Word of Mouth

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

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',...

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 Pol...

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...

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

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 impro...

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 co...

Nathan talks with Michael about words we use when talking about mental health. Producer Sally Heaven

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 lexicograph...

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

Dr Jamila Lyiscott describes to Michael Rosen the 3 ways in which she speaks English according to whether she's at home, at school or with friends. Her TED talk on the subject is one of the most-viewed language performances on the internet and is used in education. She self-describes as a trilingual orator and asks: who decides who is articulate? https://www.ted.com/talks/jamila_lyiscott_3_ways_to...

Are you a lover of SF and all things fantasy, or merely a fan? Jesse Sheidlower formerly of the Oxford English Dictionary began compiling a dictionary of sci-fi 20 years ago and has been updating it ever since. He brings Michael Rosen up to speed with current parlance in the SF world (true fans prefer this term rather than sci-fi) and explores the origins of words and sayings to do with robotics,...

Will machine translation ever be as good as human translation? How do services like Google Translate actually work? How does Alexa or Siri know what I'm saying? And will I ever be able to have a true conversation with my virtual assistant? Michael Rosen explores new developments in speech recognition, machine translation and speech synthesis with journalist and author Lane Greene. Lane Greene is t...

Michael Rosen is joined by John McWhorter, author and linguist at Columbia University, to talk about his life in language. John H. McWhorter teaches linguistics, American Studies, and music history at Columbia University. He is a contributing editor at the Atlantic, columnist at the New York Times and host of Slate’s Lexicon Valley podcast. McWhorter is the author of twenty books often on the subj...

Some idioms feel like they've been with us forever. We're used to saying it's 'raining cats and dogs', that we feel like 'a fish out of water' or that someone has been 'pulling our leg'. But other idioms have emerged relatively recently, such as 'Groundhog Day', 'first world problems' or 'computer says no'; we might hear people say that a long-running TV show has finally 'jumped the shark' or that...

Michael Rosen asks Julie Sedivy about what happens when we lose our first language. Julie Sedivy's family left their home country, the former Czechoslovakia, when Julie was a small child. They arrived in Canada as refugees with no English. Michael and Julie discuss the role of language within Julie's family story: how young children assimilate, how parents adapt and what can learned from these fam...

Could aliens 'speak' in chemicals? Could they converse in electricity? Would they be able to hear us? In the absence of a Star Trek-style universal translator, how would you talk to an alien newly arrived on Planet Earth? Dr Hannah Little is a science communicator, linguist and comedian. She joins Michael Rosen for some fascinating thought experiments on extraterrestrial communication and animal i...

Kathryn Mannix, author and palliative care specialist, joins Michael Rosen to think about those discussions we would rather avoid. She calls them "tender" conversations. In the moments that really count, how do we respond to someone sharing bad news or raw emotion? How do we listen well? What do we say – and what should we not say? Kathryn and Michael talk about why we tell stories to help us proc...

Doing your bit or shirking? Afflicted with ‘Belgian flush’? Don’t forget to BYOB. Lynda Mugglestone, Professor of the History of English at the University of Oxford, joins Michael Rosen to talk about the new language that emerged from British experience in the First World War – from Zeppelinophobia on the Home Front to ‘watching the pyrotechnics’ in the trenches. Jumping into an extraordinary arch...

Michael Rosen gets advice from Erica Dhawan on the best ways to communicate on-screen, as people work and live more in zoom, text, social media and email rather than meeting up. We need to find new ways of talking to each other 'virtually'. Erica Dhawan is the author of Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance. Produced by Beth O'Dea for BBC Audio in Bristol...

Michael Rosen on why personal names are so often mispronounced or misspelled, in conversation and online. With guest Dhruti Shah, linguist Dr Laurel MacKenzie, and lots of stories from the Word of Mouth audience. Produced by Beth O'Dea for BBC Audio in Bristol

Michael Rosen asks Professor Devyani Sharma about the latest research into accent bias in the UK. Which are the highest and lowest rated accents, and why does it matter so much? Produced by Beth O'Dea for BBC Audio in Bristol More information on the work of the Accent Bias Britain project: https://accentbiasbritain.org/

Michael Rosen and Amanda Montell talk about the language used by cults that has permeated other, and more unexpected, areas of life. Produced by Beth O'Dea for BBC Audio in Bristol.

Michael Rosen asks Dr Sophie Harrison about the strange and special new language she had to learn to become a doctor, having been an editor at Granta Magazine. She's written a book about her language journey: The Cure For Good Intentions: A Doctor's Story. Produced by Beth O'Dea for BBC Audio in Bristol

How does one go about inventing a language? David J. Peterson is the creator of the Dothraki and Valyrian languages for fantasy series Game of Thrones, as well as many others. He joins Michael Rosen for a playful discussion about all things conlang, and Michael tries his luck at inventing a new language for bacteria. Produced by Eliza Lomas for BBC Audio in Bristol.