He's More Town than Gown

Our monthly unscripted convo & recommendations with special guest Ashlee

Bethany Bell & Kara Wood

Mar 02, 2025

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‘Tis the week for our unscripted conversation & recommendations!

We have an unscripted convo (rather than writing) about once a month. During this convo, we ridicule each other while discussing books and other things we are currently loving. Why? Because we’ve never felt so alive.

🤓 Awkward? Yes.

😬 Cringy? Mmmhmm.

🤩 Fun? The most.

If you typically read—rather than listen to—our stuff, you can listen to our convo by pressing the “play” button near the top of the post.

**Our posts may contain affiliate links, meaning we get a couple of pennies (at no additional cost to you) if you purchase an item through a link.**

Here are a few highlights and the promised links from this week’s convo:

1:00 — We introduce special guest Ashlee Anderson and provide her with a signature KNOCKER hat.

2:47 — Life updates. Kara discusses her Downton Abbey rewatch and Old Lady Grantham’s view that “Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.” If so, we are in trouble. Bethany read Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar and watched Shiny Happy People on Amazon Prime. Ashlee watched Southern Hospitality on Bravo.

8:40 — Ashlee has advice on how to watch the guilty pleasures without judgment.

10:25 — No one is happy about Gretchen coming back to the Real Housewives of OC

11:30 — We discuss the Saturday Night Live 50th Anniversary Show. We have pledged to watch more SNL so getting through this 3-hour special may get us to our quota for the year. The Ryan Reynolds joke slapped; the Meryl Streep skit was delicious; the Seth Myers weekend update was nostalgic; and if you watch nothing else, you’ve gotta check out Adam Sandler’s tribute song with intro by Jack Nicholson.

17:48 — We review The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams (Historical fiction). We both give this book two enthusiastic thumbs up!

DESCRIPTION:
Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the Scriptorium, an Oxford garden shed in which her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Young Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word bondmaid flutters beneath the table. She rescues the slip and, learning that the word means “slave girl,” begins to collect other words that have been discarded or neglected by the dictionary men.

As she grows up, Esme realizes that words and meanings relating to women’s and common folks’ experiences often go unrecorded. And so she begins in earnest to search out words for her own dictionary: the Dictionary of Lost Words. To do so she must leave the sheltered world of the university and venture out to meet the people whose words will fill those pages.

Set during the height of the women’s suffrage movement and with the Great War looming, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. Inspired by actual events, author Pip Williams has delved into the archives of the Oxford English Dictionary to tell this highly original story. The Dictionary of Lost Words is a delightful, lyrical, and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words and the power of language to shape the world.

23:06 — We “turn a phrase like Truman” — “He’s more town than gown.”

27:50 — Kara gives an update on her attempts to abstain from Starbucks (one of Kara’s 24 changes for 2024 that she’s still going strong on) and how much money she’s saved by not showing up (testing the guru theory that your daily latte can actually make a difference in your finances). Ashlee has hard questions about all of it.

35:00 — Travis talk. We discuss the Tay/Blake controversy. Ashlee believes they are currently in an apartment with matching PJs on and Taylor has Blake’s back. Travis is playing another season.

39:41 — The “Pedigree of Paula” moment is given to someone who displays class and character in a way that reminds us of our mother. This month, it goes to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was instrumental in the suffrage movement.

42:30 — “Sweaty Betty & Dare to Kare!” — we give updates on exercise challenges and wins. Kara kept up her 5 day per week running streak and is setting new running goals (both mileage and strength). Bethany is doing a 7.4 on the treadmill, whatever that means. Ashlee is hitting a nice long run every weekend and working consistency. She’s also trying out pickle ball.

46:38 — “Ask Bethany!” — A segment that allows our Knockers to ask Bethany anything you want and receive an honest, unfiltered response! This week, Ashlee asks the question. Kara, as our resident plant lady, had to step in and help Bethany answer it. Have a submission? Leave it in the caaaaaaawments!

49:44 — “Taste of Kara”— Kara is into true crime right now. She discusses the JonBenet Ramsey Cold Case documentary on Netflix.