Word of Mouth

BBC Radio 4

4.3 (9)
SOCIETY & CULTURE
EVERY TWO MONTHS

Series exploring the world of words and the ways in which we use them

5 DAYS AGO

The End of the Full Stop?

The use of punctuation is rapidly changing within the quickfire back-and-forth of instant messaging. Are these changes causing misunderstandings? Presenter Michael Rosen and his guest Dr Christian Ilbury discuss. Is the full stop on the way out? What about capital letters? Exclamation marks and question marks seem to be holding their ground, but what about the rest? Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Becky Ripley, in partnership with The Open University. Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz

28 min
8 MAY

Street Names

Michael Rosen talks to sociolinguist Philip Seargeant from the Open University about where our street names come from, including Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate in York, and Michael's old address, Love Lane. Also, have you ever thought about the difference between a street and a road? Are there regional differences in the names given to streets? And why are street names sometimes changed? Producer: Sally Heaven Word of Mouth is produced by BBC Audio Bristol in partnership with the Open University Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz

27 min
20 FEB

Old English, New English

Michael Rosen explores the evocative Old English words used in daily life a thousand years ago, many of which are still in use now. He's joined by the linguist author of The Wordhord, Hana Videen. Hana has been hoarding words from Old English (450 AD to 1150 AD) for a decade, when she began tweeting one a day. Now she has lots of people following her to find out more about the language, and a new book out called The Deorhord: An Old English Bestiary. https://oldenglishwordhord.com Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Beth O'Dea. Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz

28 min
13 FEB

Talking Cockney

Michael Rosen's parents both grew up in the East End, and now he talks cockney with Andy Green and Saif Osmani from the Modern Cockney Festival. Including some mythbusting about rhyming slang, a discussion about how cockney has evolved, and of course a mention of Dick van Dyke. The Modern Cockney Festival takes place from March 1st to 31st with a month-long programme of online and offline activities. Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz

28 min
6 FEB

Creating Languages for Film and Television with Professor David Adger

David Adger is Professor of Linguistics at Queen Mary University of London. He's created new languages for TV series and films and he explains to Michael Rosen how he goes about it. For his latest language he used existing Creole languages for his 'conlang', or constructed (artificial) natural language. He talks Michael through the grammar and language principles he applies to his creations and lets him try his hand at the monsters' language he invented for a televised version of Beowulf. Producer: Maggie Ayre

28 min
30 JAN

Politeness with Louise Mullany

Professor Louise Mullany talks to Michael Rosen about politeness, and how it governs our lives, from the behaviour of football managers to the different ways children can embarrass us. Why, in this country at least, is it so mortifying to mistakenly assume someone is pregnant, when in other cultures it's simply thoughtful to book two seats on a plane for a larger person. Starring Michael Rosen as Spanish football manager Unai Emery, the politest man in football. Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz

28 min
23 JAN

Jackie Kay on the Scots language

Poet Jackie Kay has written a book in Scots: Coorie Doon: A Scottish Lullaby Story. She joins presenter Michael Rosen to talk about her love of the language and what it meant to her growing up. Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Beth O'Dea. Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz

27 min
16 JAN

The Language of Genetics

Adam Rutherford joins Michael Rosen to make sense of the heavily-loaded and often unscientific language that we use to talk about genetics, inheritance, ancestry and race. Adam is a geneticist, science writer, and lecturer in Biology and Society at University College London. His work tries to make sense of what our genes do (or don't) tell us about our similarities and our differences. He writes about this stuff in many of his books, including ‘How To Argue With A Racist’ and ‘Where Are You Really From?’ Subscribe to the Word of Mouth podcast and never miss an episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b006qtnz Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Becky Ripley

28 min

See All (191)

Michael Rosen

Host

4.3

out of 5

9 Ratings

Listening delight!

23/09/2024

2ambori

I listen and relisten to episodes of this show! Makes me smile and deepen my understanding of language. Nabeela's work in poetry and writing is truly inspiring, beautiful stories relating to different words and vocabulary in pahari. Her poems paint landscapes of ishq 💖! Thank you
Great podcast 👍👏

12/11/2018

V1llianous

Word of mouth is an amazing podcast, my entire are family are hooked to this podcast. It is amazing and I hope it becomes more successful because it deserves recognition Cheers V1llianous

Series exploring the world of words and the ways in which we use them

Creator

BBC Radio 4
Years Active

2014 - 2025
Episodes

191
Rating

Clean
Show Website

Word of Mouth
Provider

BBC Studios Distribution Limited has identified itself as a trader for this podcast and confirmed that this product or service complies with European Union law. Address 1 Television Centre 101 Wood Lane London London W12 7FA United Kingdom Phone Number +44 7590176301 Email bbcstudiosaudiodistribution@bbc.com