Big Words for Smart People

Eric and Frankie are not linguists.

What Eric and Frankie lack in bona fides (boring fides, more like it) they make up for in sibling jocularity, rampaging tangents, and lighthearted ribbing. They already know you're a smart person, you don't need to be told that.

Instead, join them every Wednesday to learn a new, cool, big word to enrich your new, cool, big brain and listen in on a casual conversation loosely connected to the word.

BW4SP releases weekly to enrich your lexicon, ~30 minutes at a time.

All thoughts, ideas, and opinions expressed in Big Words for Smart People are their own.

Episodes

21: Expeditious

Dec 17, 2025

Dec 17, 2025

39 min

Hey, come quick! The word of the week is:
 
Expeditious - adjective
: marked by or acting with prompt efficiency
 
In this episode:
Snow Day Qualms
Bird Calling
Fish or Motorcycle
Fast Family
Dementia Clock
Bonus: Ruben Sneezes
Like what we do?
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Our excellent bees by Lava-Salmon
Show-notes definition pulled from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary

20: Exude

Dec 10, 2025

Dec 10, 2025

35 min

Just a heads up... lot's of pee talk in this one, folks.
 
Exude - intransitive verb
1: to ooze out
2: to undergo diffusion
transitive verb
1: to cause to ooze or spread out in all directions
2: to display conspicuously or abundantly
In this episode:
Eric is still vaguely sick
Dry guys go to heaven
It ain't easy bein' greasy
An embarrassing pee story
Sweaty and confusing, but he’s an okay dad
The vegetarian deerhunter
 
Like what we do?
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Our excellent bees by Lava-Salmon
Show-notes definition pulled from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary

19: Pastoral

Dec 3, 2025

Dec 3, 2025

39 min

Hearken back once more to a time when farmers farmed farms and the Gak was abundant, the word for the week is: 
Pastoral - adjective
a(1): of, relating to, or composed of shepherds or herdsmen (2): devoted to or based on livestock raising
b: of or relating to the countryside : not urban
c: portraying or expressive of the life of shepherds or country people especially in an idealized and conventionalized manner
pastoral poetry
d: pleasingly peaceful and innocent : idyllic
 
In this episode:
Cat rivals
I want a farm, but not, like, a real farm
Oh wait, actually, never mind, farming is hard as hell
Intentional Orpheus
A brief '90s meditation
Rural white-people code-switching
What's your pastoral dream?
 
Like what we do?
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Our excellent bees by Lava-Salmon
Show-notes definition pulled from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary

18: Puerile

Nov 26, 2025

Nov 26, 2025

52 min

Just when you thought we couldn't be more childish, the word of the week is:
 
Puerile - Adjective
1: juvenile
2: childish, silly
 
In this episode:
College Radio… um… college radio
Foot condoms
Ostrich dating
In defense of bad action movies
Minecraft horror mods
Garbage hall pass
Current stats: 80000 to 2000000
Like what we do?
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Our excellent bees by Lava-Salmon
Show-notes definition pulled from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary

17: Ken

Nov 19, 2025

Nov 19, 2025

46 min

Ken you dig it? That's the word. It's ken.
 
Ken - Noun 
1: the range of perception, understanding, or knowledge
2a: the range of vision
  b: sight, view
Ken - Verb
1 (archaic) : see
 
2 (chiefly dialectal) : recognize
 
3 (chiefly Scotland) : know
In this episode:
Social anxiety phone problems
Hotel ghosts
Benevolent voyeurism
B R I A N
Shut up and let’s talk about kennings
Fill our inbox with the gnarliest kennings you can imagine
The french OrbeezTM guy video (we know it was staged, but it's still funny)
 
Like what we do?
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Drop us a Line! bigwordsforsmartpeople@gmail.com
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Our excellent bees by Lava-Salmon
Show-notes definition pulled from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary

Nov 12, 2025

36 min

This word comes with a warning: don't use this word. At least, change how you use it.
 
Pulchritudinous - Adjective
: physical comeliness
 
In this episode:
Pwe’re psorry pfor pthe pplosives
Ulysses Quotes - Circe never disappoints
Hot tips for sexy orchids
Ruben does not have sexy phone voice
No shade to North Carolina towns, we love you too
Pants shopping - fit check for my Doug Funny era
What’s pulchritudinous to you?
 
Like what we do?
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Our excellent bees by Lava-Salmon
Show-notes definition pulled from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary

15: Sprezzatura

Nov 5, 2025

Nov 5, 2025

42 min

It's whatever, but the word for the week is:
 
Sprezzatura - Noun
: studied nonchalance
: graceful conduct or performance without apparent effort
: the state of Eric being a huge fartbag1
 
In this episode:
Not a dilf, just a dil
I’m a Sprouts 6
Almost no Twilight references in this one
Furry Raves and Crypto Currency
Fit check for my Garbodor era
Lesbian Cheat Codes
Smoking Cattails
 
Like what we do?
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Our excellent bees by Lava-Salmon
Show-notes definition pulled from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary
 
1 Additional definition brought to you by the Club Penguin Dictionary for Dingleberries

14. Lycanthropy

Oct 29, 2025

Oct 29, 2025

33 min

WOOOOOOORDS… werecast. 
It’s the final word of our octobword spooktacular! The word of the week is:
 
Lycanthropy - Noun
1: a delusion that one has become a wolf
2: the assumption of the form and characteristics of a wolf held to be possible by witchcraft or magic
In this episode:
The Omegaverse Recap
The story of Bisclavret
My weekly gallivanting
He Tycho Brahe’d her!
Right there-wolf
If you could werewolf-out into any animal, what would it be?
Crab vanishing tricks 
Like what we do?
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Our excellent bees by Lava-Salmon
Show-notes definition pulled from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary
 
Bleh!

13: Fetid

Oct 22, 2025

Oct 22, 2025

38 min

It's the penultimate word for Octobword and this one stinks! Also, trigger warning: dead animals (squirrels, deer)
 
Fetid - Adjective
: having a heavy offensive smell
 
In this episode:
Post-poop-cold-coffee
A thousand years of latent piss
A very bad soup
Dead Skull speriment
"I wanna huff your cat" if you know what I mean
 
Like what we do?
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Our excellent bees by Lava-Salmon
Show-notes definition pulled from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary

12: Lachrymose

Oct 15, 2025

Oct 15, 2025

45 min

The Octobword for this week is...
 
Lachrymose - Adjective
1: given to tears or weeping : tearful
2: tending to cause tears : mournful
In this episode:
I swear, I don’t know how how my glasses broke
Catharting all over the place
Weepy food
Surprisingly real moments
What fills your egg cup?
What’s your favorite terrible game names?
What’s the scary loud thing in your life?
Ambulance jumpscare
Like what we do?
Join our Discord Community! https://discord.gg/nJC7nat4Jm 
Drop us a Line! bigwordsforsmartpeople@gmail.com
Support us! https://ko-fi.com/bw4sp
 
Our excellent bees by Lava-Salmon
Show-notes definition pulled from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary

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