February 17, 2022 • 10 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production
of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world
is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an
open book, all of these amazing tales are right there
on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to
(00:27):
the Cabinet of Curiosities. Animals are incredible creatures. From the
inky depths of the ocean to the skies above, our
world is filled with seemingly infinite numbers of organisms that
have evolved and adapted to live in a world that
(00:48):
has not always been kind to them. From the peppered
moths of the Industrial Revolution to today's North American beavers,
Animals are being affected predominantly by one major fact, act us.
Humans have changed the face of the planet through commercial fishing, deforestation, agriculture,
and pollution, and our actions have resulted in the extinction
(01:11):
of a million different species. But one woman saw another
way away for humanity and the animal kingdom to coexist,
and she spent thirty years proving it. Her name was
Simona Cossack and she was born in Cracow, Poland, in
nineteen forty three. Her father, her grandfather and her great
grandfather were all painters, and she was kind of expected
(01:34):
to follow in their footsteps. They couldn't imagine Simona growing
up without a paintbrush in her hand at all times.
But she wanted something different. For one, she loved animals,
and so she got a degree in zoology in nineteen seventy.
Her focuses in school had centered around animal behavior and psychology,
and she wanted to go to a place where she
(01:55):
could study animals in their natural habitats. To achieve this,
Simona knew that she would have to leave Krakow and
traveled to the Bishkada Mountains, where the environment was still untamed.
She had vacationed in the mountains for the last decade
and knew them well, but her current employment situation was
not going smoothly, and so she decided to change things up.
(02:15):
In the dead of winter in nineteen seventy one, Simona
packed up her life and moved hours away to a
place called Billo Vesia. She took a job working for
the Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences,
where she was given a room and board. The mountains, however,
still called to her, seeing that she was still longing
(02:36):
for the great outdoors. A friend of hers invited her
out to see a small, abandoned cabin in the forests
of Bialovesia National Park. While they're Simona caught sight of
a large ox against the stark white of the snow.
The image was etched into her mind and she had
an epiphany. This would be her home. All she had
to do was convinced the park director to let her
(02:58):
live there. She went to his office the following day
and asked that the cabin be provided to her as
staff housing while she worked at the institute. The director approved,
but also informed her that someone else would be living
there too, a nature photographer named Lech will Check. Like Simona,
Lek had a passion for animals. He bred them himself
(03:19):
and released them into the wild so he could photograph
them in their habitats. The cabins soon became home to
a number of creatures and critters. Owls, grackles, and hedgehogs
all shared the little hut with Simona and Leck over
the years, often leaving on their own when they were
strong enough. One day, though, Lec brought home a one
day old pig named Zobka. The longer she lived in
(03:39):
the house, the more her personality took on that of
a dog's, often stealing random items and trotting away or
snuggling up to one of the humans and begging for attention.
As she got older, Zabka grew into a full sized bore.
She was just as playful as before, but now had
developed a territorial side, keeping watch over the cabin and
protecting her owners from visiting strangers. Eventually, a donkey from
(04:03):
the local zoo joined their menagerie, as did a deer
that came to Simona's window, a pair of moose named
Cola and Pepsi, a links that actually slept in Simona's bed,
a black stork that nested in a chest of drawers
in the cabin, and Crassic. A terrorist crow. Yeah, that's
what I said. A terrorist crow. That's how the locals
(04:25):
described him. Korsek was known for stealing things like office supplies,
cigarette cases, and food from the lumberjacks working in the woods.
He also attacked people on bicycles, pecking at them until
they fell off their bikes. Coorsek would then sit on
their seats like a victorious warrior. On one occasion, a
man working in the forest, had his entrance permits snatched
(04:48):
from his pocket by the crow, who then proceeded to
destroy it in front of him. It's probably easy to
see why kora Sek was thought to have been sent
to the people of bialov Asia as punishment of their sins.
And on top of all of that, some people began
to call Simona a witch because she talked to animals.
In reality, Simona Cossack was a conservationist and activist. She
(05:11):
lived in the woods in a cabin without electricity or
running water for thirty years, protecting and learning about the
creatures around her. A crow, on the other hand, well
he may have been a demon. Let's be honest. Language
(05:38):
is a finicky thing. To truly convey what you're trying
to say is something of a luxury. There is nothing
quite like that sensation of finding the exact word you
want to use, complete with all its connotations and nuances.
But even if you find the perfect way to say something,
that doesn't guarantee that whoever you said it too will
hear it the way you intended. Such are the troubles
(06:01):
of language. Regardless. In the quest to say something perfectly,
one may feel compelled to consult dictionary pages for the
listed word, the only word that could ever do like
an itch in the brain that only the right word
will scratch. The problem is not all words up here
in the dictionary, at least maybe not the right dictionary.
(06:21):
That's part of the reason why. In seventeen forty six,
a group of London booksellers contracted Samuel Johnson to write
a complete dictionary of the English language. According to this group,
all previous dictionaries just didn't do the trick. Johnson's dictionary
would become the go to English language dictionary, making the
(06:41):
rounds to the elites and the common folk alike. It
was so comprehensive in its collection of words that it
was the dictionary of choice for almost two hundred years,
and only then being unseated by a more modern Oxford
English Dictionary. But remember what I said about not every
word being found in the dictionary, not even the most
comprehensive dictionary of its time. What do you do then,
(07:04):
when no pages provide that word to scratch your brains itch?
Francis Gross may have the answer for you. Though he
was not much of a library goer, Gross had a
sharp mind and a voracious appetite, both for food and
for knowledge. Intent on providing a well, let's call it
a companion to Johnson's apparently not comprehensive dictionary, Gross set
(07:28):
out on a word and phrase finding mission, doing all
the things that he already loved to do, frequenting bars
and see the establishments by night, partaking in the amenities.
Only this time he wasn't there just for pleasure. He
was also there for work. While he perused the finer
things of midnight London, he was also taking notes on
the things that were being said, what they referred to,
(07:51):
how they were used in a sentence, as well as
defining what those things might mean, all written down on
parchment scrawled across bar tops and tables. That's right, Gross
went into bars and compiled the words and phrases said
by drunkards and scallow eggs, undoubtedly spilling their beer in
grease all over his pages as he reveled with the
(08:11):
after hours revelers. After all, Gross was apparently the life
of any party that he was or wasn't invited to.
He carried about him a strong wit and a sense
of humor, and is remembered for delighting in jokes of
all kinds, even the kinds that likened his last name
of Gross to his rotund belly. It's not clear how
(08:32):
long Gross was on this slang finding mission, but it
amounted to a rather unique compendium of words and not
really words, phrases and insults and maybe just maybe that
word you didn't know you needed, most of which having
to do with bodily functions, lack of intelligence, and other
such similar things. Thirty years after the publication of Johnson's Dictionary,
(08:57):
Francis Gross published the Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.
And while it would certainly not become a staple on
bookshelves well, ever, it is full of all kinds of
useful slang that you won't find listed in any dictionaries
among civilized folk. For instance, where else would you learn
that you can refer to a tall, gangly fellow as
(09:17):
a duke of limbs, or that Irish apricots are just
another name for potatoes. And where would we be without
a little kittle picturing, that is the art of interrupting
someone's long winded story with constant questions, which Gross adds
in the margins best done in tandem, and there are
plenty of other gems hidden in the pages of Gross's
(09:38):
dictionary that will spark laughter and even the most stone
faced reader. But I'll leave those to the exploration of
any who feel the urge to dive into the pages
of eighteenth century vulgarity. It's quite the journey, especially for
someone who wants to say something a little bit gross.
(09:59):
I hope you've enjoyed to day's guided tour of the
Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or
learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
This show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
(10:21):
and you can learn all about it over at the
World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,
Welcome to Aaron Benky's Cabinet of Curiosity is a production
of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world
is full of the unexplainable, and if history is an
open book, all of these amazing tales are right there
on display, just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to
(00:27):
the Cabinet of Curiosities. Animals are incredible creatures. From the
inky depths of the ocean to the skies above, our
world is filled with seemingly infinite numbers of organisms that
have evolved and adapted to live in a world that
(00:48):
has not always been kind to them. From the peppered
moths of the Industrial Revolution to today's North American beavers,
Animals are being affected predominantly by one major fact, act us.
Humans have changed the face of the planet through commercial fishing, deforestation, agriculture,
and pollution, and our actions have resulted in the extinction
(01:11):
of a million different species. But one woman saw another
way away for humanity and the animal kingdom to coexist,
and she spent thirty years proving it. Her name was
Simona Cossack and she was born in Cracow, Poland, in
nineteen forty three. Her father, her grandfather and her great
grandfather were all painters, and she was kind of expected
(01:34):
to follow in their footsteps. They couldn't imagine Simona growing
up without a paintbrush in her hand at all times.
But she wanted something different. For one, she loved animals,
and so she got a degree in zoology in nineteen seventy.
Her focuses in school had centered around animal behavior and psychology,
and she wanted to go to a place where she
(01:55):
could study animals in their natural habitats. To achieve this,
Simona knew that she would have to leave Krakow and
traveled to the Bishkada Mountains, where the environment was still untamed.
She had vacationed in the mountains for the last decade
and knew them well, but her current employment situation was
not going smoothly, and so she decided to change things up.
(02:15):
In the dead of winter in nineteen seventy one, Simona
packed up her life and moved hours away to a
place called Billo Vesia. She took a job working for
the Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences,
where she was given a room and board. The mountains, however,
still called to her, seeing that she was still longing
(02:36):
for the great outdoors. A friend of hers invited her
out to see a small, abandoned cabin in the forests
of Bialovesia National Park. While they're Simona caught sight of
a large ox against the stark white of the snow.
The image was etched into her mind and she had
an epiphany. This would be her home. All she had
to do was convinced the park director to let her
(02:58):
live there. She went to his office the following day
and asked that the cabin be provided to her as
staff housing while she worked at the institute. The director approved,
but also informed her that someone else would be living
there too, a nature photographer named Lech will Check. Like Simona,
Lek had a passion for animals. He bred them himself
(03:19):
and released them into the wild so he could photograph
them in their habitats. The cabins soon became home to
a number of creatures and critters. Owls, grackles, and hedgehogs
all shared the little hut with Simona and Leck over
the years, often leaving on their own when they were
strong enough. One day, though, Lec brought home a one
day old pig named Zobka. The longer she lived in
(03:39):
the house, the more her personality took on that of
a dog's, often stealing random items and trotting away or
snuggling up to one of the humans and begging for attention.
As she got older, Zabka grew into a full sized bore.
She was just as playful as before, but now had
developed a territorial side, keeping watch over the cabin and
protecting her owners from visiting strangers. Eventually, a donkey from
(04:03):
the local zoo joined their menagerie, as did a deer
that came to Simona's window, a pair of moose named
Cola and Pepsi, a links that actually slept in Simona's bed,
a black stork that nested in a chest of drawers
in the cabin, and Crassic. A terrorist crow. Yeah, that's
what I said. A terrorist crow. That's how the locals
(04:25):
described him. Korsek was known for stealing things like office supplies,
cigarette cases, and food from the lumberjacks working in the woods.
He also attacked people on bicycles, pecking at them until
they fell off their bikes. Coorsek would then sit on
their seats like a victorious warrior. On one occasion, a
man working in the forest, had his entrance permits snatched
(04:48):
from his pocket by the crow, who then proceeded to
destroy it in front of him. It's probably easy to
see why kora Sek was thought to have been sent
to the people of bialov Asia as punishment of their sins.
And on top of all of that, some people began
to call Simona a witch because she talked to animals.
In reality, Simona Cossack was a conservationist and activist. She
(05:11):
lived in the woods in a cabin without electricity or
running water for thirty years, protecting and learning about the
creatures around her. A crow, on the other hand, well
he may have been a demon. Let's be honest. Language
(05:38):
is a finicky thing. To truly convey what you're trying
to say is something of a luxury. There is nothing
quite like that sensation of finding the exact word you
want to use, complete with all its connotations and nuances.
But even if you find the perfect way to say something,
that doesn't guarantee that whoever you said it too will
hear it the way you intended. Such are the troubles
(06:01):
of language. Regardless. In the quest to say something perfectly,
one may feel compelled to consult dictionary pages for the
listed word, the only word that could ever do like
an itch in the brain that only the right word
will scratch. The problem is not all words up here
in the dictionary, at least maybe not the right dictionary.
(06:21):
That's part of the reason why. In seventeen forty six,
a group of London booksellers contracted Samuel Johnson to write
a complete dictionary of the English language. According to this group,
all previous dictionaries just didn't do the trick. Johnson's dictionary
would become the go to English language dictionary, making the
(06:41):
rounds to the elites and the common folk alike. It
was so comprehensive in its collection of words that it
was the dictionary of choice for almost two hundred years,
and only then being unseated by a more modern Oxford
English Dictionary. But remember what I said about not every
word being found in the dictionary, not even the most
comprehensive dictionary of its time. What do you do then,
(07:04):
when no pages provide that word to scratch your brains itch?
Francis Gross may have the answer for you. Though he
was not much of a library goer, Gross had a
sharp mind and a voracious appetite, both for food and
for knowledge. Intent on providing a well, let's call it
a companion to Johnson's apparently not comprehensive dictionary, Gross set
(07:28):
out on a word and phrase finding mission, doing all
the things that he already loved to do, frequenting bars
and see the establishments by night, partaking in the amenities.
Only this time he wasn't there just for pleasure. He
was also there for work. While he perused the finer
things of midnight London, he was also taking notes on
the things that were being said, what they referred to,
(07:51):
how they were used in a sentence, as well as
defining what those things might mean, all written down on
parchment scrawled across bar tops and tables. That's right, Gross
went into bars and compiled the words and phrases said
by drunkards and scallow eggs, undoubtedly spilling their beer in
grease all over his pages as he reveled with the
(08:11):
after hours revelers. After all, Gross was apparently the life
of any party that he was or wasn't invited to.
He carried about him a strong wit and a sense
of humor, and is remembered for delighting in jokes of
all kinds, even the kinds that likened his last name
of Gross to his rotund belly. It's not clear how
(08:32):
long Gross was on this slang finding mission, but it
amounted to a rather unique compendium of words and not
really words, phrases and insults and maybe just maybe that
word you didn't know you needed, most of which having
to do with bodily functions, lack of intelligence, and other
such similar things. Thirty years after the publication of Johnson's Dictionary,
(08:57):
Francis Gross published the Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.
And while it would certainly not become a staple on
bookshelves well, ever, it is full of all kinds of
useful slang that you won't find listed in any dictionaries
among civilized folk. For instance, where else would you learn
that you can refer to a tall, gangly fellow as
(09:17):
a duke of limbs, or that Irish apricots are just
another name for potatoes. And where would we be without
a little kittle picturing, that is the art of interrupting
someone's long winded story with constant questions, which Gross adds
in the margins best done in tandem, and there are
plenty of other gems hidden in the pages of Gross's
(09:38):
dictionary that will spark laughter and even the most stone
faced reader. But I'll leave those to the exploration of
any who feel the urge to dive into the pages
of eighteenth century vulgarity. It's quite the journey, especially for
someone who wants to say something a little bit gross.
(09:59):
I hope you've enjoyed to day's guided tour of the
Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or
learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com.
This show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership
with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show
called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show,
(10:21):
and you can learn all about it over at the
World of Lore dot com. And until next time, stay curious. Yeah,
Aaron Mahnke's Cabinet of Curiosities News
Host
Aaron Mahnke
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