RobWords
@robwordsYT
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Making videos about words. Podcast: Free newsletter: Patreon community:
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Pinned Tweet
❓️ Which is the only English city named after a woman?
🤢 What is Nottingham's disgusting former name?
🏰 What's so new about Newcastle's castle?
Watch my 🎥NEW VIDEO🎥 to find out!
(Please, it took aaages)
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It is some small consolation to me that Iceland’s scorer is giving much-deserved exposure to my favourite Old English letter.
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Did you know a load of our letters started out as Egyptian hieroglyphs?
In my NEW VIDEO I look at the origins of the alphabet.
Also discover...
🧇Why W is called double-U
💤Whether it's "zee" or "zed"
🧩Why I and J are the same letter
WATCH HERE PLEASE:
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How far can we trace English back?
As far back as a long-lost ancestor shared with just about every other European language (and many in Asia too).
In my NEW VIDEO I explore our great-great-great-[...]-grandmother tongue: Proto-Indo-European
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I've been tackling my own ignorance about the Celtic languages.
I've interviewed speakers of 🏴Welsh, 🇮🇪Irish, 🏴Scottish Gaelic, 🏴Cornish and 🇮🇲Manx to lean more.
These languages are awesome.
NEW VIDEO:
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I'VE STARTED A PODCAST!
Sorry to shout. Excited.
In "Words Unravelled" supreme word nerd and ace human being
@JessZafarris
and I unravel the mysteries behind everyday terms.
Be among the first to watch or listen:
LISTEN:
WATCH:
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The French statesman Georges Clemenceau supposedly liked to claim,
"The English language doesn't exist, it's just badly pronounced French."
Was he sort of right?
Let's 'ave a look:
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LOOK OOT!
I've done another video. This one is about the notorious Great Vowel Shift and the merry mess it made of English spelling.
WATCH:
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My new video is literally quite unique.
It's about the words we've misused and overused to the point of rendering them useless.
With totally awesome contributions from the fabulous
@PeterSokolowski
...
Please do WATCH HERE:
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1 video.
22 minutes.
50 US state names explained.
This was quite a lot of work.
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How would English look if William the Conqueror had lost the Battle of Hastings?
Find out in my 🎥NEW VIDEO!🎥
Featuring
@theanglishtimes
WATCH HERE:
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This was in my latest newsletter. The link to German "werden" (he becomes = er wird) was such a revelation to me.
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I am *chomping at the bit* to share with you my 🎥NEW VIDEO🎥 all about EGGCORNS.
In it, I explain *in lame-man's terms* how these quirky misheard words and phrases come about.
I'll be *internally grateful* if you WATCH IT HERE:
@LanguageLog
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If imitation is flattery, someone is flattering the heck out of me...
See the OG video here:
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Blimey, a million views in a month! Thanks if you watched.
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Removing the French and Latin loan words from the US Constitution leaves... almost nothing.
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The English alphabet is about 500 years out of date.
In my 🎥NEW VIDEO🎥 I've taken the liberty of making it fit for the 21st century.
PLEASE WATCH HERE:
Apologies in advance for the singing.
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NEW VIDEO!
Let's take an etymological trip around Britain.
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Just ran a half marathon with my pal Lars (left) and met a dog person (centre).
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🐳 Have you ever plunged arselong into a whaleway?
🪄 Are you too wordhasty to be a wondersmith?
😱 Are you prone to the odd bout of morrowsorrow?
Don't know? FIND OUT NOW!
Watch my new video about Old English words that are overdue a comeback:
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English is so flippin' weird.
NEW VIDEO!
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🥇Why is gold's chemical symbol Au (not Go)?
❓Is it aloominyum or alooooominum?
🧚🏼Which element is a pixie in disguise?
Find out in my 🎥NEW VIDEO🎥 where we explore the etymology of the periodic table.
Please give it a watch here:
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I have a 🎥NEW VIDEO🎥 exploring the many reasons that 📕books get banned.
I visited the world's only Banned Books Museum and discovered all kinds of stories.
WATCH:
@thebannedbooks
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Something delightful came through my letterbox. Thank you if you subscribed!
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Why do we have so many whacky words for groups of things?
Find out in my 🎥NEW VIDEO!🎥
Feat.
📊A business of ferrets
🦊A skulk of foxes
🎓A school of fish (of course)
⏱An impatience of wives 🤨
PLEASE WATCH:
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🐇 Which country is the "land of the rabbits"?
🇩🇪 Why does Germany have so many different names?
🇳🇱 Where do the Dutch actually live?
🇭🇷 What links Croatians and neckties?
These questions (and many more) answered in my 🚨NEW VIDEO🚨:
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I've been on my travels for my 🎥NEW VIDEO🎥
Do join me on a tour of the world's weirdest (and rudest) place names.
Kindly give it a watch:
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Well I don't think this is going to satisfy anyone. Well done me.
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Here are my cheeky little tricks for reading 🇩🇪German words.
To understand why they (often) work, give my video a watch:
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10% of Japanese🇯🇵 words are from English. That's loads!
I had no idea before going to Japan. So I've put that and a few other surprising things I learned in my...
🎥NEW VIDEO🎥
Please justify me interrupting my honeymoon to film this by clicking here:
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Are there any characters in other languages that you think English would benefit from having?
I'm thinking things like ß from German or Ñ from Spanish (look how gorgeous "Please paß the oñon" is🧅😍).
I'd love some suggestions from non-Roman alphabets too.
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toki 👋
It's the world's tiniest language with just 120[ish] words. But thousands of people use Toki Pona to communicate every day.
Kindly check out my 🎥NEW VIDEO🎥 all about it.
WATCH HERE:
#tokipona
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English spelling is a nightmare 😱
But it couĬd bē imprōved by adding accėnt màrks.
In my new videö, I've desiğned a way to ūse thėm.
WÀTCH HĒRE:
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Hands up if you just spent two hours filming in sub-zero temperatures and came back with zero usable content.
🙋♂️
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Dilemma: I have to read out this brand name on the news in a couple of hours. Do I say it the British way (as is in my nature) or the American?
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🗣What makes us like one language and dislike another?
Is 🇮🇹Italian really so delightful and 🇩🇪German harsh on the ear?
...or is something clouding our judgment?
Find out in my 🎥NEW VIDEO🎥!
PLEASE WATCH HERE:
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Our alphabet, our calendar and a *colossal* number of words.
My 🎥NEW VIDEO🎥 explores the massive influence of 🏛LATIN on the English language.
Vidi it HERE:
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@susie_dent
@HobdayHarriet
Susie, my 340,000 word-loving subscribers and I would love you to come on my YouTube channel. How can I make this happen?
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With such clear instructions, we're certain to make it out safe and sound.
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English spelling is a mess and our alphabet carries much of the blame.
In my NEW VIDEO I explore an alternative: the Shavian 𐑖𐑱𐑝𐑾𐑯 alphabet.
Its 48 characters represent all the sounds in English.
Watch here and learn how to use it:
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📖What's a dictionary writer's favourite word?
🦨What does it mean when a word is 'skunked'?
🤖Will AI change how dictionaries are made?
Find out from my wonderful wordy geek-out with lexicographer
@PeterSokolowski
of
@MerriamWebster
Watch it here:
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Cool to see my video about "English without the 'foreign' bits" is now quoted on the homepage.
If you haven't given it a watch yet, here it is:
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Can you be ruthful as well as ruthless?
Can unkempt hair be kempt, or the nonchalant rendered chalant?
🎥Find out in my new video about "LOST POSITIVES"🎥
WATCH:
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10k subscribers to our little YouTube channel,
@JessZafarris
! And only around 6k of them are directly attributable to your pirate impression.
#WordsUnravelled
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The dangers of the long s
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🗓How did our months get their names?🗓
Allow me to explain in my NEW VIDEO 🎥
Find out the (sometimes hilarious 🐄🐄🐄) Anglo Saxon names for the months and discover which month used to be the start of the year.
WATCH HERE PLEASE:
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The marvellously American
@JessZafarris
and I have been pitting our respective Englishes against one another.
We cover cookies v biscuits, chips v fries, trousers v pants.
And there's a bizarre bit where we compare fannies.
Please watch:
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Couldn't be more excited about this one...
For my latest video I'm joined by THE ACTUAL
@SUSIE_DENT
!
Watch us talk through some of her favourite weird and wonderful words - from scurryfunge to thunderplump - HERE:
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Our every chat is a dorky delight.
It's a such a dream working with
@robwordsYT
on our podcast, Words Unravelled.
Every episode I get to talk about etymology with someone who loves it just as much as I do.
And how fortunate I am that he's such a fabulous video and audio editor!
In short, no haddywyst here. ❤️
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Having an absolute blast trying to decipher these 15th century collective nouns...
🐻A sleuth of bears
🐦A dissimulation of birds
🤦♀️A bevy of ladies
Any other gems?
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The Map Men at their hilarious and informative best:
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"Mum, te gusta el dress?"
In Gibraltar they speak a unique language that mixes zesty Andalusian Spanish with British English.
It's called Llanito and, unfortunately, it's dying out.
My latest video looks at how it works and why it's worth saving:
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📽️ NEW VIDEO! 📽️
It's about the HUGE influence of Old Norse on English.
Did you know we get "they/them"⚧️ from the Vikings?
Or that the norsemen stopped us confusing our eggs🥚 and our eyes👀?
Those facts and loads more here:
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So, friends, I am starting a 📧NEWSLETTER📧
It will be full of etymology facts, language fun and other wordy stuff. I'm really looking forward to getting cracking.
Subscribe here to get the first one later this week:
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Macchiato means 'stained' coffee just as immaculate means 'unstained'.
This fact has made my year.
More wordy revelations from me and
@JessZafarris
in our latest podcast:
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🎬 NEW VIDEO!! 🎬
Did you know a hundred wasn't always 💯? Or that 1,000,000,000 used to be called a milliard?
These revelations and more are in my new video about BIG NUMBER WORDS.
Please watch:
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Ibobbed?
Afterblismed?
Quert?
Which medieval words should we bring back?
Choose from an A to (almost) Z of delightful defunct terms in my 📽NEW VIDEO!📽
Here you go:
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📽️NEW VIDEO!📽️
🌈The amazing stories behind our words for colours.
⚫️Black, 🔵blue and 🟠orange are my favourites.
KINDLY WATCH HERE:
#etymology
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How long in Germany before you stop hearing "Danke dir" as "Thank you, dear"?
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🦕Dinosaur names look complicated but are actually ridiculously simple.
Triceratops = three horn face
Brachiosaurus = arm lizard
Gallimimus = chicken mimic
Velociraptor = speedy thief
My NEW VIDEO explores these and many more with help from
@NHM_London
2
7
30
A wonderful word for the new year. And one Susie and I discussed in this:
Word of the Day (because it’s about time) is ‘respair’, from the 16th century. It means fresh hope, and a recovery from despair. One of too many lost positives we could do with bringing back.
Wishing everyone a gruntled, gormful, ruthful and feckful New Year, full of respair.
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Hold on. Is the expansion of BRICS just part of an unfinished marketing ploy?
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English used to have a wonderful letter called THORN (þ) 🥰
It served the same purpose as "th" does today, only... better.
🎥 Enjoy this snippet from my YouTube vid about lost letters.
(Watch the full thing here: )
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Übermorgen and overmorrow: use them both today! Or the day after tomorrow...
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I was ruthlessly bullied by some local kids while filming my latest YouTube video.
The footage was too savage to include in the video itself, but just for you Twitter folks, here's a taste...
(See how I suffered? So please watch the full thing: )
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I was after "mardy" (a word I grew up with) but how good is "manners-bit"?
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This is FANTASTIC!
Easily convət your text into ϑe ñew and improved eŋliʂ alphabet:
i saw
@robwordsYT
's video about updatiŋ ϑe eŋliʂ alphabet and me, always haviŋ loved expəimentiŋ wiϑ writiŋ systems ϑought to myself "you know what? yes." and so həe we are! i made my own vəsion. hope i'm not ϑe only one ϑat ϑinks it's cool.
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Is there a word whose meaning has become so ambiguous that you avoid using it?
Refute is one of mine. Seems to be used for both "deny" and "disprove".
Any others?
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In my new video I rewrite it with some Anglo-Saxon vocab. Check it out:
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Can't believe I've only just discovered
@englishhistpod
. If you enjoy the
#English
geekery you find in my videos, you've got to listen to this podcast.
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Which 🇩🇪German words should English steal?
In my 🎥NEW VIDEO🎥 I make the case for 10 of them with the help of the marvellous
@ItsMarieSina
.
Watch here:
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Why do I insist on recording these things outdoors? I also sat on a nest of ants.
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I adore this. Give it a watch.
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