Matt’s Chitchats – Uncomfortable words and the vocabulary of desire – A Conversation with Marco Scarcelli

Words create worlds, and in the digital age, they also create and constrain how we love. In this extended second instalment, Matt is back with sociologist Marco Scarcelli to decode the language of modern intimacy.

We often think of "sex" as a biological act, but as Marco explains, it’s a linguistic minefield shaped by society and culture. From the power of euphemisms to the new terminology of online subcultures, this episode explores how the words we choose can define the relationships we have.

In this episode, we translate the unspoken rules:

· "Sex" vs. "Sesso": Why is the English word for sex considered "sexy" and "novel" in Italy, while the Italian word sesso is seen as "dangerous" and "aggressive"?

· Defining the "Sexademic": Marco unpacks this neologism and what it means to carry the label of a scholar working in the "dirty" corners of academia.

· The Grammar of Gamification: What happens when we reduce intimacy to the metrics of sex-tracking apps? We look at how "trophies" and "performance scores" are rewriting the definition of "good sex".

· The Euphemism Trap: Why do we hide behind smooth words like "intimacy" to avoid the reality of "sex" and "sexuality"?

It’s a conversation about the power of naming, the risks of doing research on sex in institutional settings and the new lexicon of love in a digital world.

This episode of Matt’s Chitchats features an academic discussion regarding sex, sexuality, and digital culture. The conversation includes sociological analysis of adult themes, including pornography and online subcultures. Listener discretion is advised.

Matt's Chitchats is a mini-series of The Secret Life of Language, a podcast from the University of Melbourne’s School of Languages and Linguistics. The series is produced by Matt Absalom and Gavin Nebauer. Recorded and mixed by Gavin Nebauer at the Horwood Recording Studio, the University of Melbourne.

The Secret Life of Language is licensed under Creative Commons.

In this episode, Vera Gheno, noted Italian sociolinguist and public intellectual best known for her work on language and gender joins our host Matt Absalom to have a wide-ranging discussion that starts with Italian music and ends with the "death of alphabetical order" in the digital age.

In this series, Matt's Chitchats, part of The Secret Life of Language, our host Matt Absalom will talk to all sorts of different people about all sorts of different things relating to languages.

In this inaugural episode of Matt's Chitchats, Vera Gheno, begins in an unexpected place: the Italian music of the 1960s and 1970s which Vera admits to disliking, preferring English rock until her teenage daughter introduced her to the contemporary scene. They discuss how modern artists like Mahmood and Ghali are challenging the "purity" of the language by mixing Italian with Arabic and street slang, stretching grammar to its limits in ways that fascinate her as a linguist .

This leads to a deeper discussion on the history of Italian unity. Vera reminds us that Italian is a relatively young "language of culture" , noting that even literary giant Alessandro Manzoni spoke French with his friends, and that it took television to truly unify the language across the peninsula. We discuss the lingering effects of dubbing on Italian society, specifically how it has created an artificial or "constructed" Italian that differs significantly from the language people actually speak in their daily lives.

Finally, we touch on how technology is reshaping our cognitive habits. From the "death of the album" to the algorithmic discovery of K-Pop, we look at what happens when we stop browsing. Vera shares a striking observation from her work with university students: the loss of "alphabetical order" as a mental tool, simply because digital search bars have made the need to organise bibliographies or scan record shelves obsolete.

Matt's Chitchats is a mini-series of The Secret Life of Language, a podcast from the University of Melbourne’s School of Languages and Linguistics. The series is produced by Matt Absalom and Gavin Nebauer. Recorded and mixed by Gavin Nebauer at the Horwood Recording Studio, the University of Melbourne.

Music Recommendations from this episode

• tha Supreme - Bilico
• Subsonica - Radio Mogadiscio
• Mara Sattei

The Secret Life of Language is licensed under Creative Commons.

In this bonus episode of Choc-tops and Cassata, Elisabetta and Mark call on their co-host Santo to justify his bold claim from part 3 of Choc-tops that The Castle – the much-loved classic Australian comedy which he co-wrote – is, in fact, an ‘Italian film’.

In this series, Choc-tops and Cassata, part of The Secret Life of Language, hosts Elisabetta Ferrari (Italian Studies Program) and Mark Nicholls (Screen and Cultural Studies) are joined by comedian, writer and producer Santo Cilauro to dig into the ways Italian language films shaped the cultural life of Melbourne.

In making a case for The Castle’s italianità (Italianness), Santo shares memories of the collaborative screenwriting process with Rob Sitch, Tom Gleisner and Jane Kennedy, reminiscing about shooting on a shoestring budget. He recalls how the writers drew directly from their own families to capture those moments of warmth, chaos and loyalty that give this unique film its charm. They discuss the quirkiness of the film’s characters and their ability to delight in life’s small pleasures in an honest and unpretentious way.

Santo also reveals why an Italian language version of the film was nearly made but fell over due to one big cultural difference.

Choc-tops and Cassata is a mini-series of The Secret Life of Language, a podcast from the University of Melbourne’s School of Languages and Linguistics. The series is produced and edited by Elisabetta Ferrari, Alice Garner and Gavin Nebauer. Recorded and mixed by Gavin Nebauer at the Horwood Recording Studio, the University of Melbourne.

Choc-tops and Cassata is made with support from ACIS (Australasian Centre for Italian Studies)

If you have any stories or info about the Melbourne cinema scene as discussed in the podcast, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]

The Secret Life of Language is licensed under Creative Commons.

Antonio Zeccola, founder and owner of Australia’s largest independent cinema chain, Palace Cinemas, joins Santo, Elisabetta and Mark to talk about the early days of running Italian language cinemas in Melbourne. He sheds light on the sourcing, exhibition and distribution of Italian films for suburban cinemas and explores how Melbourne’s cultural landscape was transformed along the way.

In this series, Choc-tops and Cassata, part of The Secret Life of Language, hosts Elisabetta Ferrari (Italian Studies Program) and Mark Nicholls (Screen and Cultural Studies) are joined by comedian, writer and producer Santo Cilauro to dig into the ways Italian language films shaped the cultural life of Melbourne.

Antonio shares his back story, including his father’s small theatre and cinema in Naples and his uncle’s prisoner of war experience in Australia, and explains how at nineteen, he came to run his first cinema in Noble Park (the Pix) and later the Metropolitan in Brunswick.

He recounts big hits like The Ten Commandments and the comedies of Franco Franchi e Ciccio Ingrassia, competition with other Italian suburban cinemas, the evolution of Palace, the daily challenge of staying afloat financially and his part in the development of film festivals in Australia.

Choc-tops and Cassata is a mini-series of The Secret Life of Language, a podcast from the University of Melbourne’s School of Languages and Linguistics. The series is produced and edited by Elisabetta Ferrari, Alice Garner and Gavin Nebauer. Recorded and mixed by Gavin Nebauer at the Horwood Recording Studio, the University of Melbourne.

Choc-tops and Cassata is made with support from ACIS (Australasian Centre for Italian Studies)

If you have any stories or info about the Melbourne cinema scene as discussed in the podcast, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]

The Secret Life of Language is licensed under Creative Commons.

Acclaimed Italo-Australian screenwriter and director Jan Sardi joins the Choc-tops and Cassata team to reflect on how Melbourne’s Italian social and cultural landscape has shaped his work in cinema.

In this series, Choc-tops and Cassata, part of The Secret Life of Language, hosts Elisabetta Ferrari (Italian Studies Program) and Mark Nicholls (Screen and Cultural Studies) are joined by comedian, writer and producer Santo Cilauro to dig into the ways Italian language films shaped the cultural life of Melbourne.

Starting with his grandparents’ migration from the island of Elba and experiences on the Queensland canefields, Jan takes us to glamorous floorshows and Hollywood filmstars at Mario’s restaurant in Melbourne, where his father worked. He revisits his childhood obsession with Westerns screened at the Adelphi (now the San Remo Ballroom) and the discovery of Italian stars like Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida. Screenwriter of movies such as Moving Out and Oscar nominated Shine, he also talks about his directorial debut in Love's Brother, his time as a teacher and how one of his high school students, Vince Colosimo, came to be cast in Moving Out.

Choc-tops and Cassata is a mini-series of The Secret Life of Language, a podcast from the University of Melbourne’s School of Languages and Linguistics. The series was produced and edited by Elisabetta Ferrari, Alice Garner and Gavin Nebauer. Recorded and mixed by Gavin Nebauer at the Horwood Recording Studio, the University of Melbourne.

Choc-tops and Cassata is made with support from ACIS (Australasian Centre for Italian Studies)

If you have any stories or info about the Melbourne cinema scene as discussed in the podcast, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]

The Secret Life of Language is licensed under Creative Commons.

Melbourne cinemas provided an invaluable opportunity for the Italian community to gather and speak and hear their language, in a time when very little non-English media was available. When SBS and video came along, everything changed.

In this series, Choc-tops and Cassata, part of The Secret Life of Language, hosts Elisabetta Ferrari (Italian Studies Program) and Mark Nicholls (Screen and Cultural Studies) are joined by comedian, writer and producer Santo Cilauro to dig into the ways Italian language films shaped the cultural life of Melbourne.

In this episode of Choc-tops and Cassata, guests Carlo and Giovanni Zeccola invite our hosts to step back into the 1970s and join them on a lively Saturday night at the Metropolitan. Their family ran this Italian language cinema in Melbourne’s inner northern suburb of Brunswick from the late 1960s to the early ‘80s. Patrons rolled up at the grand 1920s-era, 1800-seat theatre dressed in their finest, ordering cassata and orange cordial from a very young Giovanni, who ushered them to their seats.

Choc-tops and Cassata is a mini-series of The Secret Life of Language, a podcast from the University of Melbourne’s School of Languages and Linguistics. The series was produced and edited by Elisabetta Ferrari, Alice Garner and Gavin Nebauer. Recorded and mixed by Gavin Nebauer at the Horwood Recording Studio, the University of Melbourne.

Choc-tops and Cassata is made with support from ACIS (Australasian Centre for Italian Studies)

If you have any stories or info about the Melbourne cinema scene as discussed in the podcast, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]

The Secret Life of Language is licensed under Creative Commons.

Italian film nights in 1950's -1970's Melbourne were an excuse for a multigenerational night out. Movie screenings brought places, faces and voices from the old country to a hungry audience. But they also helped save some of Melbourne’s favourite suburban cinemas from demolition.

In this series, Choc-tops and Cassata, part of The Secret Life of Language, hosts Elisabetta Ferrari (Italian Studies Program) and Mark Nicholls (Screen and Cultural Studies) are joined by comedian, writer and producer Santo Cilauro to dig into the ways Italian language films shaped the cultural life of Melbourne.

In this episode, we speak with Gus Berger, cinema owner-operator and producer of the documentary The Lost City of Melbourne. Gus explains how suburban cinemas fit into the big picture of Melbourne’s mid-20th-century urban redevelopment and demolition frenzy.

The trio discuss cheap rent and architectural marvels, including the Metropolitan Cinema’s space age ticket booth, and bemoan the gap in the photographic archive. We also discuss the impact of the introduction of Television in general, but especially the multicultural public tv network, SBS, launching on to our tv screens in 1979.

Choc-tops and Cassata is a mini-series of The Secret Life of Language, a podcast from the University of Melbourne’s School of Languages and Linguistics. The series was produced and edited by Elisabetta Ferrari, Alice Garner and Gavin Nebauer. Recorded and mixed by Gavin Nebauer at the Horwood Recording Studio, the University of Melbourne.

Choc-tops and Cassata is made with support from ACIS (Australasian Centre for Italian Studies)

If you have any stories or info about the Melbourne cinema scene as discussed in the podcast, please feel free to contact us at [email protected]

The Secret Life of Language is licensed under Creative Commons.

Santo Cilauro joins University of Melbourne Italian and Screen Studies scholars Elisabetta Ferrari and Mark Nicholls to explore the role Italian migrants played in keeping Melbourne’s cinema culture alive. Featuring prominent guests who helped to shape the scene, join us for a fun filled journey back to the golden era of cinema in Melbourne.

Choc Tops and Cassata a new series, part of The Secret Life of Language Podcast. Coming mid-July 2025!

The Secret Life of Language is a podcast series from the studios of the University of Melbourne's School of Languages and Linguistics.

Is generative AI a disruptive force or an opportunity for those who work with languages? As genAI and machine learning technologies remake the translation industry, what does it mean for the career prospects of professional translators? And can AI be harnessed to preserve and revitalize the world's linguistic diversity?

In this episode of The Secret Life of Language, we look at the impact of genAI in a domain close to our hearts: languages and linguistics. First up, hosts Prof John Hajek and Dr Yu Hao are joined by translators and translation studies researchers Prof Anthony Pym and Elise Qing to look at how both the practice and the business of translation and interpretation have been upended by AI, and what we can expect next. John and Yu then have a couple of encounters with recent generative AI products demonstrating the cutting edge of real-time spoken conversation and instant voice translation. Finally, we speak with indigenous languages researcher and computer scientist Prof Steven Bird about what role, if any, large language model-based tools could have in sustaining the world's minority languages.

Guests for this episode (in order of appearance):

• Professor Anthony Pym, School of Languages and Linguistics, The University of Melbourne
• Elise Qing, PhD candidate, Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne
• Dr Lea Frermann, School of Computing and Information Systems, The University of Melbourne
• Professor Steven Bird, Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University

The Secret Life of Language is a podcast from the University of Melbourne’s School of Languages and Linguistics. This episode was produced by Eric van Bemmel and Kelvin Param of Profactual, and Gavin Nebauer. Recorded and mixed by Gavin Nebauer at the Horwood Recording Studio, the University of Melbourne.

The Secret Life of Language is licensed under Creative Commons.

What might we lose or gain as AI reshapes academia? Can AI be leveraged ethically to foster learning, or does it fundamentally undermine academic integrity? And how do we ensure authentic learning in an AI-augmented world? Join us as we ponder the shifting roles of educators and students, and consider whether the future of assessments lies in oral exams, digital literacy, or something entirely different.

In this episode of The Secret Life of Language, hosts Prof John Hajek and Dr Yu Hao examine the fast evolving impact of generative AI on university teaching, learning, and assessment. Prof Raoul Mulder and Dr Julian Harris, two experts who've long been thinking about how learning happens and how it can be measured, join in for a thought-provoking discussion on whether traditional forms of evaluation are still relevant when AI can almost effortlessly generate essays, presentations, and even research papers.

Guests for this episode:

• Professor Raoul Mulder, Centre for the Study of Higher Education, The University of Melbourne
• Dr Julian Harris, Education Services, La Trobe University

The Secret Life of Language is a podcast from the University of Melbourne’s School of Languages and Linguistics. This episode was produced by Eric van Bemmel and Kelvin Param of Profactual and Gavin Nebauer. Recorded and mixed by Gavin Nebauer at The Horwood Recording Studio, the University of Melbourne.

The Secret Life of Language is licensed under Creative Commons.