From Booksmart Studios, this is Lexicon Valley, a podcast about language.
I'm John McWhorter, and you know what I've been enjoying lately?
My new record player.
Somebody sent me a record player, and you can hook it up to the Bluetooth.
My lady and I were listening to it not long ago, and 1958,
one of my records, Bobby Short, for the record, haha.
was what I was listening to, and it was like he was in the room.
Records are interesting because it really is true that there is a warmth to their sound
if you have a good record player,
if you have a good system that CDs have never had.
Now, frankly, I do not miss records.
They were a mess in many ways.
They were delicate.
They wore out.
They scratched.
CDs were a godsend.
Of course, now I'm dating myself even there.
But now and then it can be fun to listen to that warm crackle of a record.
It's kind of the sonic equivalent of the smell of bacon.
Record player.