Show notes for Episode 23
Here are the show notes for Episode 23, in which Jacky, Dan, Lisa and Matthew talk to Dr Gareth Carrol of Birmingham University about his new book, Jumping Sharks and Dropping Mics and about modern idioms - where they come from, how they work and how they spread into popular discourse.
Jumping Sharks and Dropping Mics: modern idioms and where they come from website: Jumping sharks and dropping mics from Iff Books
Modern Idioms on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Modern_Idioms
Gareth Carrol on Twitter: https://twitter.com/garethcarrol
Dan was out of practice and forgot to send Gareth our usual quickfire questions so here are his answers:
Favourite book – “Through the Language Glass” by Guy Deutscher. It’s a really accessible take on the Language and Thought (Sapir-Whorf) debate, with some fascinating evidence and examples. Honourable mention goes to “Is That a Fish in Your Ear? The Amazing Adventure of Translation” by David Bellos.
Favourite fact / idea – that being bilingual is the norm, not the exception in the world (over half the world’s population speaks more than one language).
Advice to a budding linguist – be as flexible as you can in how you think about language (and anything else really). There is so much room for fuzziness/variation/ambiguity in how we think about language, and seeing it in these terms (rather than trying to be too rigid and look for clean answers) is a great help in understanding the whole picture.
For anyone who hasn’t heard the expression ‘as bent as a nine bob note’: https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/as+bent+as+a+nine-bob+note
Lang in the News
Accents
Customer asks for refund from York Theatre Royal because actors performed play in Yorkshire accents
Child refugees in city to learn Hull accent and sayings including 'larkin out'
Big piece about accents in The Times in March
What does your accent say about you? | Times2 | The Times
Several related stories, some featuring criticism of Amanda Cole and her Essex colleagues:
Their blog here:
Ask or aks? How linguistic prejudice perpetuates inequality | Blog | University of Essex
University specialists say there is no such thing as 'correct' language and terminology | Daily Mail Online
https://twitter.com/DrAmandaCole/status/1506182631783866368
LBC Vanessa Feltz interview with Amanda Cole: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0bqyvm6 (from 02:16:30 onwards)
Ann Widdecombe in the Daily Express linked here: https://twitter.com/EngLangBlog/status/1506727875134869514
"ACCORDING to academics at the University of Essex there is no such thing as correct language, pronunciation or terminology. Instead they advocate what amounts to linguistic anarchy with anything acceptable such as pronouncing "ask" as "aks" and dismiss any standardisation of usage as "prejudice".
Unfortunately for the students, employers who are looking for articulate applicants with a good command of the language will be perfectly happy to exhibit such prejudice and to choose someone who does not use "like" a dozen times in almost as
many words."
Anti-Welsh accent prejudice here:
https://twitter.com/ElunedAnderson/status/1506015005027807237
Contact us @LexisPodcast. Subscribe: Lexis Podcast | Podcast on Spotify
Contributors
Matthew Butler
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Matthewbutlerwy
Lisa Casey
blog: https://livingthroughlanguage.wordpress.com/ & Twitter: Language Debates (@LanguageDebates)
Dan Clayton
blog: EngLangBlog & Twitter: EngLangBlog (@EngLangBlog)
Jacky Glancey
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JackyGlancey
Music: Freenotes
End music: Serge Quadrado - Cool Guys
Cool Guys by Serge Quadrado is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. From the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/serge-quadrado/urban/cool-guys