By Jeff Glucker
Blake Zedward Rong was away this week. Apparently driving vintage Lancias was more exciting than attending the podcast recording. Still, we have friends in many places and Zack Klapman from The Smoking Tire joined us in the podcast palace this week. Our topics range from the new Lexus IS and the 2014 Nissan GT-R to my field trip to the 3M headquarters and the latest episode of American Detours.
As usual, we also ramble off topic and swear… a lot. Click past the jump for the link to the podcast.
Head to ShoutEngine to download the podcast: Episode 9
(You can access both the direct link to the MP3 and the iTunes version from the above link. If you go to iTunes, please remember to rate the podcast and leave a review. By doing so you’re helping us infect the normals rise through the ranks and spread the Hooniverse gospel to a larger audience.)
William Byrd
I haven't listened to this one yet, but I just finished #7 on my commute in this morning. I really like having separate "New Cars/Old Cars" sections of the discussion. As a self-professed car guy, I definitely want to stay up on what's current in the automotive world, but it can all get a bit blah-blah-blah for me, especially when discussions revolve around cars that I am unlikely to ever sit in, much less drive. Just about the time I'm thinking yea, whatever, the shift to old cars keeps my interest.
Another observation: you guys have really foul mouths. The other day I rolled to a stop at the light at the bottom of an interstate off-ramp. Both I and the car next to me had our windows partially lowered. I came to a stop, with my stereo still dialed up to interstate-speed-with-open-windows volume, just in time for one of you to yell "F*** You, Asshole!" into the mic. Yea, thanks a lot for that.
haha… yes we swear… a lot.
hmmm… out of the 22 podcasts I subscribe to (mostly comedic), 12 have "explicit" tags. The Hooniverse podcast, by comparison, seems much tamer than most. But maybe that reflects my own comfort with Carlin's seven words.
I meant as a general-interest podcast.
If anybody is offended by the work we do with the Hooniverse podcast than stay well clear of The Smoking Tire podcast that Zack and I also work on. It's not a full episode until something utterly awful is broadcasted.
To be clear, I said nothing about being offended, it's simply a bit jarring to me. Being a generation older, the f*bomb was something you saved for times when you were really angry or wanted to really drive home a point or an especially ominous insult or threat. The situation had to escalate up to it, like the Triple Dog Dare.
Nowadays, it like,
Hi there, f***ing f***face!
Nice to see you, f***head!
Say, have you f***ing seen Iron Man 3?
F***ing awesome movie.
F*** yea!
Simply sounds slightly bizarre to my ears.
Now get off my lawn.
Fair enough, swearing has no real weight to it for my generation (and most likely subsequent generations too). The words have more or less become punctuation in even the most mundane conversations.
I applaud the fact that the words themselves have lost any sort of power as they are simply words. Intonation and circumstance determine the intent and inherent meaning of the statement; which is great.
However this is nothing new when discussing the evolution of language in general. Especially English specifically which has proven to be one of the most malleable and adaptive languages to date.
Also at the ripe old age of 30 I'd enjoy having a lawn to tend for and keep the unruly neighborhood kids off of as well.
Otherwise I hope you enjoy the show!
In Victorian England, the word "thigh" was too sexual in nature to be uttered in polite company.
My grandmother, who was born in 1903, never said the words "damn" or "hell" in her entire life, and you didn't either in her house.
On the other hand, my mother's grandfather, who ran a hotel laundry with exclusively black labor, often told people that he preferred hiring "n*****s" because they were better workers. He used the n-word even when attempting to be complementary.
It's my observation that each generation redefines not only what CAN be said, but what CAN'T.
Jeff and Zack mentioned wanting to be able to vary the exhaust note using a baffle. Down here in Australia you can get a variable baffle exhaust to fit on most cars (I don't work for them or anything but thought Id put the link anyway, maybe you can get a similar setup somewhere in the US)
http://www.xforce.com.au/
[youtube FNlgw1COym8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNlgw1COym8 youtube]