Main content

Small Talk

Pointless chit chat or vital social lubricant? Michael Rosen and Dr Laura Wright talk small talk with psychotherapist and writer Philippa Perry.

Pointless chit chat or vital social lubricant? Michael Rosen and Dr Laura Wright talk small talk with psychotherapist and writer Philippa Perry, author of 'How to Stay Sane'. Why do we bother with small talk? What are the rules of banter? And what are we really talking about when we talk about the weather?

Producer: Mair Bosworth.

Available now

28 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Tue 27 Sep 2016 16:00
  • Mon 3 Oct 2016 23:00

Seven ways to make your small talk big

Transform your small talk from bland clich茅 to earth-shattering rhetoric.

From blunk to brickfielder: our wonderful words for weather

From blunk to brickfielder: our wonderful words for weather

Exploring creative descriptions for wind, rainfall and sunny spells from around the world

Digital body language 鈥 how to communicate better online

Digital body language 鈥 how to communicate better online

We need to find new ways of talking to each other 鈥渧irtually鈥.

Coinages that changed the world 鈥 and some that tried to...

Coinages that changed the world 鈥 and some that tried to...

Exploring the hidden histories of obscure words, and common buzz phrases.

Ittibitium, borborygmus, and Ba humbugi 鈥 14 wonderful science words you鈥檝e never heard of

Ittibitium, borborygmus, and Ba humbugi 鈥 14 wonderful science words you鈥檝e never heard of

Michael Rosen puts the language of science under the microscope.

Download this programme

Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes.

Keywords for Our Time

Series of programmes examining key phrases in public debate.

Smiley face: Seven things you didn't know about emoji

Some facts about emoji - possibly the world's first truly global form of communication.

The funny words that kids invent

Have a look at some of the fantastic words that children invent and reimagine.

Podcast