Before the Internet, There Was Grandpa

There was a time when history was not written—it was spoken. Passed from elder to child, rabbi to disciple, warrior to scribe. It pulsed with breath, gesture, tone, and rhythm. But somewhere along the road to modernity, history put down the mic and picked up a pen. In this week’s episode of Dave Does History, we explore the great divide between oral tradition and written tradition, and why understanding the difference matters now more than ever.

Listen to the show:

We open with a modern twist: text messages. A simple “k” can end a relationship. An emoji can mean affection or passive-aggression. Why? Because in the written word, we lose the nuance of voice, of raised eyebrows and rolling eyes. It is the same challenge historians face when decoding ancient texts or interpreting founding documents—we are reading shadows of conversations that were once alive with tone and gesture.

From there, we take a detour into the rich Jewish tradition of the Oral Law—the Mishnah, the Talmud, and the commandment not to write down what must be spoken. Why was this oral tradition so fiercely protected? Because words alone are not enough. Without the debate, the inflection, the living transmission, meaning becomes brittle. The spoken word breathes. The written word, too often, fossilizes.

And then—because it is Plausibly Live, after all—we bring in Eddie Izzard. His comedy sketch about Engelbert Humperdinck (the singer, not the composer) shows us how gesture and tone can enhance or completely derail meaning. It is not just funny—it is educational. The way we speak, the rhythm and performance of our words, carry layers that writing can only hope to approximate.

The episode builds to a deeper point: in America, our transition from oral to written history has left us estranged from the emotional weight of our most important words. Words like “freedom,” “rights,” and yes—liberty. They remain in our textbooks and monuments, but do we still feel them the way Patrick Henry did when he shouted them across a Virginia courtroom?

This episode is the setup for next week’s discussion on Liberty on Bill Mick Live. But first, we have to understand how history speaks—and more importantly, how it sounded before we locked it in writing.

Listen now, and let your ears do some history.

Available on iHeart Radio, Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you still dare to listen.