Decoder Ring
by Slate Podcasts
Latest episode
Presenting: The Sporkful | Does The World Need A Better Tomato?
Presenting: The Sporkful | Does The World Need A Better Tomato?
About this podcast
Decoder Ring is the show about cracking cultural mysteries. In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit; examines its history; and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters.
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Episodes
The newest 50 of 168 episodes
- Presenting: The Sporkful | Does The World Need A Better Tomato? · 38 min · Episode 140In New Jersey, the tomato is king. Almost a century ago, a scientist at Rutgers University developed a variety that became the tomato that lined grocery store shelves for…
- The Spooky Saga of the Icelandic Dracula · 51 min · Episode 139Since Bram Stoker’s Dracula was first published in 1897 it has inspired hundreds, if not thousands, of other fictional vampires. But none are quite as strange as that found in…
- Clown Panic (Encore) · 36 min · Episode 138Clowns have existed in various forms for thousands of years. From the big top to Bozo’s TV show, they used to be beloved figures of amusement and delight. What changed and made…
- Gandhi Never Said “Be the Change” · 1 h 0 min · Episode 137Few inspirational phrases are quoted more often than Mahatma Gandhi’s “Be the change you want to see in the world.” It shows up on t-shirts, bumper stickers, even tattooed on…
- Preview: Decoder Rings Back | The Second Spice · 8 minOne of the many perks of subscribing to Decoder Ring Plus is access to every episode of Decoder Rings Back, our member-exclusive series where host Willa Paskin calls up a…
- Bridget in the Buff · 1 h 3 min · Episode 136In the early 1970s, a jigsaw puzzle of a cheerful, young, naked, fat woman known only as “Bridget in the Buff” arrived in stores all over America. It was just the first of…
- What Even Is a “Podcast” Anymore? · 59 min · Episode 135Podcasts are everywhere. They’re more popular and influential than they’ve ever been. But at the same time, what makes a podcast a “podcast” has never been more confusing. Until…
- McGruff Takes a Bite Out of Crime, Part 2 (Encore) · 43 minMcGruff the Crime Dog arrived on the scene at the dawn of the 1980s, just as a firehose of anti-drug PSAs was inundating the youth of America. These messages didn’t always work…
- McGruff Takes a Bite Out of Crime, Part 1 (Encore) · 34 minMcGruff the Crime Dog arrived on the scene at the dawn of the 1980s, just as a firehose of anti-drug PSAs was inundating the youth of America. These messages didn’t always work…
- The Fight Over Sunlight · 52 min · Episode 134The sun has always been a hot topic. For centuries, we’ve flip-flopped over whether our health depends on soaking up its rays—or shielding ourselves from them. The current…
- Weapons of Map Destruction · 49 min · Episode 133Most of us use GPS—the Global Positioning System—on a daily basis: to find our location when we’re driving, running, shopping, dating, and so much more. But GPS is even more…
- We Are Monumentally Bad at Statues · 49 min · Episode 132It seems like the only time you hear about new statues these days is when something goes horribly wrong. Unfortunate bronze renditions of Lucille Ball, Cristiano Ronaldo, Dwayne…
- The Tootsie Shot (Encore) · 36 minYou know the Tootsie Shot. It’s that image that pops up all the time in movies set in a dense city: a really busy midtown street, everyone going somewhere—and smack in the middle…
- Tina Turner and the Dance That Conquered Australia · 49 min · Episode 131In Australia, no wedding or school dance is complete without the Nutbush, Australia’s unofficial national dance. The Nutbush – a simple line dance to the song “Nutbush City…
- Preview: Decoder Rings Back | Duck, Duck, Jeep · 10 minEarlier this year we debuted Decoder Rings Back, our new feature exclusively for Decoder Ring Plus subscribers. In each installment, Willa gets a listener on the phone and tries…
- No Pulp: The Killing of the Florida Orange · 41 min · Episode 130Like the palm tree, the Everglades, Disney World, and the “Florida Man,” the orange is a classic symbol of the Sunshine State. But maybe not for much longer. Production has…
- Mailbag: Spooky Strings, Phone Menu Options, and Eye Rolls · 48 min · Episode 129We are lucky to get fantastic questions from our listeners here at Decoder Ring, and in this episode, we’re going to open up our mailbag to answer three of them. What are the…
- How to Make Dollars Make Sense · 35 min · Episode 128Money is everywhere. Money influences just about everything. We think about money all the time. But how much do we really know about it? In this episode of Decoder Ring, we…
- One Year: 1995 | Hitting the Spot · 58 minLast week we aired an episode about lonelygirl15, one of the first proper YouTube stars, and perhaps the most famous example of playing around with the boundaries of fiction and…
- Who Was Lonelygirl15? · 59 min · Episode 127In the summer of 2006, a teenage girl began posting video diaries to a then-new site called YouTube under the handle lonelygirl15. Within weeks she was a phenomenon—even though…
- The Johnlock Conspiracy (Encore) · 53 minFor over a century, fans of Sherlock Holmes have been analyzing, debating, and creating new texts with Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters. But when a fan theory emerged about the…
- Was "Eyes Wide Shut" a Warning? · 46 min · Episode 126When Eyes Wide Shut opened in the summer of 1999, it was widely considered a disappointment. This final film from legendary director Stanley Kubrick had been sold as an erotic…
- A Prune by Any Other Name · 45 min · Episode 125The delicious, healthful prune has long had a cross to bear: It’s best known for making people poop. In the late 1990s, the California Prune Board set out on a quixotic mission…
- Making Coal Cute Again · 43 min · Episode 124Three weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum shared an unusual tweet: a cartoon image of himself with his arm draped around a giant, anthropomorphized lump of…
- Is Culture Stuck? · 37 min · Episode 123It’s a weird time for culture. There is more of it than ever before, it’s more accessible than ever before, but so little of it feels original. New movies are based on old…
- Decoder Rings Back | Why the Mona Lisa? · 25 min · Episode 122We are really lucky to get lots of listener suggestions for the show, more good questions than we can possibly answer in a mailbag episode once or twice a year. So we’re starting…
- A New Year’s Message from Willa · 2 minWe can’t make this show without you, our listeners. Today, you can help support Decoder Ring – and get a really good deal. To join Slate Plus for just $59/year, visit…
- Mailbag: Yo-Yos, Sandboxes, and Encores · 1 h 2 min · Episode 121Decoder Ring listeners write in with some excellent mysteries, and for our last episode of the year we’re solving three of them. Why do children play in boxes full of sand? Why…
- “Videomate: Men” (Encore) · 35 minVideomate: Men was a VHS tape released in 1987 featuring 60 single men pitching themselves as dates to women on the other side of the TV screen: “The love of your life could be…
- How Protein Muscled Its Way to the Top · 40 min · Episode 120Americans are currently besotted with protein. It’s touted as being good for muscle growth, weight loss, skincare, mental acuity, longevity, and much else besides. It’s sold to…
- The Slate Culture Gift Guide · 48 minHark, the holiday season is upon us—and with it the most solemn of festive traditions: a gift guide! In this video and podcast special, Slate hosts Dana Stevens, Chris Molanphy…
- Cozy Autumn Mysteries · 51 min · Episode 119Autumn may have more cozy signifiers than any other season—though we all have our own favorites. Maybe for you it’s sweater weather, football games, spooky season, apple picking…
- The Red String Board Conspiracy · 47 min · Episode 118There’s a ubiquitous prop in just about every police procedural and conspiracy thriller: a cork board pinned with documents, newspaper clippings, and Polaroid photos, all…
- What the Cuck?! · 52 min · Episode 117Earlier this year, a tweet went out from the official account of the Democratic Party, tagging the Trump advisor Stephen Miller. It was an image of what appeared to be a simple…
- Why Do Actors Act Like They Can Sing? · 57 min · Episode 116When an actor opens their mouth to sing in a movie, chances are high that the voice you hear will be their own. Even in music biopics, movie stars without much singing experience…
- Jane Fonda’s Workout, Part 2: Hanoi Jane’s VHS Revolution (Encore) · 48 minIn part two of our special two-part episode, we return to the 1982 VHS tape that created the at-home video industry: Jane Fonda’s Workout. On this episode, originally released in…
- Jane Fonda’s Workout, Part 1: Jane and Leni (Encore) · 54 minIn 1982, the Jane Fonda Workout became the best-selling home video of all time. Over decades, it and its 22 follow ups would spawn a fitness empire, sell more than 17 million…
- How to Hunt a Mammoth, and Other Experiments in Archaeology · 53 min · Episode 115Experimental archeology is, simply put, archeology that involves running experiments. Where traditional archaeologists may study, research, analyze, and theorize about how…
- The Bad-Mouthing of British Teeth · 47 min · Episode 114From The Simpsons’ Big Book of British Smiles to Austin Powers’ ochre-tinged grin, American culture can’t stop bad-mouthing English teeth. But why? Are they worse than any other…
- Mailbag: Drug Names, Cow Abductions, and the “Ass-Intensifier” · 44 min · Episode 113In this episode we’re opening our mailbag to answer three fascinating questions from our listeners. How did “ass,” a word for donkeys and butts, become what linguists call an…
- Introducing The Sporkful | Is Your Recipe Lying To You? · 29 min · Episode 112If you look at any list of best-selling cookbooks, certain words come up over and over again: quick, easy, fast, effortless. But is it actually possible to deliver deliciousness…
- The White Noise Boom · 48 min · Episode 111White noise has a very precise technical definition, but people use the term loosely, to describe all sorts of washes of sound—synthetic hums, or natural sounds like a rainstorm…
- The Boston Cinematic Universe · 43 min · Episode 110This episode is a first for Decoder Ring: a live show, recorded at the WBUR Festival in Boston, Massachusetts. Given the setting, we decided to take on a Boston-based cultural…
- The Laff Box (Encore) · 32 minDecoder Ring is marking its 100th episode this year. To celebrate, we’re revisiting our very first episode from 2018, which asks: What happened to the laugh track? For nearly…
- The Glaring Problem with Headlights · 40 min · Episode 109Something seems to have happened to car headlights. In the last few years, many people have become convinced that they are much brighter than they used to be—and it’s driving…
- Off-the-Wall Stories of Off-Label Use · 48 min · Episode 108Products often tell you exactly how they’re intended to be used. But why leave it at that? As a culture, we have long had a knack for finding ingenious, off-label uses for…
- How “Chicken Soup” Sold Its Soul · 44 min · Episode 107Chicken Soup for the Soul was the brainchild of two motivational speakers who preach the New Thought belief system known as the Law of Attraction. For more than 30 years, the…
- Spring Break Forever · 44 min · Episode 106The infamous annual ritual of spring break—where thousands of college students head to the same warm location and go crazy—can seem like it’s always been here. But it hasn’t. The…
- How Books About Things That Changed the World… Changed the World · 52 min · Episode 105Look in the nonfiction section of any bookstore and you’ll find dozens of history books making the same bold claim: that their narrow, unexpected subject somehow changed the…
- Truck Nutz (Encore) · 35 minTruck Nutz is a brand name for the dangling plastic testicles some people affix to the bumpers or hitches of their vehicles. Also sold as Bulls Balls, Your Nutz, and other brand…
