"If you want to hide something in the 21st century world, you don't need to create a James Bond style plot. Just cover it in acronyms".
Gillian Tett is a columnist at the Financial Times, but she initially trained as a cultural anthropologist, studying marriage rituals in Tajikistan.
She joins Michael Rosen to discuss how the study of language has been vital to her work, who continues to see the world through the lens of an anthropologist. The pair talk about the etymology of words like 'company', 'office', and 'bank', why we should all speak more like the Dutch, how Brits in the workplace are more similar to the Japanese, and why it would be useful for all of us to think more like an anthropologist.
Gillian Tett is the author of Fool's Gold, The Silo Effect, and Antho-Vision.
Producer: Eliza Lomas, BBC Audio Bristol.
Psychiatrist and Patient
The Life Inside: Philosophy in Prison
Richard Osman's love of language
Interpreting for Mum and Dad
Subtitles
Snap Crackle and Every Little Helps - the language of food advertising
Grammar Table
Band names
Exclamation Marks!!
Nihal Arthanayake on conversation
Like
A Murmuration of Starlings
The Art of Apologies
Ghosting Caking and Breadcrumbing
Lords and Ladies: Folk Names for Plants and Flowers
My Stammer Story
What is language actually good for?
Nathan Filer on the ways we talk about mental health
Weather Words
The language we use about children in care
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Global News Podcast
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
The Infinite Monkey Cage
You’re Dead to Me
Elis James and John Robins