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 Thought1:08 The ATP Intro Theme1:52 What's Good: Back To School And Breaking The Monotony4:19 Today's Phrase: Train Of Thought4:41 Twenty's Take: You Only Say It When You've Lost It6:10 Mario's Take: The Phrase Paints A Picture7:25 Confirm The Meaning: Merriam-Webster vs. Cambridge vs. Dictionary.com10:15 Why "A Path Of Reasoning" Can't Be The Definition10:44 Unveil The Origin: "Train" In The 14th Century Meant To Drag Or Trail12:50 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 Thought14:59 Brain Rot Confessions: Instagram, Love Island, Love Is Blind20:11 Walmart Banned Damon Darling For Buying People Groceries22:36 1651: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, And The First Recorded Use23:57 Ideological Sedimentation: Inheriting Arguments You Never Had26:16 I, Robot: "Can A Robot Write A Symphony?" "Can You?"27:00 The Sonny Conspiracy: The Actor They Refused To Promote31:45 Why AI Gets Things Confidently Wrong32:14 Believed With Our Whole Chest: Y2K, The Mayans, And Flying Cars36:24 1690: John Locke, Association Of Ideas, And "Food For Thought"38:43 Train Of Thought Predates The Railroad By 165 Years40:11 "Sounds Like A Train To Me": How The Locomotive Got Its Name41:52 Edison Slander, Tesla, And The Prestige45:28 Institutional Formalization And Gen Z Slang Creep47:30 Folk Etymology: When The Better Lie Wins48:55 The Mandela Effect And The Shazam Hill We Will Die On50:55 Confidently Wrong: Red Kool-Aid Is Not Strawberry53:47 Pop Culture #1: Pixar's Inside Out54:44 #2: Sherlock Holmes And Guy Ritchie's Slow-Motion Deductions58:14 #3 The Greatest American Hero / #4 The Lost Train Of Thought59:28 The Appraisal: Power Grade And Impact Grade1:01:36 Final Grade1:02:37 Dictionary Of Misinformation: The Thanksgiving Turkey Myth1:04:41 The Watch List And Closing Thoughts1:05:48 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?

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Where does ""wet my beak"" actually come from? We trace it from a 19th-century Sicilian grain custom to The Godfather — and yes, we get into He Got Game too. #AppraiseThePhrase #Etymology #WordOrigins #WetMyBeak #TheGodfather

Mario and Twenty unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of ""wet my beak."" The trail starts in 19th-century rural Sicily, where grain farmers were expected to give estate guards a little extra at harvest — ""fari vagnari lo pizzu,"" literally ""to wet the beak"" — the imagery being a bird dipping in to drink, not gorging itself. That custom got carried across the Atlantic and turned into something sharper: Mario Puzo used the exact Sicilian phrase in his 1969 novel The Godfather, putting it in the mouth of the extortionist Fanucci as he shakes down a young Vito Corleone. Coppola's Godfather Part II dramatized the same scene in 1974 — and the guys dig into whether the custom's original ""fairness"" survived the trip from grain tithe to mafia protection money.

Along the way: three dictionary definitions (Free Dictionary, Wiktionary, Urban Dictionary), a debate about whether extortion can ever be ""earned,"" a Power Grade and a Speed Grade, and a Dictionary of Misinformation segment busting the myth of who actually ""invented"" the wheel. Stick around for the He Got Game breakdown — once you hear how the guys connect Uncle Bubba's ""let me wet my beak"" line to this phrase, you won't hear it the same way again.

0:00 – He Got Game Uncle Bubba Opener

1:20 – Intro & Catching Up

Confirm The Meaning

10:34 – Introducing ""Wet My Beak"" + Dictionary Definitions

Unveil The Origin

18:25 – Origin: 19th-Century Sicilian Grain Custom

30:31 – Literary Origin: Mario Puzo's The Godfather (1969)

34:19 – Is Extortion Ever Fair? A Real Debate

45:44 – Cinematic Origin: The Godfather Part II (1974)

Storytime

29:16 – The ""I Can't Stress This Enough"" Delivery Bit

50:45 – Personal Reflection: The Pettiest Toll You've Ever Collected

Assess The Value

55:55 – Power Grade

58:04 – Speed Grade

59:53 – He Got Game, Revisited

1:02:05 – Dictionary of Misinformation: Who Invented the Wheel?

1:04:11 – Outro & Shop

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ABOUT APPRAISE THE PHRASE

Appraise The Phrase is a weekly podcast from the Underdog Podcast Network where the hosts unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of the everyday phrases and idioms we all use without ever asking where they came from. Each episode ends with a Power Grade and a round of the Dictionary of Misinformation, debunking a popular word-origin myth.

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