How The (English) Alphabet Became A Thing, Part One: Writing Stuff Down Is A Bonkers Idea

Ridiculous History

iHeartPodcasts

History, Society & Culture

4.3 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2024

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Let's be honest: the concept of writing stuff down is both brilliant and insane. Right now, all around the world, countless people are scrawling or typing messages that may last long after the writer has passed from this mortal plane - in a way, reading your favorite dead authors can be like communication from beyond the grave! Add to this, language itself is pretty ridiculous. In the first part of this special two-part series, Ben, Noel and Max crack each other up with an exploration of how writing became a thing, tracing its prehistoric origins through the rise of English, all the way up to what we call "modern English" today.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Ridiculous History is a production of IHeart Radio. Welcome back to the show, ridiculous historians.
0:29.2	Thank you, as always so much for tuning in.
0:32.4	Let's give a big shout out in the English language to our super producer, Mr. Max Williams.
0:38.3	Ha-z-ah!
0:38.6	Hello.
0:40.2	There they are.
0:41.3	There they are.
0:42.3	That's Mr. Noel Brown.
0:44.0	I am Ben Bullen.
0:45.5	We are coming to you in a language called English.
0:50.7	Yeah, the English language.
0:52.7	Modern English.
0:53.8	Like the band, we're going to stop the world and melt with all of you.
0:57.1	There it is. There it is. And that's an amazing thing to do because language itself is amazing. One of the cornerstones of all advanced human life.
1:08.0	There are thousands of languages, as we know, and many of them are mutually unintelligible,
1:14.0	but it's, when you think about it, language is the bedrock of society, coupled with the
1:20.1	absolutely bonkers idea of writing stuff down.
1:23.9	You guys, language is something like time travel, teleportation, telepathy, and necromancy, all tied up at one thoroughly ridiculous bow.
1:34.0	I had no idea. It was so spooky, Ben. It's a little spooky, right? You know, think about it.
1:40.0	No, the last time you read a piece by your favorite dead author,
1:45.9	that person from beyond the grave is communicating directly with you.
1:50.7	Yeah, it's true.
	...

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