Patrick Cox

Patrick Cox

Patrick Cox runs The World's language desk. He reports and edits stories about the globalization of English, the bilingual brain, translation technology and more. He also hosts The World's podcast on language, The World in Words.

Boris Johnson on How London Made the English Language

July 27, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment
Photo: Andy Wilkes via Flickr

Photo: Andy Wilkes via Flickr

Boris Johnson, the exuberant mayor of London, stars in the World in Words podcast this week. He’s the author of Johnson’s Life of London in which he argues that the English language wouldn’t have become nearly so inventive had it not been for London and its restless, diverse citizenry.

Before that, here’s a translation app we could all use for the Olympics: something to explain all those technical terms in sports that we really only pay attention to once every four years.

TV commentators love to use them (“Oh gosh, she’s windmilling”).

On the Big Show, we had a little quiz involving four such words:

Fletchings: In archery, theses are the small colorful wings on the end of arrows. They are the modern plastic version of feathers.

Eggbeater: In synchronized swimming, the eggbeater kick is a preferred method for treading water. The swimmer is in a sitting position.

Randolph: in trampolining, a forward somersault with two and a half twists.

Bonk: in triathlon and some other sports, it means hitting the wall, or running out of steam.

A new mobile translation app to help Olympics volunteers communicate with athletes and tourists

If you’re a retailer in London, the thing you fear most is a visit from the Olympic Brand Police.

London’s Poetry Parnassus, which brought together poets from around the world. More on that here.

Reading Dickens in installments online: the digitization of all of Charles Dickens’ novels in their original serial form. Project Boz, as it’s called, is based at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. And I didn’t include it in the pod, but here’s a Big Show story about the controversy over the closure of the Charles Dickens museum for most of 2012– not only the year of the Olympics in London but also the bicentenary of Dickens’ birth.

Also, here’s a previous pod with a couple of items on cockney rhyming slang.

Discussion

One comment for “Boris Johnson on How London Made the English Language”

  • freyda

    Eggbeaters are used in Water Polo, it’s like treading water, but much more strenuous leg action.  I tried practicing them one time & could barely walk for two days.