Word Wrangling with Terry Victor

This episode features George Bernard Shaw and Rough Women in Motion introducing a whole shedload of words with so much in common - except how we say them.

How many way can you pronounce 'ought'? - and that's not the half of it.

Word Wrangling is an independent production. We are always on the lookout for new ways with words. If you have any thoughts please get in touch.

Someone has been at the horse liniment! This is a wild gallop through the fields of etymology and back streets of slang, jumping hurdles, clinging on to the bucking beasts of our unstabled language. 

There is so much energy in the equine elements of our vocabulary. Saddle up.

Word Wrangling is an independent production. We are always on the lookout for new ways with words. If you have any thoughts please get in touch.

This week I am in search of the perfect acronym. It's harder than it sounds.

I stumble over initialisms and run up against common or garden abbreviations but (plot spoiler –) my quest is ultimately successful.

The journey takes in supermarkets, Jay Z,  some acrostic poetry, a touch of Velvet Underground and a little bit of swearing. And so much more.

Word Wrangling is an independent production. We are always on the lookout for new ways with words. If you have any thoughts please get in touch.

Welcome to Word Wrangling's first birthday brouhaha. George Orwell and Lewis Carroll are onside for a bit of  lively wordplay so it should be a good time. We may even play a game of pin the tail on the donkey – win a bag of sweets!

The similarity between Newspeak and governmental sloganeering doesn't go without saying. And what's the significance of 'Still'?

I really had fun preparing this podcast – Episode #52! If you are thinking of dipping your toes into the Word Wrangling stream this is a great place to dive in. 

Disclaimer: Word Wrangling cannot take any responsibility for  ideas that you may have after listening.

Word Wrangling is an independent production. We are always on the lookout for new ways with words. If you have any thoughts please get in touch.

Word Wrangling the silent characters that can lead us astray. 

Join some gnarly dudes, Dennis the Menace's dog, a wildebeest and a yawning gnat as we take a quick detour on the London Underground to visit a place with six consecutive consonants in its name.  

Not to mention the distraction of FM radio.

Word Wrangling is an independent production. We are always on the lookout for new ways with words. If you have any thoughts please get in touch.

What is 'progressive English'?

Is it a tolerance of linguistic aberrations? Or improvement by censorship?

You might also ask: how much caffeine was taken in the preparation of this episode?

And what has the Radio Times got to do with it?

This episode tries to make sense of it all. Whether it does or not is up to you.

Word Wrangling is an independent production. We are always on the lookout for new ways with words. If you have any thoughts please get in touch.

This week's episode is in response to my Covid-inspired social awareness. I was passed in the street by a vaper. I was masked but his sickly sweet exhalations permeated my comfort zone. If I could smell the smoker's  breath... well, what price social distancing?

So, I retired to my safely ventilated space in the Podcastle and looked at the stinking rich miasma  of whiffiness.  I bravely went and did the research so you wouldn't have to hold your nose. 

Enjoy.

Word Wrangling is an independent production. We are always on the lookout for new ways with words. If you have any thoughts please get in touch.

This brief yes/no interlude could bring some fascinating foibles of the English language  into focus. Yes? Or maybe no.

This episode is wrangling just two little words that are so easily misunderstood, disrespected or, on occasion, wilfully misunderstood.

Word Wrangling is an idiosyncratic and entertaining exploration of modern English. Will you tell your friends?  Do say YES.

Word Wrangling is an independent production. We are always on the lookout for new ways with words. If you have any thoughts please get in touch.

Most words mean something. 

Some words mean nothing. 

Join me on a short, breathless quest to discover a list of words that manage to do both jobs.

Word Wrangling is an independent production. We are always on the lookout for new ways with words. If you have any thoughts please get in touch.

Apparently we are swearing less (according to some academic research); this episode of Word Wrangling might just sugar the average.

 A. A. Milne, Dr. Love and Paul Dacre are in the mix. Come and join us.

Word Wrangling is an independent production. We are always on the lookout for new ways with words. If you have any thoughts please get in touch.