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<rss xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:podcast="https://podcastindex.org/namespace/1.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" version="2.0"><channel><title>Everyday Origins</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194</link><description><![CDATA[Why are barns red? Who invented the weekend? Piper unravels the origin of one everyday thing, daily, in under eight minutes.<br /><br /> Episodes are produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review. A Talking Labs production.<br /><br />Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss">https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support</a>.]]></description><atom:link href="https://www.spreaker.com/show/7337194/episodes/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><language>en</language><category>Education</category><copyright>© Talking Labs</copyright><image><url>https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/b02923f853b06348d7237cf9bb6000c1.jpg</url><title>Everyday Origins</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194</link></image><lastBuildDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:03:37 +0000</lastBuildDate><itunes:author>Talking Labs</itunes:author><itunes:owner><itunes:name>Talking Labs</itunes:name><itunes:email>feeds@spreaker.com</itunes:email></itunes:owner><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/b02923f853b06348d7237cf9bb6000c1.jpg"/><itunes:subtitle>Why are barns red? Who invented the weekend? Piper unravels the origin of one everyday thing, daily, in under eight minutes.

Episodes are produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review. A Talking Labs production.</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Why are barns red? Who invented the weekend? Piper unravels the origin of one everyday thing, daily, in under eight minutes.<br /><br /> Episodes are produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review. A Talking Labs production.<br /><br />Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss">https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support</a>.]]></itunes:summary><itunes:category text="Education"/><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><podcast:guid>8f523674-35aa-5c18-aa07-667328f7a034</podcast:guid><itunes:type>episodic</itunes:type><podcast:funding url="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=rss">Support the podcast!</podcast:funding><item><title>Where Does the Word OK Come From?</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/where-does-the-word-ok-come-from--75097011</link><description><![CDATA[OK is the most widely understood word on earth and it started as a joke. On 23 March 1839 the Boston Morning Post printed o.k. as a comic abbreviation of oll korrect, part of a short-lived newspaper fad for deliberately misspelled initialisms. A year later Martin Van Buren's supporters turned it into Old Kinderhook, the telegraph made it permanent, and the real origin stayed lost until Allen Walker Read found it in the 1960s. Choctaw, Greek, Scots and Obadiah Kelly all explained. Word origins, etymology, American English, OK meaning.<br /><br />This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.<br /><br />Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss">https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support</a>.]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/75097011</guid><pubDate>Sun, 13 Sep 2026 01:57:02 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75097011/master.mp3" length="3661028" type="audio/mpeg"/><podcast:transcript url="https://transcription.spreaker.com/starship/31456efc-9d91-42b3-b4fb-e7000716e1be/31456efc-9d91-42b3-b4fb-e7000716e1be.srt" type="application/x-subrip" language="en"/><podcast:transcript url="https://transcription.spreaker.com/starship/31456efc-9d91-42b3-b4fb-e7000716e1be/31456efc-9d91-42b3-b4fb-e7000716e1be.txt" type="text/plain" language="en"/><podcast:transcript url="https://transcription.spreaker.com/starship/31456efc-9d91-42b3-b4fb-e7000716e1be/31456efc-9d91-42b3-b4fb-e7000716e1be.vtt" type="text/vtt" language="en"/><itunes:author>Talking Labs</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>OK is the most widely understood word on earth and it started as a joke. On 23 March 1839 the Boston Morning Post printed o.k. as a comic abbreviation of oll korrect, part of a short-lived newspaper fad for deliberately misspelled initialisms. A year...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[OK is the most widely understood word on earth and it started as a joke. On 23 March 1839 the Boston Morning Post printed o.k. as a comic abbreviation of oll korrect, part of a short-lived newspaper fad for deliberately misspelled initialisms. A year later Martin Van Buren's supporters turned it into Old Kinderhook, the telegraph made it permanent, and the real origin stayed lost until Allen Walker Read found it in the 1960s. Choctaw, Greek, Scots and Obadiah Kelly all explained. Word origins, etymology, American English, OK meaning.<br /><br />This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.<br /><br />Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss">https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support</a>.]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>229</itunes:duration><itunes:keywords>allen walker read,boston morning post,curiosity,education,etymology,everyday history,everyday origins,martin van buren,ok,okay,origins,short,trivia,word origins</itunes:keywords><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/b02923f853b06348d7237cf9bb6000c1.jpg"/><itunes:episode>3</itunes:episode><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Who invented the weekend?</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/who-invented-the-weekend--75082021</link><description><![CDATA[Nobody invented it. The two-day weekend was negotiated, badly, over about a century — and almost every step was somebody acting in their own interest. Saint Monday, the day skilled workers simply declined to turn up for. The production line, which could absorb an unreliable Monday far worse than a workshop could. The half-day Saturday, bought by employers in exchange for a Monday that was actually worked. A New England mill with Jewish workers observing Saturday and Christian workers observing Sunday, which closed both because it was cheaper than arguing. And Henry Ford, who was explicit that a worker with a free day and money in his pocket becomes a customer.<br /><br />This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.<br /><br />Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss">https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support</a>.]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/75082021</guid><pubDate>Sat, 12 Sep 2026 01:43:43 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75082021/master.mp3" length="3813144" type="audio/mpeg"/><podcast:transcript url="https://transcription.spreaker.com/starship/ebfc5976-1e36-428a-af08-f08a8c0bf9cf/ebfc5976-1e36-428a-af08-f08a8c0bf9cf.srt" type="application/x-subrip" language="en"/><podcast:transcript url="https://transcription.spreaker.com/starship/ebfc5976-1e36-428a-af08-f08a8c0bf9cf/ebfc5976-1e36-428a-af08-f08a8c0bf9cf.txt" type="text/plain" language="en"/><podcast:transcript url="https://transcription.spreaker.com/starship/ebfc5976-1e36-428a-af08-f08a8c0bf9cf/ebfc5976-1e36-428a-af08-f08a8c0bf9cf.vtt" type="text/vtt" language="en"/><itunes:author>Talking Labs</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Nobody invented it. The two-day weekend was negotiated, badly, over about a century — and almost every step was somebody acting in their own interest. Saint Monday, the day skilled workers simply declined to turn up for. The production line, which...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Nobody invented it. The two-day weekend was negotiated, badly, over about a century — and almost every step was somebody acting in their own interest. Saint Monday, the day skilled workers simply declined to turn up for. The production line, which could absorb an unreliable Monday far worse than a workshop could. The half-day Saturday, bought by employers in exchange for a Monday that was actually worked. A New England mill with Jewish workers observing Saturday and Christian workers observing Sunday, which closed both because it was cheaper than arguing. And Henry Ford, who was explicit that a worker with a free day and money in his pocket becomes a customer.<br /><br />This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.<br /><br />Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss">https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support</a>.]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>239</itunes:duration><itunes:keywords>curiosity,education,etymology,everyday history,five day week,henry ford,labour history,origins,saint monday,short,trivia,weekend</itunes:keywords><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/b02923f853b06348d7237cf9bb6000c1.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item><item><title>Why Are Barns Red?</title><link>https://www.spreaker.com/episode/why-are-barns-red--75079429</link><description><![CDATA[Barns are red across farm country almost everywhere, and nobody ever chose the colour. The answer is rust: iron oxide mixed into linseed oil made a cheap homemade wood preservative that killed the moss and mildew rotting untreated timber — and iron oxide happens to be red. Why the convention outlived the chemistry, why Sweden's barns are the same colour for the same reason, and why some dairy country went white instead.<br /><br />This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.<br /><br />Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss">https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support</a>.]]></description><guid isPermaLink="false">https://api.spreaker.com/episode/75079429</guid><pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 22:43:44 +0000</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75079429/master.mp3" length="4184716" type="audio/mpeg"/><podcast:transcript url="https://transcription.spreaker.com/starship/b49d01e1-9a2d-468e-ab86-83eb5de376eb/b49d01e1-9a2d-468e-ab86-83eb5de376eb.srt" type="application/x-subrip" language="en"/><podcast:transcript url="https://transcription.spreaker.com/starship/b49d01e1-9a2d-468e-ab86-83eb5de376eb/b49d01e1-9a2d-468e-ab86-83eb5de376eb.txt" type="text/plain" language="en"/><podcast:transcript url="https://transcription.spreaker.com/starship/b49d01e1-9a2d-468e-ab86-83eb5de376eb/b49d01e1-9a2d-468e-ab86-83eb5de376eb.vtt" type="text/vtt" language="en"/><itunes:author>Talking Labs</itunes:author><itunes:subtitle>Barns are red across farm country almost everywhere, and nobody ever chose the colour. The answer is rust: iron oxide mixed into linseed oil made a cheap homemade wood preservative that killed the moss and mildew rotting untreated timber — and iron...</itunes:subtitle><itunes:summary><![CDATA[Barns are red across farm country almost everywhere, and nobody ever chose the colour. The answer is rust: iron oxide mixed into linseed oil made a cheap homemade wood preservative that killed the moss and mildew rotting untreated timber — and iron oxide happens to be red. Why the convention outlived the chemistry, why Sweden's barns are the same colour for the same reason, and why some dairy country went white instead.<br /><br />This episode was produced with AI narration and scripting, with human editorial review.<br /><br />Become a supporter of this podcast: <a href="https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss">https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/everyday-origins--7337194/support</a>.]]></itunes:summary><itunes:duration>262</itunes:duration><itunes:keywords>curiosity,education,etymology,everyday history,everyday origins,falu red,farm history,iron oxide,linseed oil,origins,red barn,short,trivia,why are barns red,wood preservative</itunes:keywords><itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit><itunes:image href="https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/b02923f853b06348d7237cf9bb6000c1.jpg"/><itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType></item></channel></rss>
