A Word in Your Ear

A Word in Your Ear

By ABCSociety & Culture

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A Word in Your Ear episodes

August 03 A Word In Your Ear: How New Words Are Created
Neologisms, and how they are formed.
22 min
July 27 A Word In Your Ear: Email and Envelope Address Etiquette
The art of addressing someone formally over email.
25 min
July 20 A Word In Your Ear: Teaching Kids To Spell
Language Professor Roly Sussex and Education Specialist Sue-Belinda Meehan discuss the language of how we teach primary school children, language.
29 min
July 13 A Word In Your Ear: The Language of the Sea
Pipe the hands and stand by, because Admiral of the English Language, Professor Roly Sussex is making way through the language of the Royal Australian Navy and translating the salty expressions that have sailed from life at sea into everyday Australian English.
24 min
July 06 A Word In Your Ear: "Dishlickers" Joins the Oxford Dictionary!
Language Professor Roly Sussex discusses the seventeen Australian words the Oxford English Dictionary has added in 2026, including "yeah nah", "checkout chick" and "dishlickers".
27 min
June 29 A Word In Your Ear: The Language of Gardening
Language Professor Roly Sussex and 612-ABC Brisbane gardening expert Clare Bickle discuss the love language that is plants and gardening.
22 min
June 22 A Word In Your Ear: TV Catchphrases That Have Stuck
Language Professor Roly Sussex and 612-ABC presenter Sally Rope discuss how television has shaped language via words they created and the catchphrases we love.
23 min
June 15 A Word In Your Ear: Soccer It To Me!
The FIFA World Cup 2026 is underway - what words have come to us from the "Beautiful Game" and how many have crossed into other sports??
30 min
June 08 A Word In Your Ear: Creative Language
If you've ever "gawn to the bottlo, grabbed some goon and picked up some Maccas", that's a creative use of Australian English.
Why is it so much fun?
28 min
June 01 A Word In Your Ear: Do the Rules of School Still Apply
Professor Roly Sussex explores which language changes are allowed, which ones are a grey area, and which ones are still just plain wrong.
30 min

About A Word in Your Ear

From the publisher's feed

Emeritus Professor Roly Sussex from the University of Queensland discusses the wonderful and odd aspects of English and many other languages.