June 22, 2026

S2E11: The Secret Histories Hidden in Everyday Words

S2E11: The Secret Histories Hidden in Everyday Words
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In this episode, the boys follow a trail of words that turns out to be a lot stranger than expected. Why does bankruptcy involve a broken bench? Why is malaria named after "bad air"? What does a medieval orphanage have to do with the surnames Esposito and Innocente? And how did the word "nephew" accidentally give us "nepotism"? Along the way, we'll visit Siena's claim to Rome's founding myth, step outside the cathedral to discover the original meaning of "profane," and uncover the forgotten stories hiding inside words we use all the time. As it turns out, language remembers everything ... even when we don't.