Why we don’t have a sarcasm mark
Why is there no punctuation mark for irony? Or to flag up a rhetorical question? Well, the fact is: there once was. Numerous innovative marks have been invented then discarded…
Anthony Burgess on the Human Condition
Speaking in 1974 on Russell Harty
Rob Words: Before the Roman alphabet, English was written out using runes
Rob explores how runes were used in the distant past, how they've been abused by groups like the Nazis, and how they could be used in the future.
Britain’s Celtic languages explained
The Celtic languages have been in Britain since long before the English language even existed. In this video I speak to speakers of 5 different Celtic languages: Cornish, Welsh, Manx,…
Rob Words: The hidden logic behind keyboard symbols
Did you know #, &, @, § and ¶ are all made up of letters? In fact, they each represent specific words. In this video, I'll explain where these little…
Your body parts have mad literal meanings.
In this video, we take a tour of the body and discover the surprising true meanings of our names for body parts. Find out why some words are ancient, some…
COLOUR WORDS: The astounding origins of “blue”, “black”, “orange”, “red” & other colors
Prepare to be amazed by the surprising origins of the English words for colours (or colors for our American friends).
Where the $ symbol actually comes from
Why is the $ sign an S? What does 'dollar' even mean? In this video, I answer both of those questions, while also explaining what the British pound is a…
Why French sounds so unlike other Romance languages
Sound changes left French unlike Latin, Italian, Spanish or Romanian.
Antarctica Has An Accent
Accents: Everybody has one. They usually tell us something about where a person is from, or what languages they speak. But there's one accent that is so new that nobody…