Word of Mouth Episodes Episode guide
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Nihal Arthanayake on conversation
Radio 5 Live presenter Nihal Arthanayake talks to Michael about the art of conversation.
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Like
Linguist Carmen Fought talks to Michael about 'like' in all its forms.
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A Murmuration of Starlings
Michael Rosen talks to Matt Sewell about collective nouns in the animal world.
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The Art of Apologies
Michael Rosen talks to sociolinguist Louise Mullany about all the ways we say sorry.
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Ghosting Caking and Breadcrumbing
The evolving lexicon of online dating
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Lords and Ladies: Folk Names for Plants and Flowers
The different names we call our common plants and flowers around the British Isles.
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My Stammer Story
Michael Rosen asks William Laven about how he has learnt to celebrate his stammer.
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What is language actually good for?
Nick Enfield and Michael Rosen on language being good for lawyers but bad for scientists.
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Nathan Filer on the ways we talk about mental health
Nathan talks with Michael about words we use when talking about mental health.
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Weather Words
The many different ways we use to talk about the weather
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The language we use about children in care
Adoptive parent Margaret Reynolds talks about the language used around children in care
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3 Ways to Speak English
Dr Jamila Lyiscott describes to Michael Rosen the 3 ways in which she speaks English.
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The Language of Sci-Fi
Michael Rosen explores how the vocabulary of sci-fi has entered everyday speech.
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Talking to Computers
Michael Rosen talks to Lane Greene about advances in language technologies.
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John McWhorter on Language
John McWhorter, author and linguist at Columbia University, joins Michael Rosen.
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Dropping the Mic and Jumping the Shark: Where Do Modern Idioms Come From?
Michael Rosen talks to Dr Gareth Carrol about the surprising origins of modern idioms.
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Remembering Mother Tongues
Michael Rosen asks Julie Sedivy about what happens when we lose our first language.
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It's language, Jim, but not as we know it
Michael Rosen talks to science communicator Dr Hannah Little.
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When Words Fail Us
Kathryn Mannix and Michael Rosen on how to talk tenderly and and listen well.
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Words from World War I
Michael Rosen and Professor Lynda Mugglestone explore the new language from World War I.
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Digital body language: how to work online
Michael Rosen gets advice from Erica Dhawan on the best ways to communicate on-screen.
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When people get your name wrong
Michael Rosen on why personal names are mistaken or misspelled, in conversation and online
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Accent Bias
Michael Rosen asks Devyani Sharma about the latest research into accent bias in the UK.
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Cultish Language
Michael Rosen and Amanda Montell on who uses it and why.
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Medical English
Michael Rosen asks Dr Sophie Harrison about the special language used by doctors.
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The Art of Inventing Languages
Michael Rosen is joined by David J. Peterson, language creator for Game of Thrones.
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Why is English so weird?
Michael Rosen hears why our language is a bit of a mess from linguist Arika Okrent
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The Shipping Forecast: Internet Fandom
Michael Rosen talks to internet linguist Gretchen McCulloch about online fandom language.
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Speech and Language Therapy
Michael Rosen talks to the speech and language therapist who helped him after Covid-19.
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Coinages
Michael Rosen talks to Ralph Keyes about how words and phrases are coined.
