Establishing Traditions

You’ve almost certainly heard the type of joke referred to as a “dad joke”—the kind of joke that makes you groan, roll your eyes at its awful punchline, and regret the five seconds of your life wasted in listening to it. Yet for all the bad rap they get, “dad jokes” are still alive and kicking. Stanley Dubinsky is here with us today to talk with us about why dad jokes are still so popular, and what linguistic characteristics make them special. The idea for this story came from The Atlantic.com.

In the United States, almost one fifth of kids from ages 2 to 19 are obese. In the past decade childhood obesity has grown into an epidemic. But at the same time, negative body image and self-hate has become more and more of an issue, which leaves us with the question: how can we help kids love and appreciate their bodies the way they are, while still trying to help them be healthy and avoid childhood obesity? To find an answer, we’re joined by Dr. Brian Saelens, a clinical psychologist and principal investigator from the Seattle Children’s Research Institute.

Producer Rod Gustafson discusses the 1998 Canadian-American film “Smoke Signals.”