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combe.

From Washington, D.C., this is Lexicon Valley, a podcast about language.

I'm Bob Garfield with Mike Volo, and today, episode number 64, titled Yada, Yada, Yada, Europeans Don't Get Seinfeld,

wherein we discuss why the classic American sitcom doesn't translate.

Hey, Mikey.

Hey, Bobby.

How you doing, buddy?

Splendid.

Thank you in your own self?

I'm great.

I'm great.

Bob, I think you know this, but I'm that guy who, for any given moment in life,

for any of the many absurdities or indignities that

afflict us, I might say, well, you know, there's a Seinfeld episode about that. I've seen every

episode, probably multiple times, and I could pull from my mind a plot or subplot, and there are many, that maps at least approximately onto a given situation.

I may not always say it, but I'm often thinking there's a Seinfeld episode about that.

And if you think about it, there's not really any other show about which you can say that, right?

No, not right, but go on, proceed.

Wait, why is that not right?

Well, because by definition, situation comedies focus on somehow familiar situations that we laugh at because we can identify with them.

...