Hi, it's Willa.

Earlier this year, we shared an episode of Decoder Rings Back with you,

where I called up a listener to answer his question about how the Mona Lisa came to be the most famous painting in the world.

But since then, we've made a number of other episodes of

Decoder Rings Back, which you may not know about unless you're a Decoder Ring Plus subscriber.

In each installment of Decoder Rings Back, I get a listener on the phone and try my best to

answer their question about a cultural mystery. I've been having a blast doing these episodes,

and if you haven't heard them, we think you're missing out.

So in the hopes of instilling some FOMO

that might motivate you to support the work we do

by becoming a Decoder Ring plus subscriber,

here's a sneak peek at the latest installment.

For it, I spoke with Julia Latino, a listener from Massachusetts,

who's a bit of a collector of collections. I love little doodads and things with stories. I like

collecting little objects and just kitchie, kitsy things. Like what's a little doodad or an object?

I used to have like a vintage lighter collection. I only have one now. It's, it was too much, too much to handle. I used to have a vintage makeup cabinet full of old, well, makeups, shampoos, soaps. And I used to buy these things at antique stores and they'd say, please don't use these things. And I would say, I promise, I will not. And then you did? No. Well, some of them were like medication. It was like your bathroom cabinet. They're like, it will kill you. Yeah. Wait, all right. So you said you, how many lighters did you have antique lenders? Probably had eight. Oh, that's not so bad. So why did it get out of hand? You said it got out of hand?

It wasn't the only collection. It's the problem. So there's the lighters and the Medicaid. What else? Taxidermy. Oh, that's big. Yeah, that's big. Salt and Pepper Shakers. Oh. Oh, I had a rotary phone collection. And apartment I had, I had one for every room, including the bathroom.

That's so fun.

Were they usable?

Or are they just there to talk? I had a rotary phone collection. In an apartment I had, I had one for every room, including the bathroom.

That's so fun. Were they usable?

Or are they just there to touch?

...