m also realizing how effective audio recordings can be for teaching: producing brief segments to reflect on a section of the Iliad that didn’t quite make it into lectures, for instance. Making these kinds of recordings for students is more knack than science, so the podcast is a good opportunity for practicing all kinds of skills: microphone technique, argumentative clarity, and refining prose for the ear rather than the eye.
You can find all the episodes at the show’s website. (And no, the podcast has nothing to do with originalism as a legal theory; Original Public Meaning is just a good title for a show about the complex histories of words.)