Word of Mouth
Episodes
Smell
11 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen on the words used to describe the qualities of smells in different languages. Asifa Majid is Professor of Cognitive Science at Oxford an...
How did people speak throughout history?
04 Jun 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen meets popular YouTuber Simon Roper, who tries to recreate how people spoke in the past. Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Sally Heaven, ...
Words to Love the Living World
28 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The words that we use to label or describe things in nature – words for landscapes, creatures, seasons, the weather – can they help awaken us to t...
The World of Words: editing, typography and print
21 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen finds out about fascinating literary errors from editor Rebecca Lee, the author of Rogues, Widows and Orphans: Mischief and Misadventure...
Oracy: We Need to Talk
14 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Oracy, alongside literacy and numeracy, is being encouraged in schools. Amy Gaunt, from the charity Voice 21, explains to Michael Rosen how children a...
Michael Rosen and Dara Ó Briain talk about time
07 May 2026
Contributed by Lukas
On his 80th birthday, Michael Rosen discusses with Dara Ó Briain how we talk about and understand time, and how we look back on the different chapter...
Language Extinction
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks to Sophia Smith Galer about the languages we're losing. She's found that by the end of this century half of the world’s 7000 lan...
Tourette Syndrome
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks to Ione Georgakis from Tourette Action about about her personal and professional experience of Tourette Syndrome and vocal tics. H...
Vincentian Creole
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks to linguist Teddy Mack about Vincy, a language rooted in English spoken on the Caribbean island of St Vincent, alongside standard ...
Aphorisms: Sayings to Live By
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks to James Geary about his lifetime obsession, aphorisms. These short, witty philosophical sayings have been coined by everyone from...
Can AI be our friend?
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks to digital anthropologist Jennifer Cearns about the rise of AI companions- how do we talk to AI, and how does AI talk to us? They...
Scouse
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
As a port city Liverpool has long been open to a wide variety of global influences and languages that developed into a way of speaking that's termed '...
The Story of A-Z
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen goes on an alphabetical odyssey with linguist Dr Danny Bate, author of the book 'Why Q needs U: A History of Our Letters and how We Use ...
Julia Donaldson: A life in language
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Julia Donaldson, author of The Gruffalo and many other beloved children's books, tells Michael Rosen about her own writing, reading, speaking and list...
It's not what you say, it's how you say it
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen on the linguistic comfort food of clichés, pragmatics and how we use language to connect us beyond the actual words used. Derek Bousfie...
The Language of the Manosphere
21 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The 'Manosphere' is a group of loosely affiliated mainly young males who have developed a specialised vocabulary to discuss women online in a negativ...
Crash Bang Wallop: The Sound of Words
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen is joined by linguist Dr Catherine Laing to discuss onomatopoeia and other words that sound like their meanings. Not just words for soun...
How to Persuade a Courtroom
09 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks to criminal defence barrister Joanna Hardy-Susskind about the legal language of Crown Court cases in England and Wales. From the g...
Keeping My Family's Language Alive
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks to Samantha Ellis, author of Chopping Onions on My Heart, about her efforts to keep alive the language of her parents: Judeo-Iraqi...
Speech difficulties
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen asks what happens to people's sense of identity and social being when speaking becomes hard. Jonathan Cole has interviewed people with c...
The Art of Listening
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks to sociolinguist Dr Haru Yamada about how we listen in different ways across different cultures and social groups. It's the side o...
Lists
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Most of us make lists in some form or other - from essential groceries to reasons to feel positive about life. In this programme Linguistics Research...
The Welsh Language with Huw Stephens at the Hay Festival
29 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In a special recording at the Hay Festival, Michael Rosen talks to bilingual Welsh radio and television presenter Huw Stephens about the Welsh languag...
The language that changed the world
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen hears the fascinating story of the origin of all Indo-European languages from Laura Spinney, the author of Proto: How One Ancient Langua...
The End of the Full Stop?
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The use of punctuation is rapidly changing within the quickfire back-and-forth of instant messaging. Are these changes causing misunderstandings? Pres...
Street Names
08 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks to sociolinguist Philip Seargeant from the Open University about where our street names come from, including Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate ...
Old English, New English
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Talking Cockney
13 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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. Inclu...
Creating Languages for Film and Television with Professor David Adger
06 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 Mic...
Politeness with Louise Mullany
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Louise Mullany talks to Michael Rosen about politeness, and how it governs our lives, from the behaviour of football managers to the differe...
Jackie Kay on the Scots language
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 la...
The Language of Genetics
16 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Rutherford joins Michael Rosen to make sense of the heavily-loaded and often unscientific language that we use to talk about genetics, inheritanc...
Susie Dent's World of Words
09 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Susie Dent joins Michael Rosen to talk about her lifelong fascination with words and their origins. It's a programme bringing some apricity, which is ...
Social media language
03 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michael talks to linguist Dr Andreea Calude about her research into how language is used on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter/X. And he ...
How Animals Talk
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michael hears from zoologist Arik Kershenbaum about the latest research on how and why different types of animals communicate, from wolves howling to ...
A Poet Writing in Three Languages
22 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How best to write about love and other things. Nabeela Ahmed talks about writing in a second language and how her early life in Kashmir shaped the lan...
Fine Distinctions
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Eli Burnstein talks about fine distinctions between words, including Michael's personal bugbear of forewords, prefaces and introductions, some clarity...
Former astronaut Col. Chris Hadfield on the language of Space exploration
05 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Colonel Chris Hadfield is a veteran of three spaceflights. He crewed the US space shuttle twice, piloted the Russian Soyuz, helped build space station...
The words we use about getting older and why they matter
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How we talk about getting older can affect how we age, both mentally and physically. Michael asks Dr Lucy Pollock for her advice on ageing well and ha...
How babies learn language
22 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Recently a video went viral of a baby talking - or babbling - with a Liverpool accent. Professor Julian Pine from Liverpool University explains how ba...
Little Green Men: the secret rules of word order
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michael explores the mysterious rules of word order with linguist Dr Laura Bailey. We all know them instinctively, without knowing that we know them. ...
Word of Mouth with Michael Morpurgo at the Hay Festival
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michael meets fellow children's author Michael Morpurgo - author of over 150 books - including Kensuke's Kingdom, Private Peaceful and Warhorse. They...
Language When There Are No Words
30 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Joshua Reno talks about how Charlie, his non-verbal son who is on the autism spectrum, communicates with him very effectively using gestures known as ...
The Irish Language
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In conversation with Michael about his book "32 Words For Field" Manchán Magan reveals Ireland's deep connection with the landscape expressed through...
Disaster Dialogue
16 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Professor Lucy Easthope explains why language is important in the aftermath of a disaster, why some words are useful and some can be damaging.Produced...
Football Club Names
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dominic Fifield explains how football clubs got their names, uncovering a fascinating social history behind the Wanderers, Wednesdays and Villas.Produ...
How to Think Like an Anthropologist, with Gillian Tett
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"If you want to hide something in the 21st century world, you don't need to create a James Bond style plot. Just cover it in acronyms". Gillian Tett i...
Family Sayings
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michael shares listeners' stories about the words and phrases passed down in their families that they keep using, and what they mean to them. With Rob...
Are you different in another language?
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks to neuroscientist Dr Julia Ravey about whether we think and act differently when speaking a non-native language.More and more peop...
Words for Sale!
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen explores how language has become an online commodity, with Dr Pip Thornton, Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Dr Thorn...
Unequal English
22 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen is joined by language scholar Ruanni Tupas, to discuss Unequal English - how native English is perceived differently, depending on where...
A Life in Lexicography
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Grant Barrett is a lexicographer, linguist, author, editor, founder of Wordnik and Head of Lexicography at Dictionary.com. He also co-hosts A Way With...
Writing Comedy with Isy Suttie
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Isy Suttie is an actor and comedian best known for her role in Peepshow and her one woman show Love Letters on Radio 4 as well as many other shows and...
Everyday Shakespeare
22 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks to Ben and David Crystal about the Shakespeare quotes we use every day, without even realising. We’ve all heard someone roll the...
Therapy Speak
15 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Susie Orbach talks to Michael Rosen about the use and misuse of “therapy speak”. With the rise of mental health awareness, it seems to have leaked...
Fandom
08 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
There's lots of 'birging' in this week's programme. For those not in the know - that's short for Basking In Reflected Glory and it's something footbal...
The stories behind our names
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks to journalist Sheela Banerjee about the family and cultural histories revealed by our names. In her book What’s in a Name? Frien...
Audio description: putting art into words
25 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lonny Evans audio describes in theatres and museums, and Terry James, who is vision impaired, trains audio describers. They talk to Michael about thei...
Interpreting Presidents Putin and Zelensky
17 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Irina Morgan is a high level interpreter. Being bi-lingual in Russian and Ukrainian means she's in demand whenever Vladimir Putin or President Zelensk...
Learning Yiddish
11 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen is learning Yiddish. Every Sunday, he joins other adults in an evening class, conjugating verbs and practising rhymes.For this episode o...
Chatbots
12 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Michael is joined by Emily M Bender, Professor of computational linguistics at the University of Washington and co-author of the infamous paper ‘On ...
The Language of Fascism
09 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen speaks with Jason Stanley, the Jacob Urowsky Professor at Yale University to discuss the language of fascism. They discuss propaganda, s...
Women's Words
02 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Jenni Nuttall talks to Michael about the words used by and about women since the beginnings of language. Including some words we should never have ...
A Load of Nonsense
18 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks nonsense with literary scholar Noreen Masud. From the nonsense language of Shakespeare's fools, to the nonsense lyrics of The Beat...
Psychiatrist and Patient
11 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Neuropsychiatrist Anthony David talks to Michael about the dialogue that takes place between him and his patients.Producer Sally Heaven
The Life Inside: Philosophy in Prison
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 expe...
Richard Osman's love of language
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 writi...
Interpreting for Mum and Dad
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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
Subtitles
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Karli Witkowska is the subtitler behind films and TV shows including Stranger Things. She explains to Michael how descriptions such as 'tentacles wetl...
Snap Crackle and Every Little Helps - the language of food advertising
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Grammar Table
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Band names
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bob Stanley from Saint Etienne talks band names, from the (subjectively) rubbish to the brilliant, along with some of the best origin stories. Produce...
Exclamation Marks!!
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 explor...
Nihal Arthanayake on conversation
23 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 conver...
Like
16 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
A Murmuration of Starlings
09 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
The Art of Apologies
02 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
Ghosting Caking and Breadcrumbing
26 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen talks to cyber-pyschologist Dr Nicola Fox Hamilton about the new language that has emerged now that so many relationships begin online. ...
Lords and Ladies: Folk Names for Plants and Flowers
19 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 fa...
My Stammer Story
12 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 Lave...
What is language actually good for?
10 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Acclaimed Australian linguist Professor Nick Enfield has come to the conclusion that language is good for lawyers, for the purposes of persuasion, but...
Nathan Filer on the ways we talk about mental health
03 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nathan talks with Michael about words we use when talking about mental health.Producer Sally Heaven
Weather Words
26 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 wea...
The language we use about children in care
20 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Adoptive parent Margaret Reynolds talks about the language used around children in care. From the unthinking people asking about 'real parents' to the...
3 Ways to Speak English
12 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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. He...
The Language of Sci-Fi
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Talking to Computers
22 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
John McWhorter on Language
15 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen is joined by John McWhorter, author and linguist at Columbia University, to talk about his life in language. John H. McWhorter teaches l...
Dropping the Mic and Jumping the Shark: Where Do Modern Idioms Come From?
08 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Remembering Mother Tongues
02 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen asks Julie Sedivy about what happens when we lose our first language. Julie Sedivy's family left their home country, the former Czechosl...
It's language, Jim, but not as we know it
25 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
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 tr...
When Words Fail Us
18 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kathryn Mannix, author and palliative care specialist, joins Michael Rosen to think about those discussions we would rather avoid. She calls them "ten...
Words from World War I
11 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Doing your bit or shirking? Afflicted with ‘Belgian flush’? Don’t forget to BYOB.Lynda Mugglestone, Professor of the History of English at the U...
Digital body language: how to work online
24 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 em...
When people get your name wrong
17 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Michael Rosen on why personal names are so often mispronounced or misspelled, in conversation and online. With guest Dhruti Shah, linguist Dr Laurel ...
Accent Bias
10 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Cultish Language
03 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Medical English
27 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
The Art of Inventing Languages
20 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Why is English so weird?
15 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we say 'I climbed' not 'I clomb'? Why is there a 'p' in 'receipt' and not in 'deceit'? Why is 'of' spelled with a 'f' when it sounds like a 'v'...