Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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Why do Americans and Brits have the accents they have? Sociolinguist, professor and author Valerie Fridland joins Rob and Jess this week to discuss why we talk funny.

🍮 Does 'caramel' have one or two syllables?
🪶 Do Americans sound more like Shakespeare than Brits?
🎩 Why do some accents sound 'posher' than others?

These questions answered, an many more, in another gloriously nerdy episode of Words Unravelled.

📘 VALERIE'S BOOKS 📕
Why We Talk Funny: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/744046/why-we-talk-funny-by-valerie-fridland
Like, Literally, Dude: penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671558/like-literally-dude-by-valerie-fridland

👕 OUR MERCH 👚
US SHOP: wordsunravelledshop.myspreadshop.com
EU/UK SHOP: wordsunravelledshop.myspreadshop.net

👂LISTEN: podfollow.com/words-unravelled-with-robwords-and-jess-zafarris
or search for "Words Unravelled" wherever you get your podcasts.

==LINKS==
Rob's YouTube channel: youtube.com/robwords
Jess' Useless Etymology blog: uselessetymology.com
Rob on X: x.com/robwordsyt
Jess on TikTok: tiktok.com/@jesszafarris

#etymology #wordfacts #English