Word of mouth listening

Psychiatrist and Patient

4/11/2023

Neuropsychiatrist Anthony David talks to Michael about the dialogue that takes place between him and his patients. Producer Sally Heaven

Duration:00:27:41

The Life Inside: Philosophy in Prison

4/4/2023

Andy West talks to Michael Rosen about his work discussing philosophy in prisons around England. His book The Life Inside is a memoir of his own experience of the justice system through his family. His father, brother and uncle all spent long stretches in jail. Andy talks about the various meanings words such as ‘freedom’ ‘hope’ and ‘time’ have to prisoners. The conversations he has with them as part of the philosophy course are revealing as well as often poignant and humorous. Producer: Maggie Ayre for BBC Audio Bristol

Duration:00:27:40

Richard Osman’s love of language

2/21/2023

Richard Osman talks in depth to Michael Rosen about his life in language: from growing up loving TV and sports, to working on Pointless and then writing The Thursday Murder Club. And you can download the longer Word of Mouth podcast version to hear their conversation in full. Download button on the BBC programme page. Link to all the Word of Mouth podcasts: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qtnz/episodes/downloads Producer Beth O’Dea

Duration:00:47:22

Interpreting for Mum and Dad

2/14/2023

Sanmeet Kaur has been interpreting for her parents since the age of five, when her family arrived in the UK from Afghanistan. Producer Sally Heaven

Duration:00:27:47

Karli Witkowska is the subtitler behind films and TV shows including Stranger Things. She explains to Michael how descriptions such as ‘tentacles wetly squelching’ enhance the experience of Deaf and hard of hearing viewers as well as being entertaining in themselves. Producer Sally Heaven

Duration:00:27:27

Snap Crackle and Every Little Helps — the language of food advertising

1/31/2023

Giles Poyner has worked in marketing and advertising for over twenty years and has worked on some of the biggest global brands. He explains how when it comes to marketing food and drink words really do matter. From taking every day slogans that we then associate with a brand to employing iambic pentameter to create taglines that stick in the customer’s head. Although companies are using ever more sophisticated means to sell their products, clever slogans have been around for longer than we think. Almost 100 years in fact. Producer: Maggie Ayre

Duration:00:27:42

Ellen Jovin is a grammar and language fan. Her book Rebel With A Clause: Tales and Tips From A Roving Grammarian details her travels with her Grammar Table. Keen to engage with people face to face rather than online Ellen purchased a fold up table and set off on a road trip around the United States setting up on street corners and waiting for people to talk to her. The idea was that people could come and ask her about language and grammar without being made to feel stupid. Common questions included when to use commas and semi-colons and the right way to say ‘nuclear’ (think George Bush). Although she had lots of fun on her trip and met many interesting people along the way, Ellen’s main intention is to help people with written and spoken English presentation in their public and working lives without the need for grammar books. Producer: Maggie Ayre

Duration:00:27:31

Bob Stanley from Saint Etienne talks band names, from the (subjectively) rubbish to the brilliant, along with some of the best origin stories. Producer Sally Heaven

Duration:00:29:00

Exclamation Marks!!

1/10/2023

In the first of a new series, Michael Rosen exclaims excitedly over exclamation marks with Dr Florence Hazrat, who has a passion for them. They explore the history behind the first punctuation symbol to indicate emotion and ask why some people do not like using them at all. Florence is the author of An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark! Producer Beth O’Dea

Duration:00:27:37

Nihal Arthanayake on conversation

8/23/2022

Nihal Arthanayake has written a book based on his decades long experience of talking to people. Now he talks to Michael about what makes a good conversation. Producer Sally Heaven

Duration:00:27:32

Carmen Fought is a Californian Valley Girl, born and bred and she’s, like, there’s nothing wrong with using ‘like.’ And Michael’s, like, come on Word of Mouth and tell us why. Producer Sally Heaven

Duration:00:28:26

A Murmuration of Starlings

8/9/2022

Most groups of wildlife can be described as a flock or a herd, a swarm or a shoal – but where is the fun in stopping there? From an army of ants to a dazzle of zebras, an exultation of larks to a murder of crows, the English language is brimming with weird and wonderful collective nouns to describe groups of animals and birds. Michael Rosen talks to Matt Sewell, author of ‘A Charm of Goldfinches’, about some of the more obscure examples that have made their way into common usage as collective nouns for creatures of the land, the sea and the air… Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Becky Ripley

Duration:00:27:59

The Art of Apologies

8/2/2022

Michael Rosen talks to sociolinguist Louise Mullany about all the ways in which we say sorry. From the sympathetic sorry in the face of bad news, to the polite sorry we say to strangers in the street. Via workplace hierarchies, gender differences, and the nitty-gritty of political apologies. Louise is a Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Nottingham and author of ‘The Science of Politeness’, due out next year. Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Becky Ripley

Duration:00:27:51

Ghosting Caking and Breadcrumbing

7/26/2022

Michael Rosen talks to cyber-pyschologist Dr Nicola Fox Hamilton about the new language that has emerged now that so many relationships begin online. She has studied the way people use words and expressions to describe themselves in their dating profiles as well as their experiences of internet romance. She reveals how many of the creative new terms to describe relationships forged this way spring from African American speech and language. If you want to avoid being ghosted, catfished or bread-crumbed then this is for you. Producer for BBC Audio Wales and West of England: Maggie Ayre

Duration:00:27:55

Lords and Ladies: Folk Names for Plants and Flowers

7/19/2022

Snotty Gogs and Moggie Nightgown may not immediately mean a lot to you but as common or folk names for the Yew berry and Wood anemone they reveal a fascinating social and cultural history of the countryside. Michael Rosen talks to the natural history broadcaster Brett Westwood about the informative, often funny sometimes bawdy names given to British plants and flowers. Producer: Maggie Ayre

Duration:00:27:54

My Stammer Story

7/12/2022

Michael Rosen asks William Laven about how he has learnt to embrace language and life with a stammer. For the first 10 years of his life, William Laven went to speech therapy with a stammer that was so severe he could not form a full sentence. Fast forward to today, William is now a 23-year-old podcast founder, Tedx speaker, stammer advocate, awareness raiser and campaigner. He is devoted to improving expectations for those with speech impediments, to challenge the stigma surrounding stammers, and to encourage children with stammers to believe in themselves. When it comes to his own stammer, he now believes it’s his superpower! Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Becky Ripley

Duration:00:27:54

What is language actually good for?

5/10/2022

Acclaimed Australian linguist Professor Nick Enfield has come to the conclusion that language is good for lawyers, for the purposes of persuasion, but bad for scientists who seek to accurately represent reality. It’s a fascinating idea he explores in his new book Language vs Reality. What can language describe and where does it fail? Presenter Michael Rosen explores this with him in an in-depth conversation. Producer Beth O’Dea

Duration:00:27:46

It’s Gone Dark Over Bill’s Mother’s In Britain talking about the weather is a good neutral way to start conversation. Because we have such varying weather conditions (three seasons in one day) there is always something to marvel at or grumble about. But around the world sayings and descriptive words for clouds, winds, rainfall and dry spells are also popular. Michael Rosen is joined by lexicographer, Harry Campbell, who compiled a Compendium of Weather to discuss the various ways we like to talk about it from the North East of Scotland to the South West of England via Wales and Northern Ireland. Snel winds, dreich days and nesh climates all feature along with some of the hundreds of contributions sent in by listeners from around Britain. Producer for BBC audio in Bristol, Maggie Ayre

Duration:00:27:59

The language we use about children in care

4/20/2022

Adoptive parent Margaret Reynolds talks about the language used around children in care. From the unthinking people asking about ‘real parents’ to the clinical language used to describe children’s lives. Producer for BBC Audio in Bristol, Sally Heaven

Duration:00:27:43

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