Show notes

Everybody pictures a locomotive. Everybody is wrong. On this episode of Appraise The Phrase, Mario and Twenty unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of "train of thought" — a phrase that shows up in Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan in 1651 and John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding in 1690, roughly 165 years before locomotives existed. The railroad imagery in your head? That's folk etymology doing what folk etymology always does: replacing the real reason with a better story. Along the way: why every major dictionary fumbles the definition, what "brain rot" and "train of thought" have in common as conceptual metaphors, how ideological sedimentation means you're often repeating arguments you weren't alive for, and why AI reasoning is the modern version of the same problem. Plus Twenty loses his actual train of thought live on the mic, which may be the most on-topic thing to ever happen on this show. Also discussed: Damon Darling getting banned from Walmart for buying strangers' groceries, the I, Robot Sonny conspiracy, the Mandela Effect hill we will die on, and why red Kool-Aid is not strawberry. Then we appraise it. Power grade, Speed grade, Preference. And we close with the Dictionary of Misinformation on the Thanksgiving turkey you think the pilgrims ate. Value is in the eye of the appraiser. 0:00 Sherlock Holmes' Deductions, AI, And Someone Else's Train Of Thought 1:08 The ATP Intro Theme 1:52 What's Good: Back To School And Breaking The Monotony 4:19 Today's Phrase: Train Of Thought 4:41 Twenty's Take: You Only Say It When You've Lost It 6:10 Mario's Take: The Phrase Paints A Picture 7:25 Confirm The Meaning: Merriam-Webster vs. Cambridge vs. Dictionary.com 10:15 Why "A Path Of Reasoning" Can't Be The Definition 10:44 Unveil The Origin: "Train" In The 14th Century Meant To Drag Or Trail 12:50 Conceptual Metaphors And Brain Rot (Oxford's 2024 Word Of The Year) 13:50 Twenty Loses His Train Of Thought On An Episode About Train Of Thought 14:59 Brain Rot Confessions: Instagram, Love Island, Love Is Blind 20:11 Walmart Banned Damon Darling For Buying People Groceries 22:36 1651: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, And The First Recorded Use 23:57 Ideological Sedimentation: Inheriting Arguments You Never Had 26:16 I, Robot: "Can A Robot Write A Symphony?" "Can You?" 27:00 The Sonny Conspiracy: The Actor They Refused To Promote 31:45 Why AI Gets Things Confidently Wrong 32:14 Believed With Our Whole Chest: Y2K, The Mayans, And Flying Cars 36:24 1690: John Locke, Association Of Ideas, And "Food For Thought" 38:43 Train Of Thought Predates The Railroad By 165 Years 40:11 "Sounds Like A Train To Me": How The Locomotive Got Its Name 41:52 Edison Slander, Tesla, And The Prestige 45:28 Institutional Formalization And Gen Z Slang Creep 47:30 Folk Etymology: When The Better Lie Wins 48:55 The Mandela Effect And The Shazam Hill We Will Die On 50:55 Confidently Wrong: Red Kool-Aid Is Not Strawberry 53:47 Pop Culture #1: Pixar's Inside Out 54:44 #2: Sherlock Holmes And Guy Ritchie's Slow-Motion Deductions 58:14 #3 The Greatest American Hero / #4 The Lost Train Of Thought 59:28 The Appraisal: Power Grade And Impact Grade 1:01:36 Final Grade 1:02:37 Dictionary Of Misinformation: The Thanksgiving Turkey Myth 1:04:41 The Watch List And Closing Thoughts 1:05:48 Shop, Credits, And Where To Find Us REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651) · John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) · David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739) · Pixar's Inside Out (2015) · Sherlock Holmes (2009, dir. Guy Ritchie) · I, Robot (2004) · The Prestige (2006) · Slumdog Millionaire (2008) · The Greatest American Hero, "Train of Thought" (1982) · The Lost Train of Thought, The Seems series (2009) COMMENT: Which pop culture moment captures a train of thought best — Inside Out or Sherlock? And what's a folk etymology you defended with your whole chest before you found out it was wrong? Subscribe to Appraise The Phrase on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheUnderdog Episode Clips: https://www.youtube.com/@AppraiseThePhraseClips Appraise The Phrase official site: appraisethephrase.com ATP Shop — mugs & merch: appraisethephrase.com/shop Check out our other ATP produced shows: appraisethephrase.com/community Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4jLFx2WLEslKF3BHWWvIlv Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/appraise-the-phrase/id1570186367 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theappraisethephraseshow Follow us on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@appraisethephrase Follow us on X/Twitter: https://x.com/TheATPShow Previous Episodes: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmMMLmEcgaa3C1d_wZrZuWAJGB_mYQraB Brought to you by the Underdog Podcast Network.