A Word in Your Ear
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676 episodes
The Easter Bunny? It's raining cats and dogs? ABC's Roly Sussex discusses weather phrases and the origins of Easter.
Hang in there. Get over it. Put up with it. How did these peculiar and 'improper' phrases come to pervade the English language?
Football or soccer? From kicking goals to putting the ball in their court, Roly Sussex discusses his favourite sports idioms.
White house? Mardi Gras? Roly Sussex discusses the muddling of syllables, and the changing face of the full stop.
Catfishing? Dogfishing? And what about breadcrumbing? Roly unveils the surprising origins of animal-based words, and the unexpected impact those words have had on the language of dating.
Feb-RAR-y? Feb-RY? Feb-YOR-ary? How do you say February?
I love you. I adore you. I'm smitten. You drive me crazy. I need you. But why?
Should you stress about stress in words? Roly Sussex explains the surprising origins for why we emphasise the things we do.
Kilometre or KILO-metre? Addicting or addictive? And should you drop the 't' in comfortable?
From utes to the quirks of the English language, Roly Sussex is here to answer all your linguistic questions.
From "authentic" to "Matildas", Roly Sussex returns with some of his favourite words of the past annum.
What are the cultural origins of our names? What makes them more feminine or masculine? And when did middle names become a thing?
From jingles about sun safety to songs about vegemite, Australia's advertising history is full of iconic earworms. But why were they so successful?
Insults are hardly features of polite conversation, but some might say we've gotten a bit soft.
How did we decide what should be capitalised, and what should be lowercase? And why do we capitalise 'I' but not 'me'?
Is it exclamation points, or exclamation marks? What's the deal with the full stop, apostophe and comma?
The ABC's Lord of Language, the Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex, discusses American influences on the English language.
The ABC's Lord of Language, the Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex, discusses where to put the emphasis on words.
The word 'old' has come to have some rather peculiar connotations.
Break down, luck out! Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex discusses phrasal verbs.
The ABC's Lord of Language, the Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex, discusses the language of football.
The ABC's Lord of Language, the Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex, discusses the language of being polite.
The ABC's Lord of Language, the Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex, discusses terms related to your garden.
The ABC's Lord of Language, the Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex, discusses the effectiveness of signals, symbols and signs.
The ABC's Lord of Language, the Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex, discusses the evolution of the English language.
The ABC's Lord of Language, the Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex, discusses the nicknames we give our favourite sports players.
The ABC's Lord of Language, the Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex, discusses Americanisms.
The ABC's Lord of Language, the Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex, discusses Americanisms.
