Does 'Abracadabra' mean anything? | MAGIC WORDS
Take a pinch of witchcraft, add a touch of sorcery, and "Hey presto!" you have a wordy nerdy episode about magical terms.🧙 Can only women be witches?🔒 What did a warlock originally do?🪄 What is the...
5 Aug 47min
What's so great about 'seventh' heaven? | NUMBER IDIOMS
We're exploring the origins of common sayings relating to numbers in this episode.🥉 Why is the third time a charm?⛅️ What's so great about "seventh heaven"?🙃 Why do we say "at sixes and sevens"?Rob ...
29 Juli 50min
Words the Vikings left behind | OLD NORSE
What did the Vikings do for us? Rob and Jess are exploring the words left behind by the Scandinavian invaders.🪓 How much of English is Old Norse?🗺️ Which place names are inherited from "the Danes"?�...
22 Juli 42min
Are you pronouncing 'caramel' wrong? | ACCENTS (ft. Valerie Fridland)
Why do Americans and Brits have the accents they have? Sociolinguist, professor and author Valerie Fridland joins Rob and Jess this week to discuss why we talk funny.🍮 Does 'caramel' have one or two ...
15 Juli 49min
What does 'Mona Lisa' even mean? | ART WORDS
How does an artist use a 'donkey'? What does 'Mona Lisa' actually mean? Who is the "dada" in Dadaism? Rob and Jess are explaining word origins from the art world in the latest Words Unravelled, explor...
8 Juli 46min
False Friends: Dangerous words in other languages
Rob and Jess are exploring deceptive words in other languages, like French, German and Spanish. So-called 'false friends' look familiar to English speakers but mean something very different. Watch thi...
24 Juni 47min
How did The Beatles get their name? | ROCK 'N' ROLL
Why is it called "Rock and Roll"? Who came up with "The Beatles"? Which bands took their names from literature? Rob and Jess are answering all manner of musical etymological question in this off-beat ...
3 Juni 40min
