Synced: Kiki vs Bouba

This episode of the "Synced: Kiki vs Bouba" podcast explores the psychology behind the naming of abstract shapes and the implications on personality and preferences.

1. The "Kiki vs Bouba" effect is a demonstration of sound symbolism and how linguistic sounds can convey abstract visual forms.
2. Personal anecdotes can significantly enrich the understanding of psychological phenomena.
3. Cultural and personal backgrounds may influence how individuals perceive and react to abstract concepts.
4. Discussions on seemingly simple topics can lead to broader insights about human psychology and social interaction.
5. The podcast effectively mixes humor and scholarly discussion, making complex topics accessible and engaging.

1: Introduction

The hosts introduce the topic and share their initial thoughts on the abstract naming of shapes. Monica: "So it's like, Kiki looks sharp and Bouba looks soft and round."

2: Deep Dive into the Experiment

A detailed discussion on the origins of the "Kiki vs Bouba" experiment and its implications. Liz: "It's fascinating how universally these names and shapes are matched."

3: Personal Reflections

Monica and Liz reflect on what their preferences might say about their own personalities. Monica: "I guess I'm more of a Bouba, soft and a bit more flexible."

4: Listener Interactions

They engage with listener questions and comments, which bring additional perspectives to the topic. Liz: "Our listeners have such insightful comments on this!"

5: Conclusion

The episode wraps up with concluding thoughts and a tease for the next episode. Liz: "Next time, we'll explore more about how our language shapes our thinking."

1. Try the "Kiki vs Bouba" experiment yourself to see how your friends and family react.
2. Consider how the shapes and sounds might reflect characteristics in people you know.
3. Use this episode as a fun party game or icebreaker.
4. Reflect on what your preference for "Kiki" or "Bouba" might say about your own personality.
5. Explore other psychological experiments that deal with perception and language.

In this episode of Synced, Monica and Liz are bi-coastal! They chat about heart emojis, death, and hot cartoon characters. They answer listener questions on what direction to face in the shower and if it's worth the risk to tell a teacher that their pole-dancing video playlist is public.

People

Monica, Liz

Companies

None

Books

None

Guest Name(s):

None

Content Warnings:

None

Monica
Hi, Liz. Hi. Are you in a hotel? No, I'm at Heather's place in her guest room. So no bunk bed for me.

No bunk bed. Do you miss it? You know I don't. That's understandable. How are you?

Liz
How's LA? L A's good. We're just coming out of a holiday weekend. Was very chill, was nice. Did you relax?

Did you take time off? I wasn't sure if you were gonna work. I worked some, but I had some relaxation time. I've been watching a ton of. Due to yesterday's flightless bird, 6ft under.

You're still in your 6ft under binge. I'm on season two now. It's so interesting. It makes me wanna talk about death with you. I feel like that's one of our top three topics.

Monica
Definitely one of our top three thoughts, for sure. But first I wanna hear. Cause you're in New York and you've been in New York for about a week. Yes, I've been here for a week. It's been the best.

Liz
The only thing that rivals may New York is September. New York. And I think I still choose May. Although I do love September. Oh.

But within, like, a few minutes of getting here, I thought of you. I didn't text you about it. Cause I wanted to tell you on the show, but I had a married man event. Oh, my God. Within the first few minutes of just, like, walking in the streets.

Monica
What happened? So I'm eating outside. We'll do a shout out. Sweet green. I don't think they need it, but wow.

That's not what I expected in New York, Liz.

Liz
I'm basic. Okay? Also, to be clear, I was a sweet green. I was part of the OG group. Like, I liked sweet green before everyone else did, when it was just like, there was one shop in the West Village.

Anyway, I don't know. I just needed something fast and quick, and I just sat out and ate my salad. And then this guy walks by, he, like, looks at me, and then I kind of look at him, and then he double takes. And then I look at him again and then I'm like, okay, whatever, keep eating my salad. Then he u turns, comes back, and he's like, hey, are you Liz?

And I was like, yeah. He's like, been following your work. And then we, like, are totally flirting. Then at one point he's like, should I sit down? And I was like, yeah.

Monica
Oh, my God. What? Literally half an hour into this conversation, I noticed the ring. Not to victim blame, but at this point, I guess I gotta, like, scan the hands. I just assume, based on the vibe, that this was, like, full on.

Liz
And so then I see the ring, and I'm, like, so confused. Cause again, at the beginning, one of the things he said was like, oh, like, I don't drink. And I was like, yeah, I stopped drinking a while ago. Like, how do you find dating? I asked him a literal question about dating.

He didn't say, like, I'm married. What?

Monica
Wait. So bad of him? Well, at one point, he was like, let's get breakfast while here. And I was like, you're married, right? And then he's like, yeah, yeah, but my wife is a big fan.

Liz
I've been texting her. I'm with Lisflank. And then I was like, okay, we're not meeting for breakfast. Thank you. But, like, you know, but.

So it ended in a jovial matter, but I was left just. I think I'm just not gonna be open to hot strangers who are my age. What was the kind of conversation you were having? I think this is indicative. Was it about your work?

Not really. Like, it was very all over the place and, like, making jokes about Seinfeld episodes that we liked. It wasn't like, you're hot. Like, it wasn't, like, sexual, which would have been weird anyways. But it was definitely, like, to me, flirty.

But I guess if you're texting your wife about it, it's fine, weird anyway. So, yeah, I just legitimately don't. I guess it's a thing. Women will be like, check men's hands for rings. And I think I don't.

I just go off a vibe. I guess I also feel like a lot of people aren't married or are divorced, so I don't think about it, but I guess I have to. Well, also, in Canada, they don't get married as much. You said, so maybe you're just not as aware of the rank. Yes.

Well, it's not. Yes. There are other ways of signifying your love to each other than getting married. I will say I do think I look at that more than I think if there is a hawkeye. I do think I scan their hand quickly.

Monica
It's almost subconscious. I think it's sort of ingrained here. And even though I like that in Canada, they show their love in much different ways, I will say this is easy to just see, like, oh, yeah. No. Yes.

Liz
This has cemented the need for me to be a little bit. Yeah. Less optimistic. I mean, it was a nice conversation. If I'd known he was married, I probably would have.

I mean, anyway, we've already talked about this, but he got so much validation out of it, and I was just like, okay, now I feel worse. Exactly. I don't want to continue this, like, hang out. But he was, like, very confused, and I was like, I don't know how else to explain this to you. You were married here in America, and so you had rings, and then your husband said, cause I know this about a lot of men, they, like, don't like it.

Monica
They say it's like comfort, right? And to be fair, most men aren't as used to having jewelry on their hand as women are. Stereotypically. I'm speaking in generalizations there, obviously, but I know some men who don't wanna wear it or don't wear it. Or, like, Dax doesn't have one, has a tattoo instead of a belle.

And I think another one of my friends says something like that because they don't like the feeling of the jewelry. But what would happen if you were married and then, like, a month in, your husband said, liz, I just, like, hate this ring. Like, I don't like wearing it. I fidget with it all the time. All I do is take it off and drop it, and I don't want to wear it anymore.

What would you say? That's such a good question. So I know I shouldn't be putting things out there that are bad, but I'm going to put it out there that if I ever get married, there's a 99%, like, I've already accepted that I will probably lose the ring. Oh, my God. It's gonna happen.

Liz
I lose really important things all the time, so I identify with, well, maybe what wouldn't be the discomfort as much as the, like, fear that I would lose it or, like, mind byzaline. Like, to me, is, like, the closest thing to an engagement ring. I lost that a lot of times. You know, you need to put it down and remember where you put it down. And so I don't think I would mind, I guess, if I have no inkling that this is because he wants to flirt with people if the relationship is secure.

Right? Like, everything depends on the relationship being secure. Of course. There's so many times that I've been so upset about things when I've dated one person and then can't imagine being upset over that with another person. Right?

Like, and when I look back at those relationships, I'm like, it made so much sense in the context of the relationship. Cause the relationship wasn't secure, and so if the relationship was really secure. Yeah, I probably wouldn't mind. And it'd be kind of cool. You can get matching tattoos, which kind of is fun.

How would you feel? I do understand the idea that that's not comfortable, but I also like the idea of my husband having, like, an acknowledgement of our marriage on their person. I do like that. Cause I guess I'm so traditional. I'm a trad wife.

Monica
I'm gonna be a trad wife. You becoming a trad wife would be the biggest plot twist in american history. I know. I kind of want that to happen. This actually is something I've been thinking about.

Liz
Do you ever think about doing, like, a full pivot? There's this republican senator, or, sorry, he's running for office. I can't remember where. But he was an NFL player, was super pro black lives matter, was, like, a huge advocate, and now he's totally done a 180. He recently said that women are becoming too mouthy.

That's the quote. Ugh. Why is that? The new thing circling our streets? Our streets?

Monica
I mean, what the fuck? It's really concerning. Anyway, I was just reading about this guy, and he just basically did this 180 where he was very progressive, and he's, like, on Alex Jones. Like, he's full on conspiracy theory. Women have gotten too mouthy.

Liz
Republican Senate candidate in Minnesota, Royce White. And, sorry, he was a former pro basketball player. That's you being mouthy. Getting it wrong. Exactly.

Mouthy is also so coded. Ugh. Who put that thumbs up? Did you notice that little thumbs up? Oh, to me.

Oh, yeah. Yours is doing all kinds of stuff. It'll do a heart. Oh, wow. I mean, thumbs up also means fuck you in tech speak.

Monica
Oh, it does. It's like putting a period at the end of a text. Oh, I don't. No, no, no, no. I do not abide by that.

Liz
If you thumbs up a text, you know the thumbs up. You can hard a text now. So if you thumbs up something, rob, just thumbs up my last text. If you thumbs up something, it's like, no worries. With a period.

It means, like, fine. I disagree. It depends on who you're talking to. I think thumbs up is professional. Depends on who I'm talking to and what I'm doing.

Monica
But I don't always, like a heart. Heart is very familiar, and sometimes whatever we're talking about isn't conducive to a heart. I'm all for a thumbs up. I'll use it. If someone's like, I'll be there in five minutes.

Liz
Or, like, do you want the low fat yogurt? Then I'll thumbs up it as, like, a shorthand to yes. But I think if it's, like, his boyfriend, they live together, and Kat's boyfriend had, like, done a favor for Kat's parents, and so he sent this text saying, like, hey, I just emptied out your da da da da da. And then Kat's dad, like, thumbs up it, and Kat had to explain to her dad, like, the difference between a heart and a thumbs up, that a thumbs up can come across as, like, a little bit not passive aggressive. It's just like, why aren't you writing something?

It feels like. Yeah, it feels like you're doing that instead of engaging with what the person is saying. But that's the whole point of those things, is so you don't have to engage. It's just like, I'm acknowledging this, but there's no reason to be writing anything. Cause you don't feel that way with the heart.

Monica
Heart's the same thing. Okay. I'm just thinking of, like, a situation with my roommate. Let's say that I'm like, hey, I accidentally used some of your eggs. Gonna replace them.

Liz
If she were to, like, thumbs up. That instead of, like, no worries. Yeah. I think I would be like, oh, she's. She must be.

Monica
See? I mean, but if she just harded it, I would feel the same way. I do think if you're apologizing for something or you're showing up with some sort of emotion, and then the response is only one of those little shortcuts, then I agree. It is a little passive aggressive, regardless of what the actual thing is. And I think there's still a tear, that the heart would hurt a little less, but the thumbs up would signal.

Liz
I think you're right that in some situations, putting a heart is weird or too intimate. Yeah, it's too intimate. The heart is intimate. But what do you think is sending up purple heart versus hearting something? Happy memorial day.

Monica
Purple hearts are for happy Memorial day. If you send me a purple heart, I know you're saying, happy Memorial day. If you send me a blue heart, I think you're saying, I'm at the hospital. If you send a red heart, classic pink heart, I'm a baby. Or, like, the hand heart.

Liz
I just think there's, like, a heart. There's tears. I feel like there's a conversation about this at first. Even if you're dating someone, you don't send a red heart. No.

Like, you can send a purple heart? No. No hearts at first. Well, not the first date, but if you guys are dating, I think it's fine. So you only send red hearts if you've said I love you?

Well, maybe not I love you, but that you're, like, exclusive, that you're clearly falling in love. Interesting. I am a smiley face girl for a while. It's gonna be a minute before you get a heart. Most people don't.

Monica
I mean, most people I'm dating, I mean, I don't get far enough in that they've received hearts. Have you ever sent a red heart? I mean, it's hard for me to know. Cause I send them all the time to my friends. I do send red hearts a lot.

Liz
But dating, do you send red hearts to guys that you're not dating that are your friends, or is that inappropriate? I mean, I don't think it is. I think I sent a red heart to Charlie this morning. I would feel a little weird about it if it happened. I would be like, I should probably choose a different color.

Monica
Any of the people in my close friend group, Dax, Charlie, Eric, Matt, Jess, definitely. They all get red hearts from me. Am I skipping some, Ryan? Yeah, they all get red hearts. I have no worries about that.

But that's because they're all family. It's a different tear. Hmm. You know what's interesting? Well, I was gonna say, I don't know if I would send a red heart to Callie's husband, but maybe I would.

I think I would. Now I'm just overthinking it. If it's anyone I feel safe with, then, yeah, I feel fine about it. I think I've sent Rob a red heart. Have I?

Rob
Yeah, I think so. There you go. Oh, wow. See, in the case of Charlie and Eric and all that stuff, you're friends of them independently. They're not your friend's boyfriend or husband.

Liz
They're your friend. Individual relationships. Yeah, Heather's boyfriend. Like, I would never send her at heart. Like, that would be weird.

Monica
That's so inappropriate. Would be insane. Oh, my God. No, but it would make me. Yeah, I would just not do that.

Liz
It's different if they're your friend versus. I mean, it's all these, like, relationships are so funny. Hold on, I want to check something. Okay. Whew.

Monica
I thought for a second that I sent a red heart to someone I was talking to for a second who ghosted me, but I didn't. I just checked. Thank God. Dodged a bullet. Oh, my God.

Liz
He does not deserve not even a purple heart. He doesn't deserve Memorial Day. He doesn't deserve any heart emoji. What do you think yellow heart means? Happy spring.

I feel like yellow heart is the least romantic. Okay. Very friendly. Yeah, very friendly. Unassuming, non threatening.

It's light. I'm not a yellow heart girl. Yellow heart girls are like hufflepuffs. Sorry. I know there's so many hufflepuffs out there and they're great.

Monica
I'm not against huffles, but that's a very friendly, warm person who sends a yellow heart, and it's not my personality. What do you think is the most popular color of heart? Red. I feel like it's probably purple. You think it's purple?

I think it's pink or red. Rob, can you look it up? Yeah. We're all on zoom for the listener. I don't like purple.

There's something about purple. Even though purple's my favorite color, there's something about it that gives me, like. Yeah, it's the red one. Yes. Is there a first, second, and third?

Rob
I'm seeing meanings. There's purple heart, commonly used to represent love, support, close bonds and admiration for things. Blue, loyalty, trust, and tranquility. Green is nature, growth, and harmony. That's, like, very obvious.

Liz
I've never used green in my life. Oh, I've used green sometimes. I like trying them out. Yellow's liking and friendship as opposed to romantic love. There.

Monica
We love. Yeah, we knew. It's all pretty intuitive. I mean, these are definitions that are, like, etched in stone. Although to me, purple has a sadness to it, so that's why I don't love it.

Blue has a little bit of a sadness to it, but also in a sexy way. It's like a longing. Oh, interesting. Blue is in. I miss you.

For me? Yeah. There's some depth to blue. Oh, ding, ding, ding. Oh, depth.

I thought you said death is depth. Oh, God. Tell me about it. But do you want to talk about death or do you want to keep talking about emojis? I think we've exhausted emojis.

Well, we haven't, actually, because Dax and I got in a, like, not a fight, but a quarrel about an emoji. Cause I've been using this girl a little bit. Yeah, you've been using it on me, too. Yeah, I like it. I like her.

I want to be her. I think that's sort of. To me, she's carefree. She's like, I don't care. It's fine, whatever.

Liz
Shrug emoji. Dax thinks that's apathetic, which it is. But I take that in a positive way. Like apathetic. Doesn't really matter.

Monica
Who cares? Nonchalant. Yeah, nonchalant. You know what? I don't feel about death at all.

Okay. Something horrible happened. So I've been watching 6ft under show about death. We've talked about it, and it's old, so it's fun. Cause it's from early two thousands, early aughts.

And when we did this episode of Flightless Bird, we showed scenes from our favorite episodes. And one of David's favorite episodes is the finale of the series. And so he showed the final scene, which is how everyone passes, basically. Like, it was so beautiful, but I didn't know any of the characters, right. So it didn't mean anything.

It was just like, oh, wow. Yeah, that's a beautiful ending. And yesterday I was editing that episode, and while I was editing it, I thought, oh, I kind of want to re watch that. Bad idea for a few reasons. One, it was then so devastating.

Cause now I know them. And two, there was a huge spoiler. It was so bad, and I was crying so hard for so long, and I couldn't get over it. It was getting very existential. Like, I could not believe people die.

Liz
It's really not okay. It's not nice. We do not think about death nearly as much as we should because it would make life very difficult. If you were thinking about the fact that every single person around you, or you could die at any moment. Like you wouldn't want to go to work, like you wouldn't want to do the boring things of life.

You would just want to enjoy every single moment that you have with every single person. But it's wild that we don't think about it. I know it's the only way out. That final scene of the show. Cause at the beginning of the show, I think we talked about this.

Monica
The cold open is a death. And then that's the person in the casket for the episode. So there's like a little scene where somebody dies, and then the screen goes white, and you see Jeffrey K. Williams, 1959 to 2001. Then the show starts.

And I just had this overwhelming feel like I was just going through all the people in my head and thinking, like, we are all gonna have a time stamp and we don't know what it is. And it is so overwhelming. And my therapist told me to start doing some more present moment practices. And obviously I haven't been doing them. So this is, like, not the show for me to be doing right now when I'm supposed to be doing present moment practices, but it's so good.

Liz
Thinking about death does make you appreciate the present moment. Weirdly, I feel like turning 37. For whatever reason, the number just feels, like, closer to 40. I mean, it's the closest to 40 I've ever been. But there's something about it where in the last few months, I've been weirdly realizing it's going to end.

40 is so young, and I'm not even 40, but weirdly, like, I've gone from being quote unquote young or, like, feeling like, whatever. Like, you don't think about how much time you'll have to like now. I kind of do, and it's kind of nice. It does make me appreciate my life a little bit more. Like, when I can sort of connect with that deeper, you know, instead of just like, oh, I have wrinkles.

Or, like, noticing I'm getting old in negative ways, I'm like, oh, wow. Like, this goes by fast. I, like, relate to old people now. Like, the way that old people talk where they're like, one day you're going to blink and you're going to be. Or my parents, who are in their seventies, being like, I still feel like I'm 27.

Like, oh, right, I'm going to feel this way even when I'm their age. And I just relate to aging in a different way, I think. But you're young, you're still 36. Does this allow you to be thankful for life, or are you just in the anxiety part? So I was really in high anxiety mode, but then I did step back.

Monica
I mean, it's such a cliche. Like, it just sounds so cheesy. But death is why life is meaningful. If we didn't have it, it wouldn't be. And so it's such a fucked up, divine tragic comedy that we all come here, we all fall in love, and then we all experience death.

It's crazy. Life is crazy that it's designed this way. It's beautiful. Like, it is beautiful that we all have some time on this earth and we do stuff here, you know, and then we leave. Sometimes you need that.

Liz
It's like, I felt like the eclipse did that for me for some weird reason. Because you don't think about life while you're living. You just live. It's like you don't think about breathing while you breathe. When you're not able to breathe is when you really think about breathing.

And that's all you can think about, right? Yeah. Heimlich. Coming back to the Heimlich ding, ding. Self imposed Heimlich.

Monica
But, no, you're right. You're right. And so the eclipse for me was like, I don't think about the fact that we're living in this universe. Like, that's wild. The solar system in the universe, and we're on a floating rock.

Liz
Like, yeah, you don't. I don't think about that on a daily basis. But the eclipse kind of forces you to, and you're like, what? Life is so enchanting and magic.

Monica
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The money we can to be buying other fun stuff we want. Exactly. And nothing will derail my day than, like, a $7.99. I don't know what it's from or where it's from on my banking app and that I don't even know how to cancel. Yes.

Liz
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Monica
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We love betterhelp. We love therapy. We talk about it all the time. The benefits are like, you can't even quantify or qualify the benefits over time. Like my therapist said is a phrase that comes out of my mouth four times a day.

Liz
It's also, I feel like I've benefited so much from other people being in therapy, too. I just feel like friends and family and, you know, in my relationships, if I know that someone is in therapy or has done therapy, it just, I know it's going to be so much more of a healthier, easier relationship. Totally. Yeah. Just the world is so much better when more of us are in therapy.

Monica
And if you yourself are struggling or, you know, someone who is struggling, trying better help, or, like, offering better help to someone is such a nice thing to do. It's an easy way to enter therapy. It's online, it's convenient, it's flexible. You can work around your schedule, which is the hardest part of therapy. And you just fill out a brief questionnaire and get matched with a licensed therapist.

And then you can switch therapists if it's not working for you, which is great. Take a moment. Visit betterhelp.com synced today to get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp help.com synced.

I also had the thought, and this is not to alienate anyone, because I really understand religiosity, and I understand the need and the desire to believe in a divine power or someone or something that's orchestrating all of this. I get it. But also, it feels to me sometimes that that idea and that mentality giving ownership to a God kind of robs life of its actual magic. It is magic. All of this is incredible.

It's almost hard to believe it's real. I think sometimes handing it over to a God is unfair a little bit, because I think it's special on its own. It's like life is beautiful and wonderful and magical and awful and all these things on its own. I know often we need answers and we need reasons and we need control, and that's why a lot of these things sprout. But I don't know.

It's like, to me, it's kind of okay that we just all exist and that's special on its own. Yeah. I think having a higher power, from my understanding of it, it's actually relinquishing control, realizing that, like, in many ways, the weather system is God. You don't have to, I think, believe in a guy in the sky to believe in God. There are forces that are beyond us, and so it's a way to relinquish actually sort of the idea that, yeah, you're in control here, or you're the complete master of your own faith, which, like, I've had to work really hard because it helps me when I think that there's a higher meaning or a higher order, and that me trying to do everything I can to, like, reverse that is just making the universe kind of laugh because it's so much more powerful than me.

Liz
But. But I see your point. Meaning that, like, you don't even need to create someone. Right. That's like pulling the strings in order to be in awe.

Monica
I think everyone should believe whatever they believe and whatever gets you through is great. But I even think needing there to be a force bigger than us in order to say, you know what, I don't have control here is also a mechanism, right? As opposed to just knowing this is part of existence. You don't have control. I mean, it's just much harder.

But I don't know, I just find it interesting. And then I do think there is control in a lot of organized religions about afterlife and stuff. Like there is like, well, if I do this, then I have that after and that comes, I do believe from needing security and safety that like, I'll see these people again. Which I get. I wish I believed it.

Cause I think I would be so much less upset and anxious. Oh, yeah, it's all fine. I'll see them again. That was the hardest part of doing any twelve step for me, was this higher power stuff. Cause I was like, I was never raised in that.

Liz
And like, it still is hard for me. Yeah, I'm jealous of people who just do it naturally or like effortlessly or like, really believe it, whereas I have to really get in the mood. But love is a higher power. When you think about what happens to you when you're in love or love somebody, it's profound, it's intangible, and it is the real source of life. And so sanctuary said that because one of my friends just yesterday was talking about how relationships have higher powers.

She was like, oh, you don't have to figure out this thing. Like, your relationship with this person has a higher power. And just that I was like, oh, wow, that's so nice to, like, think about. Yeah, I don't have to like, do all these things or figure it out or fix it or like, right. That there's a higher order of things and it'll happen if it's meant to happen and it won't if it doesn't.

Kind of takes away, like some of the. On my end, like, neuroticism around it. But yeah, that's literally what she said. And so it's so funny. It's very similar to what you just shared, which, like, is a helpful way to approach, like, dating and relationship.

I mean, any kind of relationship, whatever that means to you, right? I mean, some people, it's like the whole, like, no free will thing, that there's no free will anyways, so I don't have to go down rabbit holes or control everything, right? Because it's already decided in a way. I know I'm on the fence about free will. I mean, I don't think it's all or nothing.

Monica
And I think a lot of people in this debate do think it's all or nothing. I definitely like when we had Robert Sapolsky on and his book, determined, is about determinism and free will. And, you know, some people ask us a lot, what's the one thing you've taken from the show from armchair after doing, like, 700 episodes or whatever, which is hard to answer normally. My answer is that no one knows anything, actually, because you hear from this expert and they know everything. And then another expert on the same topic that also knows everything has a completely different take.

Again, it's not all or nothing. We take pieces. But anyway, I think, actually, something that has changed my perspective after doing the show is this Robert Sapolsky episode, because he really. I mean, we, like, know it sort of ephemerally, but this is the first time it stuck with me that we do not have any control over our fundamental circumstances in life. And that sets the stage for life in such everything, in literally everything, in such a real way.

And so it has changed my opinion on so many things. One, like, everyone is just trying to take credit for the things they have. Like, sorry, you can't. And also easing up on people, you know, just like, not being so punitive, not being so judgmental. It's like no one chose.

Even when people make horrible decisions. And I'm not saying, like, we shouldn't have a justice system, there should be repercussions and consequences, but there should also be graves across the board and a lack of judgment and definitely a lack of superiority. Cause there's so much like, oh, my God, I would never do that. I could never do that. Yeah, you could never.

Because you have a life that's completely different than that person's, and you have no idea what you are capable of doing in that circumstance. So it's definitely changed the way I view that. It's a great thing to remember that particularly the most important things of your life were totally determined. And the things you think you worked so hard for, you did. Like, no one's taking away that you worked hard, but the ability to work hard or the things behind that you didn't pick.

And you got lucky. Like, we're all so lucky. We are so lucky. Anywho, anything else on death? Before we do questions, I wanted to.

Liz
Ask you about the hot rodent boyfriend trend. What's that? Oh, my God. Hot rodent. Ew.

Monica
I already hate this, but I wanna hear it. I know. Also, look, when I went to the store the other day, a different store. They had my soaps that were on last week's gift guys. Oh, my God.

Liz
I can smell them all the way from here. This one is a new scent. Orange. And it smells so good. I can't wait to come smell.

Come smell it. Such a weird thing to say. Okay, what's hot rodent? Okay. Hot rodent boyfriend is we're moving away from golden retriever boyfriend, which was the previous ideal of the boyfriend that is, is very doting and overly interested in pleasing and being of service.

And now, hot rodent boyfriend. Summer. It's coming from the challengers movie. Apparently, there were a lot of memes Internet commentary about the fact that the two guys in the movie kind of look like rats. Oh, my God.

Monica
That's so weird. Not in a negative way. What? I guess there's a movie with rats from our childhood or something like that. And women have been like, oh, I had such a crush on the rat in the movie.

Liz
Do you know how we definitely all had crushes on cartoon characters? Like, I don't know who your man crush or female crush was, or animal crush, which sounds weird, but when you're a kid. I've just never liked animals or cartoons. You wouldn't have fucked with Simba? Fucked Simba or fucked with?

Fucked with. Fucked with. Oh, my God. God. Simba's a baby.

And most importantly, a lion. Like, I think that in the order of. Yeah, just like, the things you don't. Want to do worst is that he's a. A child, then he's a lion, then he's a cartoon.

Yes. Well, human baby versus animal. I would have to. Yeah, but baby lion. I would focus on the lion.

Monica
Okay. Lion piece. Well, this is telling. Like, if we're talking about that movie in particular, the most attractive one to me isn't Simba. Simba's so childlike, obviously.

Cause he's a child. It'd be mufasa. Oh, twist. You like Mufasa, even though he's the villain. No, Mufasa's the dad.

Liz
Oh. Scar is the villain. Scar? Okay, for a minute, I thought you meant Scar, and I was like, we gotta do a deep dive on that. No, Mufasa, the nice dad who dies.

Monica
Spoiler. Is it your fetish that you would have taken care of him while he was dying? Yeah, but also, no. He was this capable, strong, nice dad. And then they killed him.

Liz
I mean, Disney movies and killing parents? It is so fucked up the way. They just killed so many parents. Yeah. Who's the hottest character?

I had a major crush on Thumper and the skunk. What's her name in Bambi? Let me look her up. I wanted both of them, but that was a common theme for me as a kid. Like, I was obsessed with couples.

Cause I think I was already bisexual. Oh, interesting. I loved Lois and Clark. Like, Lois and Clark. Clark the explorers.

No, no, no. The real. With. With Lori. What's her name?

No, Tori spelling. Oh, like Superman. Terry Hatcher. Terry Hatcher. Oh, my God.

Monica
Wait. And then Christopher Reeves, Dean Cain. Okay, hold on. You're making me look up a lot of stuff. The skunk's name in Bambi is Flower.

Liz
Oh, it's flower. Such a hot name. Flower and thumper. Dean Cain is an american actor and police officer. I interviewed him recently, and I told him I had such a crush on him, even though we.

Vastly different political beliefs on the other end. Yeah, I'm not liking some of these things I'm seeing. Yeah. Yeah. It would be an unlikely romance, but I loved couple.

Like, I think I just wanted to be enough threesome, you know? Or like, I don't know. We all do, right. We're just obsessed with certain couples, you know, Bennifer. It's very common.

Yeah, those were my. But then I also love Prince Eric. I mean, I loved all of it. I ate it all up. Aladdin and Jasmine.

Both of them were so high. Yeah. This is unfortunate. I can't really relate. I don't think I was drawn very much to make believe.

Monica
Especially when it was, like, cartoon that was too far away. I couldn't fantasize about that. Cause it was so obviously not real. Even when I was little, when I was young, I was not scared of monsters. Cause those aren't real.

Scared of kidnappers and robbers. Those are real dangers. And so I think it worked the same way with attraction. Like, when I was in love with that boy's dad. Got it.

He was a real boy and a real man. All right. And he was hot. Wow, that's interesting. When you did, like, kid stuff, were you a little embarrassed?

Liz
Like, were you, like, this is not cool. Like, this is a kid thing? I think the opposite. I was probably like, I should like this. Everyone likes it.

Oh, wow. But I don't. Interesting. Disney movies didn't really do it for me in the way that they did for so many people. I mean, I did like Lion King.

Monica
I will say that one really stood out. You didn't like the Disney princess like Little Mermaid? Not really. Wow. I did, sort of.

But girls are obsessed with, specifically the Disney princesses, and they have the figurines and little dollies. And I didn't. And I didn't care. That's so surprising because I would have thought, because there's such a fantasy element to it, right, of these perfect. I mean, that's what the Disney princess is.

Liz
Sure, you want to be the girl, but you also want to fall in love like that. Right? You want the love and the nine of shining armor, but you didn't relate to that. No. It is kind of weird in real life movies.

You did, though. Yes. Live action had my heart, like, say, by the. I had crushes on all the real people. Live action.

Monica
But the cartoons, not so much. And you're right. It's kind of weird that I didn't even connect with their love. The strongest pull was Mufasa dying and then leaving his family. And did you cry?

Liz
You still attached to the story, or you were still like, this isn't real. I was very attached to him dying. I think my mom cried in Lion King, and I think that that's in my head. She took me to the movie theater and she cried. I barely have seen her cry.

Monica
So I think that was ding ding ding scar ing. Right. That your mom is upset. You don't want to see your. I mean, at that age or even.

Now, I never want to. It's too traumatic. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't.

Liz
It's unsettling. We're not stable in that way. I wish we were. Me too. I think you'd be better off.

There's, like, a version of us in a universe coming back to, like, I don't think everything's predetermined, but I think that it's, like, everything everyone wants. There's a universe where I. You end up with this person that you ended up rejecting or passing over. And I think there's a version of the universe where we're more stable and we're totally different. That's kind of fun to think about.

Wait. Card full? No. Okay, wait, wait, wait. I wonder how long you got.

Monica
I know, but we have this. Thank God. Back up. But should I dump and then rejoin? What should she do?

Rob? Yeah. Or if you have another card, but you probably don't. I would just try to delete some stuff off that, but make sure you don't delete what we have. Okay, let me.

Liz
Oh, my God. Thank God. I looked. Oh, my God. So scary.

Okay, so I. Stop it, but don't delete what you. Yeah, don't delete what you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay. Is eight gigs like a small cartoon? Yep. Okay. Monica's got a 128 gig card, probably.

Monica
Oh, shit. Okay, we're back. Back, baby. Okay. So hot rodent boyfriend.

Liz
Yeah. So I just looked it up. We had a little bit of a technical difficulty, and while we were dealing with it, I looked it up and, yeah, I guess the challengers boys are apparently like Roddy St. James, the rat from flushed away and stuart little. But I don't know.

Monica
Flushed away. Me neither. I think that's maybe a Gen Z era. Like, we were really too old. I don't know it either, but, yeah, girls had crushes, I guess, on those.

Characters on Roddy St. James. Again, it sounds like a negative, but it's not that they have rat like features and that this fits into the category of Jeremy White. Allen. Jeremy Allen White.

Liz
Jeremy Allen White. I do not get it. I'm just not a stan. I like so get it. That's why I think hot rodent boyfriend is just what I want as a boyfriend.

Monica
That's my type, I think. Well, what's happening with their personalities? Personality is they're sweet, but they're a little dirty. Oh, like, sexually? No, I think just they have a scruff and, like, again, golden retriever is preppy coated, you know, and, like, proper polo shirts.

Liz
Exactly. Whereas hot rodent. It's like a chalamet. I think it's a little more feminine, to be honest. But I don't think Jeremy Allen White's feminine at all.

Monica
Interesting, because his body is not. Oh, God. We're getting into scary territory. But he's not sinewy. To me, it's more of the frame that makes it like, these challengers boys are not stick thin, are they?

Actually, I don't know enough about them. I mean, they're pretty skinny, but they're not. They're muscular, though, right? And so is Jeremy Allen White. He's very muscular.

Liz
Totally. Pedro Pascal is a little rodent. Really? He's so hot. Yeah, he's hot.

But it's true that it's, like, a little rougher. He's not like a Brad Pitt. Clean cut. I mean, Brad Pitt can get scruffy, but his face is just so pretty.

Monica
Support for synced comes from Vegamore. I love vegamore. I was at a hotel the other day, and I forgot my vega more. And so I had to use other shampoo, and I could feel it immediately. I could.

Ew, my hair feels disgusting. Yeah. I now need to travel with my Vegamore what I love about Vegamore is that it's all natural, but it keeps your hair full and really healthy. Yes. And yeah, I'm like, totally addiction.

It doesn't feel stripped, which I think is really nice because some shampoos and conditioners. My hair feels really dry after. Right. Vega Moore yeah, it just feels very nourished. Some other products can be super clean and cruelty free, but there's a trade off.

Liz
Like, it's just not as good. And with Vegamore, it actually works. And it's made with all those ingredients. There's no trade off. You can still feel good about what you're putting in your hair and it looks great.

Give your hair the power of the little pink bottle. With Vegamore, for a limited time synced listeners get 20% off their first order by going to vegamore.com synced and use code synced at checkout. That's vegamour.com synced code synced to save 20% off your first order, vegamour.com synced. Code synced support for synced comes from Zocdoc. We all know there are things in life you have to compromise on.

Monica
We just talked about that. We've been talking about it in episodes. As part of life, you have to give a little bit, but not when it comes to your health. We just. There's no time for that.

So don't go back to that one doctor who you know isn't great. Like we've all done this where you have a doctor and you don't really feel like figuring out a new doctor, but they're only okay and you're only getting sort of half care, but you don't have to do that. You can go to Zocdoc, which is a place you can find and book doctors who will make you feel comfortable. They'll listen to you, prioritize your health. It's all in one place.

It's so easy. It's so easy and it's so convenient. You can search by location, but availability sometimes it's like, I need to see a doctor today, this afternoon. So you can search by availability. You can search by insurance, right?

Liz
I need a doctor that is covered by my insurance. All you have to do is take a photo of your insurance card and they're going to figure it out for you. And it's a free app and website where you can search and compare highly rated in network doctors near you and instantly book appointments with them online. Go to zocdoc.com synced and download the Zocdoc app for free. Then find and book a top rated doctor today.

Monica
That's zocdoc.com synced, synced zocdoc.com synced.

Liz
Have you heard about the whole kiki? Okay, this is last. Kiki versus Bouba. What? Kiki versus Bouba.

Monica
The hell is that? No, it's like a real thing. Okay. So it's a very hard concept to explain on a podcast, but I'm gonna try. Scientists gave people two shapes, and one of them is almost like the electric.

Liz
Like, oh, my God. How to describe this? Like a starburst. Can you see it? Okay.

Monica
Yeah. Kind of like a star with sharp edges. Yeah, almost like a boom, explosion kind of emoji. And then how would you describe the other one? Like this one.

To me, it's like a flower. It gives a little bit, like, flower power. And so they showed people these images, and they said, which one is kiki and which one is bouba? And almost everybody. Amazing.

Yeah. The left one is kiki. That's kiki. And then bouba. That's bouba.

Liz
Right. And so then this woman took this experiment and was like, there are guys that are kiki, and there are guys that are booba. Brad Pitt is a kiki. Uh, see, I don't think so. George Clooney, Kiki Petro Pascal, bouba.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Me and you have much, much different. I mean, we were on the same page about which one was kiki and which one was booba. But to me, the boys are not at it. Like, to me, Brad is more bouba.

Monica
He doesn't have sharp edges. There's nothing about Brad that feels sharp. His jawline. Oh, this is just aesthetics, you mean, or vibe? It depends.

Liz
But I think the vibe is that he's perfect and very chiseled and his body, and there's not a lot to blob onto. Whereas Pedro Pascal, a Andrew Garfield. Those are boobas. They're not kikis. Andrew Garfield's not a kiki.

Monica
No, I agree. He's not a kiki, but he's not. But I don't think Brad Pitt is a kiki. I think George Clooney is a kiki. But I'm taking vibe into account.

Just aesthetics. Wow, this is fascinating. If people have not been able to follow, they need to look kiki and bouba up. Bouba, kiki. I mean, we can post.

Oh, yeah, we should. And is rodent bouba? For sure. What golden retriever can also be a booba? Yeah.

To me, bouba is like golden retriever. Like, bloppy energy. You know what it is? It really helps me put into words something that I've never been able to put into words, which is my ideal kind of guy is a booba, because it's like, I want him to have the key. He spikes.

Liz
But I want to be able to, like, hold on to something. Like, you know how I've described one person this way? I was like, he's great and he's handsome, and he's nice and funny, but there's nothing for me to, like, hold on to. Like, there's no ridges. That's what Bouba feels like to me, that there's, like, there's a sensitivity or there's, again, a little bit of fat.

There's something that doesn't make them perfect in a way, to me, like, a bouba is, like, a less conventional but more interesting kind of guy. Okay. Wow. There's a lot to unpack for this, and I really wanted to talk about Arowan burritos, but we'll say that till next time. All right, let's do a couple questions.

Monica
This is such a good question. What direction do you face in the shower? This is from Riley. My friends and I have had this debate for a long time. And after the do you pee in the pool?

Question, I think your response and dialogue about this question would be so fun and interesting. Which direction do you stand in the shower while showering? Are you an ass to the water or tits towards the water person? My friends and I have found that most times, men are the front facers, whereas women are typically ass to the water. This is just in general, of course.

Hopefully, everyone is facing multiple ways in the shower to make sure you're clean. But overall, what way are you facing? Love the pod. And I look forward to listening every week. Thanks, ladies.

This is a great question. I've never thought about this in my life. Me too. It's so good. Wow.

Okay. You know, right? It's immediate, I think. I think it's immediate. Ass to water.

Liz
Ass to water. Yeah. Like she said, I do turn around, but for the majority and the standard, when I first hop in, actually, when. I first hop in, I was gonna. Say, when I first hop in, it's tits forward.

Cause I wanna get my face. Exactly. Do you wash your face first? This is so interesting. Cause to me, if I'm doing a lot of tits forward, I'm going through.

Monica
It like it's your everything shower. No, I think emotionally, I'm going through it. Oh, there's something wrong with, like, or like, I'm in a shower, but I'm a little bit like, ugh. Whereas if I'm ass first, like, we're doing this, it's efficient, we're getting it done. Whereas the moments where I'm tits first is when I'm like, maybe reflective or like, the water on my face feels good.

Liz
But maybe I'm staying in for a little too long because I'm not just in and out. Sure, it makes sense that men are nipples forward or they have tits too, I guess, right? Sure. Some of them, they go forward because for us, the main point of the shower, or like a big part of the shower, if you're doing an everything shower, is your hair. Exactly.

Your hair is taking time. And like, you're doing shampoo, you're doing conditioner, maybe you're doing a third thing. And so the hair is the focus and so it wouldn't make sense to be forward. I agree. That's why.

Monica
So if I'm not washing my hair, though, it still asks to water. But I think maybe, maybe that's because it's muscle memory. But I agree with you. If I'm, like, trying to decompress or something, I will do tits forward for extra long before I turn around. You know what?

This is fascinating. It's like women are just efficient. It's like we gotta, like, get in and get out. We don't have time to just stand and indulge and, ugh, it's like there's no time. We don't make time for ourselves.

Liz
It's that there's so much to do. Maybe I'm shaving. Well, that's the other thing, shaving. You have to do ask to water because you can't have the water pouring on your legs as you're shaving. That's right.

Monica
What order do you go in? What's your shower order? Such a good question. If I'm washing my hair, that's what I'm starting with because I feel like some of my body's gonna get cleaned through the process of just like, all of this stuff coming out of my hair and the shampoo kind of going down my body. I want that part sorted before I move on to my body and then get everything figured out there, and then I'll shave last.

But what about face? When does face enter the picture? This is controversial, but I was told by a random woman in Montreal, she was like, based on your face, you should not be washing your face in the morning. She was like, you should only wash your face once. And it's at night.

Liz
And I will say, I think for some people, that is because it strips your skin off again, depending on your skin. But it strips a lot of stuff off of your skin that you need. And so I will wash my face in the shower. It's at night, but otherwise, I don't wash. I'll put water on it, but I'm not gonna, like, wash it.

Monica
That's very interesting. Is this the same woman who told you to put gorilla glue on your eyebrows? That was a different woman, and I have not done it. Cause you have scared me with it. So I feel like the only way I can do it is we do it together.

That's not how life works, Liz. If you want to do something, you can't wait for me to do it. Especially when I said, I'm definitely never doing that. But if you want to try it, you have to try it. We should explain to people.

Okay. Tell them what this means. So I met a woman who is a sync listener. We love her. We love her.

Liz
And she had the best eyebrows I've ever seen in my life. And so I said, what do you do for your eyebrows? And she looked at me straight in the face, and she said, gorilla glue. Glue. I was like, what?

And she said, gorilla glue. Also, it's not her. It came secondhand. She went to Sephora. This amazing gay guy at Sephora was working there, and she asked him about brow gels, and he was like, honestly, I do gorilla glue.

And, like, I highly recommend, like, yeah, you can spend dollar 40 on a brow gel, but gorilla glue will do a better job and it will stay for a few days. And so she did it, and her brows were amazing. So I naturally got gorilla glue. And then I told you about it, which was the bad idea. And you were like, liz, anything that touches your eyebrows are gonna, like, peel it off.

And so now I'm just. I've been delaying it, but I wanna do it. I'll do it. Do it if you feel the inclination. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Anyway, what's your order? Sorry. Oh, yeah. Okay. So I start tits to water.

Monica
I wash my face first, and then I immediately turn ass to water, get my hair wet. And as I'm getting my hair wet, I'm trying to. It's weird how I don't really know, but I'm obviously doing the same thing every time I think as I'm getting my hair wet, I am washing my body. And I use a bar soap. I don't use whatever it's called, liquids.

Liz
Body wash. Body wash. Thank you. I don't use body wash. I use a bar soap, and it has an exfoliant.

Monica
Like, has like, little pieces in it. So I use it directly on my body. It's not like I like suds it in my hand. I'm using it to exfoliate. Then I wash my hair.

And it's not the most efficient. Cause ideally I would be washing my body as the conditioner is sitting. I know I should do that, but I don't think I do that. So then I put shampoo, then I condition and then shave. But I do think if I'm shaving, I will leave the conditioner in.

Like, I'll shave while the conditioner is sitting, and then I'll rinse it. Like, for me, the washing of the hair is the very last thing. Like, I want to be done with the hair wash and get out, which seems like it's the opposite for you, which is interesting. I hate washing my hair, so I just want to get it over with. I think that's also the element.

I don't like the feel of wet hair on me. Oh. So I want that to be the last thing so I can just get out and towel it. Got it. I had a question and I forgot.

This is fascinating, Rob. Are you tits to water her butt. Chest first the whole time? Yeah. I mean, unless I'm washing my hair, I need to turn around.

Right. You have, like, thick hair. I bet some men, even if they are washing their hair, might still be tits forward. I really want to meet a guy who's asked for it. Does it correlate with other things, like peeing sitting down, which also a lot of men do.

It's interesting because all of our media tells us to do ass to water. If you watch any shampoo commercial ever, it's ass to water or like, any, like, even soap commercial. It is. So it's weird, but when it's women, I don't think guy. I'm trying to think of a.

I know, guy soap. You see more women, I guess, in the shower. Interesting. Do you like showering? No.

I mean, I do it every day, but I don't like it. You mean, like, do I get joy out of it? No, I love a bathroom. I do get joy out of that. Why do you?

Liz
No. Washing my hair is such a chore, and I wish it wasn't. How often do you wash again? Every day. No, no, no, no.

Do you? No, every couple of days. But I will procrastinate washing every day. You'll push the limit. As long as I.

Yeah, possibly. Like, right now. I definitely should have washed my hair, like, two days ago, but it's just so annoying. But we have long hair. I wonder if that's part of it.

Cause I feel like I didn't used to hate it as much, but maybe my hair is longer. Yeah, it's true. I had a. I had an appointment with a dermatologist. Well, a woman.

Monica
I had an appointment with a woman when I was maybe gonna get Kybella, and then she changed my skin regimen, and it messed up my face so much, so I think she's the devil. And she told me also to wash my hair every day. What? Cause, like, the oils from the hair get on your face, and I was like, I'm not doing that. And also, that's not good for my hair.

Liz
No, you're not supposed to do that. You're stripping. There's necessary things that our bodies just produce. Agreed. Okay.

Monica
Well, that was a very interesting question. Okay, wait. I have one last shower question. Okay. Do you shower in silence, or do you put on a podcast?

Liz
Or do you put on music? If I'm being efficient, I shower in silence. I shower in silence 75% of the time. Then 25% of the time. No, 23% of the time, I listen to podcasts 2% of the time, I listen to music.

Monica
It's really rare for me to listen to music in the shower, but also, I just play it from my phone, and I can barely hear. I know. I do it every time. And then if I'm listening to a podcast, I have to relisten. Yep, same.

Liz
I didn't hear anything, but I just hear this annoying noise that I can't make out. We must find soothing. Cause why else are we doing it? Yeah, but I feel the same way where I'm like, why do I keep doing this? I can't hear it.

But if I'm going on a date or, like, getting ready to go out, I'll put on some fun music, because it's, like, my getting ready music. Okay. I love that. Do you have a song? I usually have a song that I listen to 20 times a day for three weeks, and then I can't listen to ever again.

Monica
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, let's do one more help. Do I tell my professor that her YouTube channel has playlists of strippers and pole dancing videos? This is from Dina. Hi, Monica and Liz.

I'm currently in my master's program at a private christian university. My teacher weekly uploads videos of herself talking about lectures and assignments and all the things for each week that we need to know. This week, I decided to check out her profile because I wanted to see if there were any extra videos on her profile so I could get a head start on future assignments. When I went on her profile, I noticed that she has a bunch of public playlists of polled dancing videos, strippers and tease videos, and how to strip at home. Home.

She is a fairly conservative professor, and I'm going to have her throughout my whole graduate program. I don't know if telling her is going to make our bond stronger or if she's going to hate me the rest of my master's program because she's embarrassed. Help. Wow, this is shocking. Oh, my God.

Also, I have to be honest, I love her a little bit, but also. Ding, ding, ding. Religion. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course.

Yeah, of course, of course. This highly religious professor has stripping videos because repression. Should she tell her? This is tricky. I mean, are we sure that this professor doesn't know that these videos are.

Liz
I mean, that would be my first. My guess is this professor does not know, especially if that's the way her students are getting to her. She probably doesn't know that some are private and some are public. But why would she post them if they're private? Is she trying to grow her following?

Cause then maybe this is part of growing her following. I doubt it. Is she trying to be like a Jordan Peterson, that he was posting his lectures online? I can't attribute intention, but probably to create a following which he got from the lectures. She has a bunch of public playlists of pole dancing videos, strippers, and public playlists.

So it's not her in the. Okay, I think I understand. She just has a playlist and it's public. Oh, okay, I see. She probably thinks people can't see that.

Yes, I think you need to tell her. Really, I would want to know. This is kind of a woman looking out for another woman situation, or that's how I view it. She could lose her job and she's not doing anything wrong. She just clearly likes pole dancing, and she's probably, like, older, so she doesn't realize her things.

You know what I mean? Like, without technology, it was like older women mentor younger women. But I really think technology has kind of reversed that dynamic, where in a lot of ways, younger women can be really helpful to older women when it comes to technology. And to me, this, like, falls into that category of, I just want to let you know, I know that this is confusing by default. Maybe the playlists are public, but I just noticed it, and I just want to let you know that it's.

I would do it in a very caring way and a very, like, short email. Like two sentences. Maybe not email, though, because that could get tracked. I mean, it's not like she's, like. Has cocaine.

Monica
Well, I mean, like, from the school, if it's a conservative christian school. I agree that. That she could potentially lose her job for this, which is insane. Don't even reference what they are. Just say, like, hey, I noticed you have a lot of playlists, and some of them are public, and I don't know if that was on purpose.

Liz
So just letting you know, just so. You know, you can make some private. I would just make it super casual. Don't even mention it. What it is.

And then she'll go, oh, God. Cause she knows what her playlists are. Oh, God, this is so hard. Cause I agree with you. I think that's the right thing to do.

Monica
But I also think, honestly, I would just ignore it. Really? To me, it's like seeing a woman with blood on her pants. Like, well, we've talked about this. It's feminism.

Liz
I mean, whatever. You can do whatever you want. But to me, it would be like keeping in a sneeze. Like, I'd be like, I have to tell her. But she is running a tiny bit of a risk.

Monica
She is. That the woman will get defensive and then take it out on her. She has to be around this person for two more years, and every time she sees her, there's gonna be a little bit of discomfort. If that is a risk, though, then create a fake email and send her an email. Oh, my God.

Liz
And then you can just say it. Your pole dancing playlist is public. You might wanna make it private. Then she doesn't have to feel ashamed. Again, I would just tell her because I feel like that's the easiest thing.

But if you're worried about retribution, you can just send her an anonymous note. This was 2001. I'd be like, write it down on a piece of paper and leave it on her desk. Do you think? Okay, well, if she has other playlists that aren't this, it's easy to just say, like, I was looking for some extra.

Monica
I was wondering if you had any extra videos. And so I looked on your profile, and I see that you had some public playlists. So, just so you know, you can make those private if you want. Not like you should. I think making it as cash as possible is good.

I agree that what Liz is saying is the right thing to do. And also, I'm just gonna throw out there. Personally, I would just not say anything, but it is weird for a student to approach a teacher about this. To me, it's like coming back to the period pants. Or, again, any other woman.

Would you tell your teacher about blood on her pants? Yes. You have to. I would tell. Even if it was my archenemy.

I know, but archenemy is easier than teacher. To me, it's even more like, oh, my God, I don't want you to be humiliated. And again, especially since the idea would be, she doesn't know. And so, again, that there could be men who are seeing this and laughing at her, or again, that it could have repercussions on her career and she could lose her job over this. I would just want a woman to a woman, if we were talking about a guy, that would feel a lot harder for me.

Liz
That's uncomfortable. That's a little. Yeah. What are the. But for me, like, the woman to woman thing overrides all other hierarchies that exist.

Monica
I get that. I think you're right. I think that's the right thing to do. You're not gonna go to hell if you don't do it. Maybe take into account this professor's personality.

If you do think they're gonna just be so embarrassed and sort of take it out on you. It's a little bit. It's you or her, but if not, if you think she would be grateful, ultimately, that you told her, then do you have to assess that if that professor's gonna make her life miserable for the next two years? I don't know. Hopefully she wouldn't.

But obviously, this woman has got some contradictions. Stuff's going on. Come on. She has mixed messages. I mean, aren't we all?

Liz
If everyone could see our Google searches and our playlists or our Spotify wraps. My God, I'm so glad those things aren't public. I'm just like. I actually was so jealous of people who are like, can just share them. Like, I'm like, oh, great.

You're securely attached and normal. Like, I'm so mentally ill and weird. Maybe that's a good resolution for you. End of year resolution is to post. Hold on.

Monica
I was gonna say post your Spotify rap, but don't now. Start adjusting what you listen to just so your Spotify rap looks good. Be truthful about your listening habits, and then you know what's gonna happen. You'll post, and people be like, I love that, too. Well, it's not that I'm a.

Liz
It's just. It's not post worthy. I'm not here, like, bragging about how much Adele I listen to or, like, how much of once there's some really happy you, and then there's some tougher years. Oh, you're worried it's gonna, like, show what kind of state of mind you've been in for the year. Yes.

Monica
Okay. It's, like, too vulnerable and also, like. I think Dax shared it or, like, chris, and it's, like, super buried and, like, interesting. Yeah, you shared, like, really interesting artists, and I'm like. I'm just so basic.

It's silly, Liz, to care about what it looks like is silly. Well, I don't judge myself when I'm listening to it. It's just the idea that I could post it. I think it's more that, though. I'm like, oh, I'm not here.

I think that should be a challenge. Well, I could be the Spotify wrapped. I want to see the world. I could think about adding more variety to what I listen to. No, no, no.

You're literally doing the opposite of what I'm saying. Okay. Got it. Be you. Do you how you normally live, and then at the end of the year, the challenge is to feel okay showing who you are for real and not who you think the presentation should be.

Liz
Zachary. Okay. I will share my Spotify rap this year no matter what. It's already too late to reverse course. I mean, I guess I could, but we're already deep into the year.

Monica
I wish they did a halfway me too. That'd be kind of fun. We should bring back half anniversaries or, like, I'm 37 and a half. We kind of did with our gift guide. It's true.

Liz
Proud of us. Yeah. Well, okay. This was great. I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip.

Thank you. I can't wait to see you again. And then, yeah, back in the attic next week. Thank you so much for submitting, and please continue to submit. These are all amazing questions, per usual.

Monica
Really good questions today, and we'll see you next week. Bye.