Word of Mouth Podcast
Series exploring the world of words and the ways in which we use them
Episodes to download
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Best wishes, kind regards or none of the above?
Tue 30 Jan 2018
Best wishes or kind regards? What is the new etiquette for written communication?
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Michael Gets Voice Training
Tue 23 Jan 2018
Vocal coaches Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher give Michael Rosen a thorough workout.
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Hello! Is it me you're looking for? - The art of greetings
Tue 16 Jan 2018
Michael Rosen and Laura Wright start a new series with hellos and greetings.
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Language and Our Genes with Dr Steve Jones
Tue 17 Oct 2017
Michael Rosen talks to Steve Jones about language and our genes.
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Wild Words
Tue 10 Oct 2017
Robert Macfarlane tells Michael Rosen about his 'word-hoard' of endangered nature words.
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Autism and Communication
Tue 3 Oct 2017
Michael Rosen finds out what can be learnt about communication from people with autism.
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Are we all speaking football?
Tue 26 Sep 2017
Lifelong Arsenal supporter Michael Rosen talks football cliches with Adam Hurrey.
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Malorie Blackman on Language
Tue 19 Sep 2017
Malorie Blackman, author of Noughts and Crosses, talks in depth to Michael Rosen.
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Eat My Words: How to Describe Food Flavours
Tue 12 Sep 2017
Michael Rosen asks Andi Oliver and Niki Segnit how they describe the flavours of food.
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David Walliams on writing for children
Tue 23 May 2017
David Walliams talks to Michael Rosen about writing children's books.
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Game On: The Language of Video Games
Tue 16 May 2017
Michael Rosen and Laura Wright find out how video games influence language.
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The Postbag Edition
Tue 9 May 2017
Michael Rosen answers listeners' language queries from the Word of Mouth inbox and postbag
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Cucks, snowflakes and virtue signalling: the new US political lexicon
Tue 2 May 2017
Michael Rosen asks George Lakoff about the new political words coming out of the US now.
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Jacqueline Wilson talks to Michael Rosen about language
Tue 25 Apr 2017
Tracy Beaker author Jacqueline Wilson talks to Michael Rosen about her love of language.
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How Countries Got Their Names
Tue 18 Apr 2017
Michael Rosen and Dr Laura Wright find out how countries got their names.
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Frenchified: The Influence of French on English
Tue 11 Apr 2017
Michael Rosen and Laura Wright find out how much of English comes from French roots.
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Like, Totally Awesome: The Americanisation of English
Tue 28 Feb 2017
Michael Rosen on the Americanisation of English, with Lynne Murphy and Matthew Engel.
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Emoji: The Future of Language?
Tue 21 Feb 2017
Is emoji really the world's fastest-growing language? Michael Rosen finds out.
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Intonation: The Music of Speaking
Tue 14 Feb 2017
Michael Rosen explores the tunes we sing when we are speaking, without even realising it.
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Pet or Pest? The revealing words we use about animals, and dog names
Tue 7 Feb 2017
Michael Rosen on the language we use to talk about animals - and the names we give dogs.
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Words Roadshow in Birmingham
Tue 31 Jan 2017
Michael Rosen discusses interesting family words and phrases with listeners in Birmingham.
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Susie Dent on Language
Tue 18 Oct 2016
Michael Rosen talks to Countdown's Susie Dent about her love of words and language.
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Reading: The Science and the Pleasure
Tue 11 Oct 2016
蜜芽传媒 LovetoRead campaign: Michael Rosen on the pleasure of and the science behind reading.
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Snotrils and Jumpolines: Kids' Invented Words
Tue 4 Oct 2016
Michael Rosen on the creative use and misuse of language by children.
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Small Talk
Tue 27 Sep 2016
Michael Rosen talks to psychotherapist Philippa Perry about the importance of small talk.
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Directions: North South East and West
Tue 20 Sep 2016
Michael Rosen uncovers how people talk and think about directions in different languages.
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Lost Words and Secret Connections
Tue 13 Sep 2016
Michael Rosen on discovering lost words and finding hidden linguistic connections.
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Punctuation
Tue 24 May 2016
Michael Rosen talks to Keith Houston about punctuation symbols and how they came to exist.
Explore the OU鈥檚 Cultural Idioms Guide
Explore how some cultural idioms entered the English Language.
Idioms Quiz
Explore why languages have idioms with The Open University鈥檚 quiz.
From blunk to brickfielder: our wonderful words for weather
Exploring creative descriptions for wind, rainfall and sunny spells from around the world
Digital body language 鈥� how to communicate better online
We need to find new ways of talking to each other 鈥渧irtually鈥�.
Coinages that changed the world 鈥� and some that tried to...
Exploring the hidden histories of obscure words, and common buzz phrases.
Ittibitium, borborygmus, and Ba humbugi 鈥� 14 wonderful science words you鈥檝e never heard of
Michael Rosen puts the language of science under the microscope.
Download this programme
Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes.
Keywords for Our Time
Series of programmes examining key phrases in public debate.
Smiley face: Seven things you didn't know about emoji
Some facts about emoji - possibly the world's first truly global form of communication.
The funny words that kids invent
Have a look at some of the fantastic words that children invent and reimagine.
