How Words Work with Jack Fox

Jack Fox
  • 5.0 (5)
  • Society & Culture

How Words Work with Jack Fox is about the language you choose and the authority it creates or destroys. In this podcast, you will learn how words and phrases commonly used in lying, manipulation, and avoidance also show up in everyday communication, and why using that language causes people to doubt you, question you, or stop listening. Each episode breaks down a specific language pattern, explains how it functions in deception, and shows how people accidentally use the same patterns when they are trying to explain themselves, defend themselves, or sound reasonable. When you remove the language of deception from your speech, you speak with more clarity, authority, and credibility. People listen to you differently. They trust you more. They take you more seriously. This podcast teaches you how to recognise the signals your words are sending and how to change them, so you sound clear, grounded, and worth listening to. Hosted by Jack Fox, creator of Never a Truer Word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 6d ago

    What a Judge Knows About Your Words That You Don't

    I've spent years studying how language builds and destroys credibility. From criminal cases to everyday conversations, the patterns are always the same. But this week I came across something that stopped me in my tracks. Not a criminal case. Not a courtroom cross examination. A thread on X from an appellate court judge who has read thousands of legal briefs and distilled what separates the ones that win from the ones that lose into a handful of principles so sharp and so clear that I had to share them. His name is Judge David Weinzweig. His account is Zen and the Art of Persuasive Writing. And what he wrote for lawyers applies to every single conversation, every email, every difficult discussion you will ever have. Brevity signals confidence. Adverbs can destroy the arguments they're meant to strengthen. Zombie nouns drain the life from your words. And the best communicators answer the question before the other person knows to ask it. In this episode of How Words Work with Jack Fox, Jack reads the thread, breaks down each principle and shows you exactly how it sounds in real life. The thread: https://x.com/zenpersuasion/status/2052003677708468285 The book: https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Persuasive-Writing-David-Weinzweig/dp/163905779X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0 🎙️ How Words Work with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    16 min

  2. Jun 14

    Do You Sound As Bad As This Unreliable Witness?

    I've spent years studying how people communicate under pressure. And there is no pressure like being questioned under oath. Every evasion, every deflection, every moment of crumb throwing and safer ground and buying time is amplified and exposed in a way that ordinary conversation never quite manages. In this episode of How Words Work with Jack Fox, Jack takes everything the series has covered and shows it happening in real time. The cross examination of Mila Adams in the Stefon Diggs assault case is one of the most instructive pieces of communication under pressure you will ever hear. Not because she lied. But because the patterns in her words, the evasions, the avoidance, the crumb throwing, the failure to answer simple yes or no questions, did something very specific to her credibility. Something the jury heard. Something you're going to hear too. Diggs was found not guilty. This episode is not about what happened between them. It's about what her words did to her credibility on the stand. And what you can learn from it. 🎙️ How Words Work with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    19 min

  3. Jun 7

    Why The Most Honest Thing You Can Do Is Say Less

    I've spent years studying the words of murderers, fraudsters, manipulators and coercive controllers. And one thing shows up in almost every single case. The people who are hiding something use more words than they need to. Not fewer. More. Because when you have the truth on your side you don't need to build a case for it. You just say it. But when you don't, you reach for every persuader, every emotional maximiser, every convincer you can find. And the result is a performance that looks like honesty and sounds like honesty but leaves something uneasy in the person hearing it. In this episode of How Words Work with Jack Fox, Jack breaks down the language of persuasion. How Erin Patterson, convicted of murdering three people with poisoned mushrooms, used words like devastated, loved, fathom and absolutely in a performance of grief designed to convince you of something she needed you to believe. How the same tactics show up in everyday conversations when someone builds an architecture of busyness to avoid answering a simple question. And why the most trustworthy thing you can ever do in any conversation is say less. This is the episode that ties the whole series together. Because the antidote to everything we've covered in these eight weeks is the same thing. Economy of language. Own it, say it, stop. 🎙️ How Words Work with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    17 min

  4. May 30

    Your Fog Is Ruining Your Clarity

    When someone tells you the truth your mind builds a picture automatically. You don't think about it. You don't try. The picture just forms because the material is real. But there are conversations where the picture won't come. Where you're listening carefully and following along but nothing quite lands. Like trying to build something out of fog. That feeling, that inability to picture what you're being told, is one of the most reliable signals your brain sends you that something isn't right. In this episode of How Words Work with Jack Fox, Jack breaks down exactly why some stories form instantly and others never quite land. From the Vrabel and Russini statements that describe a situation without ever showing you what actually happened, to the dating conversation that tells you everything about someone's personality without giving you a single real detail to hold onto. And the alibi that Chris Watts gave that told us what didn't happen, not what did. Jack also shows you how to make sure your own words always build a picture. Because the most credible people in any room speak in specifics. And specifics are what trust is made of. 🎙️ How Words Work with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    16 min

  5. May 24

    How You're Stealing The Agenda and Eroding Your Credibility

    You came into that conversation with something you needed to say. You knew what it was. You were ready. And somewhere in the middle of it the conversation went somewhere else entirely. Someone moved it without you noticing until it was too late. That's your agenda being taken from you. In this episode of How Words Work with Jack Fox, Jack breaks down exactly how this happens. From Russell Brand's response to Piers Morgan's direct questions about his past, to the relationship conversation where a genuine concern about whose needs are being met gets buried under birthday trips and declarations of love. And the pay rise conversation where the number never got discussed because the boss had other plans for where the conversation was going. But first Jack turns the mirror around. Because before you spot this in others you need to know how you do it yourself. When you're nervous, defensive or uncomfortable you redirect too. And the people around you feel it even when they can't name it. 🎙️ How Words Work with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    16 min

  6. May 17

    Are People Still Hungry After Talking To You?

    You know the feeling. Someone answers your question and technically everything is fine. Words were said. The conversation moved on. But something in you didn't move on with it. You're still there. Still waiting. Like you've eaten a full meal but somehow you're still hungry. That feeling is not paranoia. That feeling is information. Your brain picked up something your conscious mind hadn't caught yet. And in this episode of How Words Work with Jack Fox, Jack is going to show you exactly what it found. From Blake Lively's powerful statement about digital violence that somehow leaves you knowing nothing about her personal experience of it, to the friend who answers every question with "just hung out, nothing much really." Jack breaks down the specific signals that tell you whether someone is genuinely meeting you in a conversation or just making sounds in your direction. And just as importantly he shows you what a genuinely nourishing answer looks and sounds like. Because learning who to trust is as important as learning who not to. 🎙️ How Words Work with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    15 min

  7. May 10

    Why Controlling People Are So Hard To Argue With

    Most people think coercive control is about behaviour. What they don't realise is that it starts with language. Specific words and phrases designed to make you doubt yourself, feel abnormal, and believe that the problem is you rather than them. In this episode of How Words Work I get personal. I share my own experience of being made to feel small by people who used words as weapons, and explain the mechanism behind why it works even on people who know better. I break down the specific phrases that controlling people use, why they're so effective, and why hearing them from a new person years later can trigger a reaction that feels completely out of proportion to the situation. And most importantly, he shows you how these same patterns show up in everyday speech when we're stressed or insecure, and how to clean them out of your own words so you never accidentally make someone feel the way you once felt. This is the most personal episode of How Words Work. And probably the most important. 🎙️ How Words Work is a weekly podcast with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible lands every week with one idea you can use straight away. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    10 min

  8. May 3

    The Words That Give You Away Every Single Time

    There are certain words and phrases that act like flares. The moment someone uses them, something underneath the surface is exposed. They don't know they've done it. But you'll know. In this episode of How Words Work, I break down the specific language tells that reveal deception, evasion and hidden truth. From the word "just" and what it's almost always hiding, to the reason "never" is almost never as absolute as it sounds. From Maxine Carr speaking about two missing girls in the past tense during a live TV interview, to the email that says "just checking you got my message" when what it really means is something else entirely. This is the most practical episode yet. By the end of it you'll have a handful of specific things to listen for in every conversation you have, and you'll never use them the same way yourself again. 🎙️ How Words Work is a weekly podcast with Jack Fox. 📩 Jack's weekly newsletter Credible gives you one idea you can use straight away every week. Sign up here: https://jack-fox.kit.com/dfc55f19a6 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    9 min
See All (27)

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

How Words Work with Jack Fox is about the language you choose and the authority it creates or destroys. In this podcast, you will learn how words and phrases commonly used in lying, manipulation, and avoidance also show up in everyday communication, and why using that language causes people to doubt you, question you, or stop listening. Each episode breaks down a specific language pattern, explains how it functions in deception, and shows how people accidentally use the same patterns when they are trying to explain themselves, defend themselves, or sound reasonable. When you remove the language of deception from your speech, you speak with more clarity, authority, and credibility. People listen to you differently. They trust you more. They take you more seriously. This podcast teaches you how to recognise the signals your words are sending and how to change them, so you sound clear, grounded, and worth listening to. Hosted by Jack Fox, creator of Never a Truer Word. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

You Might Also Like