The World in Words


The best email that I ever sent was to Patrick Cox. He was the host of my favorite podcast, The World in Words. This was back in 2009. These were the days when you had to physically download your podcasts from iTunes to your iPod, which I did religiously. The World in Words was a favorite. Patrick had a segment on the show where he attempted to translate an untranslatable word. I emailed Patrick as a half-fan/half-wannabe-producer and offered up a story about a Yiddish word that my grandmother always used, “davkah.” In his ever-gracious way, he thanked me for my idea and then politely said, “I don’t have time to produce this story but if you do, then I’ll happily listen.” To his astonishment, I did and he listened.

Flash forward several years, Patrick let me co-host his podcast. The show took me around the world. I reported many podcast episodes that I am proud of from researching how dementia affects language to the secretive language of professional wrestling but one episode that sticks in my head is the history of the word, “cuck.” Take a listen below.



“What the Cuck?” ( Episode 422)

I continue to contribute to The World in Word, now, re-branded Subtitle
© 2024, Nina Porzucki