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25 seasons, 4,561 episodes, I

1:05

believe The Oprah Winfrey Show was one of the

1:07

greatest classrooms in the world. I really never

1:09

thought of it that way. The aha

1:11

moments, the breakthroughs, the

1:13

LOLs, the connections,

1:16

the occasional ugly cry. I'm

1:18

missing so terribly, I'm missing every

1:21

single minute. The moments that

1:23

mattered. Maddie! The eye-opening

1:25

life lessons. Never allow them to

1:27

take you somewhere else. I'm bringing

1:30

them back. It's time

1:32

to open the vault. I've

1:34

personally chosen these classic episodes to

1:37

share with you again. Every

1:39

single person you ever will meet

1:41

shares that common desire. They want

1:43

to know, do you see me? Do

1:46

you hear me? Does what I

1:49

say mean anything to you? You

1:51

are listening to The Oprah Winfrey

1:53

Show, the podcast. I'm

1:57

back from spring vacation while I was... I

2:00

understand there are quite a few headlines that we're going to

2:02

be talking about. Later, we'll have some

2:04

fun answering your letters. My break started with

2:07

a trip to one of the most fantastic

2:09

spas ever, the Miraval Spa in Arizona. If

2:11

you ever get a chance in life, that's

2:13

where you want to go. Gayle

2:15

and I were there on another adventure

2:18

with ten women who

2:20

won our oprah.com contest and 50 women

2:22

who won our O Magazine contest. Take

2:24

a look at one of the funniest

2:26

moments. It happened because the Miraval Spa

2:29

is about challenging your life, it's about

2:31

getting healthy, and this happened on a

2:33

challenge exercise called a swing and a

2:35

prayer. They attach you to a cable

2:37

and then they pull you up 40

2:39

feet in the air, and then

2:41

it's up to you to decide when to let go,

2:43

and you swing like a pendulum

2:46

back and forth. And Gayle, when

2:48

I was going up, she was like, when I

2:50

got up there, I was asking questions. She said, why don't you ask

2:52

her questions before you go up? And then when she got up there,

2:54

I almost had a nervous breakdown. Take a look. There

2:58

you go, Mommy. Oh,

3:02

they are not exaggerating about, oh, God.

3:05

So just keep breathing. All right. I just said to

3:07

you, you're going to get on there and it's actually

3:09

going to hurt your crotch. Didn't

3:11

want to hear you complaining about your bajayjay. Wait.

3:21

Take that deep breath.

3:23

Okay. Let

3:26

go. Gayle, on the count

3:28

of three, you want to let go? My

3:37

mouth is very dry.

3:39

It's going to feel

3:41

like a roller coaster.

3:43

That's all. I hate

3:45

roller coasters. Okay. When

3:50

are you going to let go? I don't know. I'm

3:52

not kidding. I

3:55

don't know if I can do it. Yes, you can.

3:57

Yes, you can. I

14:00

understand right there in the room with you. Ashton? Oh

14:02

my god! Ashton?

14:06

Ashton, can you read the email that you sent to

14:08

me? Dear

14:11

Oprah, my name is Ashton Bell, and I'm

14:13

a ninth grade student in Mesquite, Texas. My

14:15

Honors World Geography teacher, Miss Adeni, is absolutely

14:18

in love with you. She

14:22

has a special chair in her room reserved for

14:24

you. No person has ever sat

14:26

in or even breathed on that chair and lived.

14:28

It is Miss Adeni's dream for you to visit

14:30

our classroom one day. Geography is

14:32

not my favorite subject, but Miss Adeni makes learning

14:35

so much fun. I love my class now. She

14:37

is such a fun teacher with great ideas. I

14:39

would love for you to meet her, even if

14:41

it's for a single moment. Thank you very much,

14:44

Ashton Bell. Gosh, thank you. Wow.

14:48

So. At

14:50

Amica Insurance, we know it's

14:52

more than just a house. It's

14:55

your home, the place that's filled

14:58

with memories. The

15:01

early days of figuring it out to

15:05

the later years of still figuring

15:07

it out. For

15:11

the place you've put down roots, trust

15:14

Amica Home Insurance. Amica,

15:17

empathy is our best policy. Banking

15:21

with Capital One helps you keep more money

15:23

in your wallet with no fees or minimums

15:25

on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just

15:27

ask the Capital One bank guy. It's pretty

15:30

much all he talks about in a good

15:32

way. He'd also tell you that

15:34

this podcast is his favorite podcast too. Oh,

15:37

really? Thanks, Capital One

15:39

bank guy. What's in your

15:42

wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com/bank.

15:44

Capital One N.A. member FDIC.

15:48

This is what somebody told me, that you have

15:51

the chair in your class,

15:53

and it's been sitting there how long? It

15:55

has been here for six years, and no one

15:57

has dared to sit in it or move it.

16:00

move it that I know of.

16:02

And then what happened? You came in this morning,

16:04

Ann? And it was gone.

16:06

And I almost passed out, but. What

16:09

did you think? What did you think happened to it? I

16:12

had no idea what happened to it. And

16:15

somebody told me that you were a little

16:17

upset that that chair is missing. I

16:20

was definitely upset that it was missing, because no

16:22

one has touched that chair. All these students know

16:24

at the beginning of the year, I set the

16:26

tone that the chair is not to be touched.

16:29

And they all doubted me that you were never

16:31

going to sit in it. So

16:33

this is unreal. This

16:35

is what happened. Last night, last night, the

16:37

principal of your school, the principal

16:40

of your school, packed up the chair, and

16:42

she sent the chair here. So

16:45

here we go. The chair is

16:47

here. This is the chair. This

16:51

is the chair. And

16:55

now I'm going to sit in it. Yes.

16:59

Oh my goodness. OK.

17:03

And I understand that you had said. You

17:05

all doubted me. You all

17:07

doubted it. I understand that you had

17:10

said that whoever could get me to

17:12

sit in the chair would be able to get in a chair. Breathe,

17:14

just keep breathing. Would be

17:16

able to get an A, correct? That

17:19

is correct. But she earns an A anyway, but

17:21

she will have it. OK. So

17:24

you're going to sit in it. You're going to sit in it. You're

17:26

going to sit in it. I'm going

17:28

to sit in it. Well,

17:31

I am really just so pleased that you would have

17:33

this chair for me. I've never heard of this before.

17:35

That there is a chair for

17:37

six years sitting in the class. Why did you

17:40

have the chair? Because you wanted me to come

17:42

to the class? Yes. Well,

17:44

OK, I have been a fan of yours forever.

17:47

And so I wanted to give my

17:49

room a theme. And so the theme is Oprah's

17:51

loft. And so we couldn't have Oprah's loft unless

17:53

we had an Oprah chair for you

17:55

to sit in. My dream

17:58

was that one day I would be standing here. kind

18:00

of like I am now teaching. Yeah.

18:02

And you would walk through the door and

18:04

you would sit in the chair. And I

18:06

don't know after that. Well,

18:09

here's the next best thing. Because you have reserved

18:11

this chair for me all of these years, I'm

18:14

now going to reserve two seats for

18:16

you. It says Mrs. Adini's chair. Please

18:19

do not sit. Right

18:22

here. This

18:27

is Adini's chair. So

18:30

please tell us when you want to come to

18:32

The Oprah Show. And I'll have a special seat

18:34

reserved right here in the front just for you.

18:36

And please come soon so we can have this

18:38

seat. OK,

18:41

I'll see you tomorrow. So that we can use the seat.

18:43

So let me know. Let me know. My staff is going

18:45

to call you and take care of it. They'll be on

18:47

the phone with you later today. And bring Ashton with you,

18:49

OK? OK. Thank

18:53

you. Thank you both. Fantastic.

18:57

Oh my goodness. I cannot believe

18:59

this. You cannot believe this. You

19:02

are an angel. Thank you. Oh, thank you. Thank you. We'll

19:04

see you soon. We'll see you soon in your chair. So

19:06

thank you so much. After

19:10

Gail and I hit the road last summer, we got a

19:12

lot of emails about that trip. This one caught our eye.

19:15

Were we wrong? This is the question. I

19:18

have been a secretary all my adult

19:20

life. And you people are driving me

19:22

nuts. Oprah and Gail's big adventure. Everyone

19:25

who has an ounce of grammar in them knows

19:27

it's Oprah's and Gail's big

19:29

adventure. Not Oprah and

19:32

Gail's big adventure. Everything

19:34

I read, you leave off the possessive

19:37

on Oprah's name. And it is grammatically

19:39

incorrect. It is so tacky. What if

19:41

Gail wasn't in the picture? Would you

19:43

say Oprah big adventure? No. It

19:46

would be Oprah's big adventure. So

19:48

it should say Oprah's and Gail's

19:50

big adventure in everything. It

19:53

is my pet peeve in life. Please

19:55

correct it. Thank you, Krista Hintze. All

19:59

right. OK. I'm

20:02

so sorry. OK. I

20:04

understand that. So, Tricia, I understand you

20:06

told our producers that you are absolutely

20:08

certain that you're right. Oh, I'm positive.

20:11

You're positive. Positive. That you're right. Is

20:13

she right, audience? She

20:15

is right. Who says she's not right?

20:18

Everybody says you're right. It has to, if

20:21

it can't stand alone, then it

20:23

would, I mean, it has to

20:25

stand alone. It has to have a posture. That's right.

20:27

It should be Oprah's and Gail's. OK.

20:31

OK. OK. Stand up for

20:33

what you believe in, people. Tricia doesn't know this,

20:35

but we called in the big grammar. So when

20:37

I read that, I thought, oh, yeah, she's right.

20:40

She's right. OK. We called in

20:42

the big grammar guns to get to the

20:44

bottom of this. OK? Who

20:46

knew you could take a dangling

20:49

participle, mix it with a prepositional

20:51

phrase, and become an instant internet

20:53

sensation? Before Min-Yong Fogarty made

20:55

it big on the web, she worked

20:57

as a professional technical writer. The

21:00

same repeated grammatical mistakes began to

21:02

drive her over the edge. So

21:05

she married her love of language to

21:07

her editing expertise, and Grammar

21:09

Girl was born. Nearly

21:12

4 million fans have downloaded

21:14

her five-minute language lessons. Grammar Girl

21:16

here. Shows range

21:19

from the electrifying, proper use

21:21

of the passive voice to

21:23

the mysterious when-to-use semicolons. OK.

21:27

Min-Yong Fogarty, AKA Grammar Girl, is

21:29

here. It's the moment of truth

21:32

of sorts. Our audience, as you just

21:34

said, agrees with her. They think that

21:36

we were wrong. Actually, when I read that email, I

21:38

said, oh, yeah, she's right. We're wrong. Were

21:40

we wrong? No. Actually, you were right.

21:43

I'm so sorry. OK.

21:47

How are you right? The rule is

21:49

called compound possession. And

21:52

if people share something. OK, let's

21:54

look. Compound possession. I vaguely remember

21:56

hearing about this. In what,

21:58

seventh grade, eighth grade? Yeah. OK, if

22:00

people share something, then they can share

22:02

the apostrophe S. So it's Oprah and

22:04

Gail's car. If they go on the

22:07

same road trip, they

22:11

show the same car and they show the same apostrophe

22:14

S. Now, it would be

22:16

two apostrophe S's if you were

22:18

doing something different. So if you

22:20

had talked about Oprah's boat and

22:22

Gail's adventure. Exactly. Oprah's something and

22:24

Gail's not I. Right. But if

22:26

it's a compound possession because

22:29

we shared the same thing. Right,

22:31

you have it together. Compound possession.

22:33

Yeah. That's exciting. I

22:35

thought you were right. I thought

22:37

you were right. I stand corrected.

22:40

OK, compound possession. OK, Mignon

22:42

is going to set us straight on some

22:44

of the most common grammar mistakes that drive

22:46

her nuts, her pet peeves also. She's clever

22:48

ideas to help even the most grammatically challenged

22:50

remember their rules. So what's the first one?

22:52

The first one is effect with an A

22:54

versus effect with an E. I just made

22:57

a mistake on an email the other day

22:59

and I was writing my principles. I know

23:01

I think she's going to think I'm an

23:03

idiot now. I doubt that. OK,

23:05

so she's going to think, boy, she doesn't know

23:08

whether they use effect or effect. Does anybody know

23:10

when you use it? A

23:12

fact, AFF, ECT, or effect. Do you

23:14

know? Who knows? OK.

23:18

Yes. I think effect is a

23:20

verb and effect is a noun. Yes. Yeah,

23:23

I figured that out after I got that one. OK, how

23:25

do we do it? So to use

23:27

them in a sentence, for example, effect with an

23:29

A is a verb. That's an action thing. Remember

23:31

on your road trip, Gail singing affected you. That

23:34

was a verb. And the

23:36

effect wasn't pretty. Wasn't

23:39

pretty. Wasn't pretty. You're

23:41

correct. So it affected me

23:43

because it was a verb. Right. A,

23:46

and the effect that it had on me,

23:48

the noun, wasn't pretty. OK,

23:51

so you can remember that this is

23:53

easier. OK, there's a mnemonic. The

23:55

raven flew down the avenue. So

23:58

the words raven and avenue, both.

24:00

have the letters A, V, E,

24:02

N in them. That helps you

24:04

remember affect, verb, effect, noun. A,

24:07

V, E, N. What'd

24:09

you just say? A,

24:13

V, E, N.

24:15

The raven flew down the avenue.

24:18

Oh, got it. Got it. OK.

24:20

That's good. The raven flew down

24:22

the avenue. This is a really

24:24

common one. When to use who

24:26

and whom. Here's an example sentence.

24:28

We say, whom do we need to thank? We

24:31

need to thank him. Yes, and it ends

24:34

with an M, and whom ends with an

24:36

M. And so that's very easy to remember.

24:38

If you can answer with him, you use

24:40

whom. OK, so whom do we need to

24:42

thank? Oh, we thanked whom means we would

24:45

thank him. Right. And

24:47

they both end with an M. So if you

24:49

can answer with him, you use whom. If you

24:51

could answer with he. He or her. Then you

24:53

would use who. So for example, if you said,

24:56

who is on the show next? The

24:58

answer would be he is on the show

25:00

next. So then there's no

25:03

not him, no M. So you know to

25:05

use who. Drop the M. There's an M,

25:07

it's whom. The answer to the

25:09

question is an M, then it's whom. Right.

25:11

OK, what about lay versus lie? How do

25:13

you know that? You do, OK, good. Lie.

25:17

People lie. Exactly,

25:19

you have the best audience. They're

25:22

smart and pretty. So

25:28

go lay down. When people say go lay

25:30

down, it's wrong. It's wrong. So go lay

25:32

down is wrong. Right, yes,

25:34

it's wrong. So it should be go lie

25:36

down. OK, people lie. To

25:39

lie means to recline. Yes, things lay.

25:41

Objects lay. I

25:43

lay the book on the table. OK, but now I lay me

25:45

down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. I

25:48

know. Now I lay me down to sleep.

25:50

People are confused because you're laying yourself down.

25:52

So you're the object of your own sentence.

25:54

Now I lay me down. If

25:56

I said now I lay down to sleep, I'm wrong.

25:58

Right. Now I lay down. the prayer's better. I lie

26:01

down. Oh, you lay me down. So if I

26:03

go to Grammar Girl and I have an issue,

26:05

like, when to use a semicolon, because

26:07

I just really, that just throws me completely. Yeah, I know. quickanddirtytips.com,

26:10

or you can Google search for Grammar Girl. Okay, wonderful.

26:13

Yeah. Wonderful. Pleasure. Thank

26:15

you. Thanks for spreading the

26:18

word. Compound possession. Compound possession.

26:20

I love reading your e-mails.

26:25

And so we're getting caught up with some of our mail today, answering

26:27

some of your questions and taking requests. I've got

26:30

to kick out of this next letter. Dear

26:32

Oprah, six of us college pals have been friends for

26:35

30 years. We call ourselves The Club.

26:37

We have an unbreakable bond. Oprah, over

26:39

the years, you have become a part of our lives.

26:41

So when we all turned 50, we decided

26:43

to take you with us on our big trip to

26:45

Italy. From the Vatican in Rome to a gondola ride

26:47

in Venice to sipping wine in Florence, you were with

26:49

us every step of the way. Not

26:52

even these pigeons could slow you down. And

26:54

your presence helped us get better service with

26:56

the cute Italian waiters. One of our life goals has

26:59

been for the six of us to go to Chicago

27:01

to see your show. Oh,

27:05

yay! And there you all six are.

27:09

Well, you know, I've been wanting to go to

27:11

Italy, so maybe this was the law of

27:13

attraction working for me. Yes, yes. Wanting

27:16

to go to Italy. What made you decide to take me along?

27:19

Whose idea was it? Harriet's. Harriet's?

27:21

What made you decide to take

27:23

me along? Take me along. We'll

27:26

go back with you if you want. It's

27:28

the best country to visit. We had a wonderful

27:30

time. We wanted to come and see the show.

27:33

We're from San Diego. We wanted to come and

27:35

see the show. But you can only get four

27:37

tickets, and there's six of us. Oh. And,

27:40

yeah. You wouldn't go without each other.

27:42

No, and so when we went

27:44

to Italy, we decided, what the heck. Take

27:46

Oprah. Take Oprah. She'll see how much you

27:49

love. And we could get

27:51

six tickets. That was the whole thing. Well, it

27:53

worked. It worked, yeah. It worked indeed.

27:55

Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank

27:58

you. Thank you. Taking

28:00

me along is like when Gail and I did the

28:03

road trip, one of the cameramen for his third

28:05

grade daughter, we took along Flat

28:07

Stanley. Yeah. We took Flat Stanley.

28:09

So I was like, Flat Oprah.

28:13

Thank you. I'm glad you finally made it to the show. It's

28:15

great. We got this email from Pat

28:18

Hines in Georgia who said, Oprah, I

28:20

once heard you say on the air that you didn't know

28:22

another person named Oprah Winfrey. Well, there

28:24

is a 12-year-old girl whose name is Oprah Winfrey. And

28:27

I thought, Oprah and Winfrey? And

28:30

she said, I thought you'd find it interesting that you

28:32

have a namesake. So we found little Oprah and flew

28:34

her here to Chicago, because I've never met another one.

28:36

Please welcome Oprah Winfrey.

28:39

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

28:41

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

28:43

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Hi.

28:46

Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi.

28:48

Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi.

28:51

Hi. You're the first one

28:53

I've ever met. Hi, man. Hi. So

28:55

your whole name is Oprah Winfrey? My whole name.

28:58

So when people call you, they go Oprah

29:00

Winfrey? Oprah Winfrey. Oprah's

29:03

mom, Linda Winfrey, is here. Linda,

29:05

why did you name her Oprah? Well,

29:07

when my husband found out we was

29:09

having a girl, she was like, we

29:11

got to name her Oprah after somebody

29:14

that's positive. That will be a great

29:16

role model. I'm like, that's

29:18

it, Oprah Winfrey. That's a

29:20

tough name, though, when you're

29:22

little. So when you were like,

29:24

you know, I had trouble with the

29:28

name. I like my name now. But when I was

29:30

like in the third grade, I did not like my

29:32

name. So how did you feel about it? How do

29:34

you feel about your name? I like my name because

29:36

you're a great role model, and I want to be

29:39

like you. So I like my name a lot. You

29:41

do like your name. Have you always liked your name?

29:43

Always. You have. And

29:45

I hear you love school. I love school. Yeah.

29:47

You're moving in the right direction. Yeah.

29:49

You're moving in the right direction. Thank you so

29:51

much. Linda and

29:54

Oprah. Oprah, Oprah.

30:00

So I want to say to all of my guests, thank

30:02

you for all the emails, and keep them coming. Somebody reads

30:04

them, and then they get them to me. Oprah,

30:06

Oprah, can you read that right there? Thank

30:09

you for all the emails, and keep them

30:11

coming. Goodbye. Good. That's going to be good. That's

30:13

good. That's good.

30:16

I'm Oprah Winfrey, and you've been listening to

30:18

the Oprah Winfrey Show, the podcast.

30:21

If you haven't yet, go to

30:23

Apple Podcasts and subscribe, rate, and

30:25

review this podcast. Join me next

30:27

week for another Oprah Show, the

30:29

podcast. And I thank you for listening.

30:34

We all have our own ways of getting

30:36

business done. Are you an early

30:38

bird powering through emails before the sun rises?

30:41

Or perhaps a night owl strategizing and

30:43

planning long after the office lights dim?

30:46

However you run things, Atlantic Union Bank

30:49

can keep up. No matter

30:51

your business size or industry, you deserve

30:53

a banker committed to your success. Call,

30:55

visit us online, or drop by an

30:57

Atlantic Union Bank branch to learn more.

31:01

Atlantic Union Bank, any way you

31:03

bank. Every

31:06

day, our world gets a

31:08

little more connected, but

31:11

a little further apart. But

31:13

then there are moments that remind

31:15

us to be more human. Thank

31:19

you for calling Amica Insurance. Hey, I

31:22

was just in an accident. Don't worry. We'll

31:24

get you taken care of. At Amica, we

31:26

understand that looking out for each other isn't

31:28

new or groundbreaking. It's

31:31

human. Amica, empathy

31:34

is our best policy.