Word of Mouth
BBC Radio 4
Linguist Michael Rosen's eclectic conversations on language, culture, and communication.
Why we picked this
We picked Word of Mouth because it treats language as a living system, not a museum piece. The hosts move from Shakespeare’s psychological precision to the phonology of invented monster dialects to the long-S typesetting errors that reshaped the King James Bible. The show’s posture is democratic: it pulls high-canon grammar and low-comic misprints onto the same bench. Where other language podcasts settle for etymology trivia, this one insists on the craft and friction behind the words we actually use.
Recent episodes
How did people speak throughout history?
Jun 4, 202627 min
Words to Love the Living World
May 28, 202627 min
The World of Words: editing, typography and print
May 21, 202627 min
Oracy: We Need to Talk
May 14, 202627 min
Michael Rosen and Dara Ó Briain talk about time
May 7, 202648 min
Language Extinction
Feb 19, 202627 min
Tourette Syndrome
Feb 12, 202627 min
Vincentian Creole
Feb 5, 202627 min
Aphorisms: Sayings to Live By
Jan 29, 202627 min
Can AI be our friend?
Jan 22, 202627 min
Scouse
Jan 15, 202627 min
The Story of A-Z
Jan 8, 202627 min
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