October 26, 2012
by Graham
7 Comments
The BBC’s Arts guru Mark Lawson is setting himself up as an expert in Scandinavian crime writing. As such, you would think that he would care about the pronunciation of the names of the writers he’s interviewing and talking about, … Continue reading
October 1, 2012
by Graham
1 Comment
John Simpson of the OED was interviewed by Evan Davies on last Friday’s Radio 4 Today programme, about ‘new words’ in the OED. One of the words mentioned was medal, used as a verb, which Evan had noticed for the … Continue reading
March 18, 2012
by Graham
5 Comments
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
April 6, 2011
by Graham
5 Comments
I was taken aback to hear Anthony Horowitz, scriptwriter for many TV programmes, including Midsomer Murders, Foyle’s War, and Poirot as well as many children’s books, use the pronunciation /ˈleɪpəl/ in an interview Saturday Live, BBC Radio 4’s Saturday morning … Continue reading
March 12, 2011
by Graham
5 Comments
This word has caused more trouble than most when trying to decide on a pronunciation. The BBC’s pre-war Advisory Committee on Spoken English managed to change its mind twice in the course of ten years before giving up on a … Continue reading
October 18, 2010
by Graham
4 Comments
In last week’s In Our Time, (Radio 4, Thursday 14 October) one of Melvyn Bragg’s guests was Tim Blanning, Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at Cambridge University The discussion was about the Sturm und Drang movement in 18th Century … Continue reading
April 22, 2010
by Graham
4 Comments
I’ve just been listening to “In Our Time” on BBC Radio 4 (the latest one available as a podcast, 22 April 2010), and was struck yet again how inconsistent English speakers are in their treatment of Latin names. The discussion … Continue reading
April 20, 2010
by Graham
13 Comments
I notice that BBC Radio 4 announcers regularly pronounce Ms O’Leary’s family name as /əʊˈlɛəri/. I suppose from her accent that this is what she calls herself, but I’m wondering if following suit when one does not have an Irish … Continue reading
March 22, 2010
by Graham
3 Comments
At about 8.20 this morning, on the Today programme, Nick Robinson (the BBC’s Political Editor) said that the opposition parties would want to ‘hone in’ on the revelations that Stephen Byers (former Minister for Transport) had been caught claiming to … Continue reading
March 15, 2010
by Graham
3 Comments
Listening to “Start the Week” on BBC Radio 4 this morning (15 March) I was astonished to hear one of the participants use this word and pronounce it /kɒgˈnaɪtɪv/. This is not given by any of the current dictionaries of … Continue reading