123. Boredom

This podcast returns on June 28th 2026. An experiment suggests most people would rather give themselves an electric shock than sit alone with boredom. Excavations reveal students were being punished with the monotony of writing lines thousands of years ago. The computer game millions of office workers have used to kill time was created by an intern.

Alongside these histories, this episode traces the origins of words such as monotony, ennui, onychophagy, ad nauseam, flâneur, meander and cliché.

Transition sound by https://audionautix.com  

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orQKfIXMiA8

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/60360466

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/a-noble-experiment-how-solitary-came-to-america/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/travel/article/20191027-the-word-that-encapsulates-frenchness

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/guy-wrote-windows-solitaire-did-231250280.html