Stem-winding and Spellbinding Sentences Minicast - 18 March 2009

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A Way with Words

Language Learning, Society & Culture, Education

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🗓️ 18 March 2009

⏱️ 4 minutes

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Summary

A recent article in The New Yorker magazine about the late writer David Foster Wallace has Martha musing about Wallace’s stem-winding sentences, and the word stem-winder. Hear hundreds of free episodes and learn more on the A Way with Words website: https://waywordradio.org. Be a part of the show: call or text 1 (877) 929-9673 toll-free in the United States and Canada; elsewhere in the world, call or text +1 619 800 4443. Send voice notes or messages via WhatsApp 16198004443. Email words@waywordradio.org. Copyright Wayword, Inc., a 501(c)(3) corporation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:43.0	Welcome to another mini-cast from Away with Words. I'm Martha Barnett.
0:52.0	Recently the New Yorker magazine ran. From Away with Words, I'm Martha Barnett.
0:53.1	Recently, the New Yorker magazine ran a profile
0:55.8	of the writer David Foster Wallace,
0:57.9	who died last year at the age of 46.
1:01.2	The article included a line that I think Foster himself might have appreciated.
1:06.0	It went like this.
1:08.1	He was known for endlessly fracturing narratives and for stem winding sentences adorned with footnotes that were themselves stem
1:15.9	winders.
1:17.6	So what's a stem winder?
1:20.7	The word goes back to the mid-19th century. It refers to an invention that was as nifty and state of the art then as the coolest iPhone apps today.
1:31.0	Think back to the days of pocket watches. In the really old days people had to
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