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Tag Archives: john humphrys

April 12, 2017
by gpointon
0 comments

A sad time

I had started to think that someone in the BBC hierarchy had issued an edict that the Syrian president’s name should be pronounced by all journalists in accordance with the Pronunciation Unit’s recommendation, with stress on the first syllable of … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: bbc, english, john humphrys, pronunciation, radio 4, reporters, speech | Permalink

November 13, 2012
by Graham
0 comments

Politics alert!

I don’t often comment on BBC politics or indeed any BBC matters apart from language use, but here goes: In the now notorious interview that George Entwistle gave to John Humphrys on the Radio 4 “Today” programme last Saturday morning, … Continue reading →

Categories: General | Tags: bbc, john humphrys, radio 4 | Permalink

March 18, 2012
by Graham
5 Comments

Hesitation, deviation, repetition

In a New Year broadcast, the veteran radio critic of the Daily Telegraph, Gillian Reynolds, took the BBC’s “Today” presenters to task for their umming and erring. When they were about to interview someone, she said, they must often have … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: bbc, english, john humphrys, pronunciation, radio 4 | Permalink

March 1, 2010
by Graham
0 comments

Bleck Het

John Humphrys has been sounding off about the English language – again. Why is it that reporters – journalists – believe that because language is their stock in trade, therefore they know all about it? This particular article, published in … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: bbc, david crystal, english, john humphrys, journalists, reporters | Permalink

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  • Accentism (3)
    • Sidney Wood: Graham, that’s a neater way of putting it. No deliberate decisions to change. And which direction...
    • Graham: Sidney – I can’t say that my accent is the same now as it was fifty five years ago, just before I...
    • Sidney Wood: Graham, regarding the last paragraph. In the 1950s as my national (military) service was coming to an...
  • How do you pronounce ‘GH’? (2)
    • Graham: Good point! I wasn’t considering such compounds.
    • Laura Nass: also “stronghold” and “bighearted”
  • Slivers or Slithers (6)
    • Graham: Mink – I’m sure you’re right. Your phrase “phonetic overgeneralisation” is what...
    • Mink Schapper: I have been wondering whether the sliver / slither convergence is a phonetic overgeneralisation of...
  • B(e)aring all (2)
    • Graham: Paul – I did have my suspicions, but didn’t like to ask the young lady who answered the door...
    • Paul Hopkins: Also “Before they will allow you…”. Possibly the writer’s first language...
  • Regionalisms (13)
    • Graham: Malc – You have a far more optimistic view of the sophistication of the 19th century urban population...
    • Malc: Graham, Coventry schools, in the 1940s, taught us, that Britain’s prevailing wind is typically from the...
    • Graham: Malc – That’s an interesting hypothesis, but I’m not sure that the working classes of the...
  • Buttigieg (3)
    • Graham: Bernard Shaw (and before him, Oscar Wilde) once said that the UK and the USA were two countries divided by a...
    • Larry: “…but because despite Americans’ well-known difficulty with languages other than English (some...
  • Apostrophes (3)
    • Gordon Mylam: As I had been losing sleep, thinking about whether Potters Bar should be Potter’s Bar or...

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