Only £10 on Amazon (paperback) / £2.99 (eBook)
Politics with its warts and all!
Get Brexit done!
It is the day after the General Election in Britain and Boris Johnson, the newly re-elected Prime Minister of the country, is standing on the steps of Downing Street delivering his address to the nation. Within 30 seconds of starting his speech, that oft-repeated phrase ‘Get Brexit done’ has tripped from his lips. This well-trodden phrase, that was at the heart of the Tory election strategy, is now a permanent feature of the Prime Minister’s discourse.
Slips of the Tongue
Some slips of the tongue (speech errors) for analysis. Latest ones on top.
“No, listen to my arguments instead of hearing all yours!”
Lord Lilley being interviewed by Emily Maitlis on BBC Newsnight. I like how the interviewee sets his own agenda and tries to control the floor in line 08 and then in 14.
Continue reading ““No, listen to my arguments instead of hearing all yours!””
“Can I explain why?” “No explain how.”
Andrew Neil interviewed Jeremy Corbyn on BBC television tonight. Neil is a forensic interviewer who usually pins his interviewees down to exact words and syllables. But Corbyn is know for his own brand of stubbornness, and there was one wonderful moment when the two negotiated the terms of a question like children in the school yard fighting over whether to play tag or hide and seek.
MARR: “I know the answer”
Political interviewers like to pretend that they are are asking genuine questions to their political guests. But sometimes it is revealed all too clearly that their questions are really designed to try and steer the guest towards a particular answer.
I AM answering the question
Politicians often get accused of not answering questions but sometimes they fight back as Andy McDonald did on Friday.
Quote of the week
“I want nothing. I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo.”
Donald Trump, September 9th 2019
Gove’s gestures
Michael Gove, Conservative MP, serves up some curious hand gestures while speaking including teacup gestures and steeple Vulcans. Here are some of the more interesting examples from his interview on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday.
Bercow: Chuntering from a sedentary position
John Bercow retired from the post of The Speaker in the House of Commons. Here are some of his best bits from this website.
Continue reading “Bercow: Chuntering from a sedentary position”
Quote of the week
“The prime minister said he would die and yet he lives! Who does he think he is? The people of this country expect him to be dead, and he has the temerity to come here today, both living and breathing.”
@MorganPlain, Twitter, 29th October 2019
Eye fluttering
Politicians use all means to try and grab and hold the floor during interviews including non-verbal means. Nigel Farage has developed an interesting technique where he flutters his eyes for a few seconds, almost bringing them to a close, in an attempt to shut out the interviewer and hold the floor.
Quote of the week
“It’s like saying I want to get childbirth over and done with so I can get back to getting lots of sleep and reading lots of novels.”
Helen Lewis, The Andrew Marr Show, BBC, 20th October 2019
New species observed since Brexit referendum
Brexit has not only changed the political landscape but has also given rise to a number of new species in the Homo genus according to scientists. Here is a quick run through some of the newcomers.
Continue reading “New species observed since Brexit referendum”
Impolite conversation of the week
Sometimes being impolite and creating conflict doesn’t take much effort. All you need to do is raise your voice!
Quote of the week
“once again we’re living above the shop!”
Sajid Javid, Conservative Party Conference, 30th September 2019
Fighting for control of the floor
Fight for control of the floor can sometimes produce odd utterances out of the mouths of the interlocutors. Here is Boris Johnson and Nick Robinson spluttering syllables like bird wings flapping in the air as they fight for the turn in an interview on Radio 4 Today programme.
Holding the floor: Eyes down
The eyes play an important part in human communication. They can signal an intention to communicate and sometimes act to facilitate turn transition. In this example here, we see Tom Watson, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, using his eyes to hold the floor during an interview on Sunday.
Quote of the week
“She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”
Donald Trump, Twitter, 23rd September 2019
Quote of the week
“Mr Davey, you have to understand, that we’re all looking at you as hypocrites.”
Audience member, BBC Question Time, 19th September 2019
Chuntering from a sedentary position
John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, likes to pick up on members who ‘chunter from a sedentary position’ – a slightly politer, and perhaps archaic, way of saying ‘shut up and stop muttering’.
Can I say s**t in the House of Commons?
Certain words in the House of Commons are normally taboo but sometimes it is possible to get away with using them by quoting someone and asking for ‘leave’ from The Speaker.
Exasperation and incredulity!
Political commentators and journalists all have their own idiosyncratic styles when interviewing politicians. Emily Maitlis, the BBC Newsnight commentator, often shows exasperation and incredulity in her voice through sweeping intonation falls and facial expressions. Here is a brief analysis to show how she uses linguistic features to signal this attitude.
Quote of the week
“HS2, we’re probably too pregnant to pull out.”
Tracy Brabin, 23rd May 2019 (BBC QT)
Conversation Analysis – BBC Question Time (part 1)
Editor: The BBC’s Question Time programme on Thursday nights seems to court controversy these days as we hold it to ever more stringent impartiality standards. In this blog, Elena Ioannidou dissects the discourse that this programme produces from a CA perspective. The blog is split into two parts. Part two is here.
Continue reading “Conversation Analysis – BBC Question Time (part 1)”
Conversation Analysis – BBC Question Time (part 2)
Editor: This is part 2 of the blog on the BBC Question Time programme. Part 1 is here.
Continue reading “Conversation Analysis – BBC Question Time (part 2)”
Linguistic Rapping
Negotiating the floor can take on epic proportions at times with your interlocutor when you both want to get something out. In the following two examples, David Davis and John Humphrys almost end up rapping together as they fight for the floor with each other!
Quote of the week
“If you now try to hold us in against our will you will be facing perfidious Albion on speed.”
Mark Francois, 10th April 2019
Quote of the week
Reporter: How long is a long extension, please?
Juncker: Until the very end.
Jean Claude Juncker, 21st March 2019
Slip of the Tongue: Brexit
The dreaded Brexit slip strikes again!
Holding the Floor
What is the best way to guarantee nobody ever interrupts you during a debate?
Quote of the week
“If this doesn’t work out, I’ll probably will do it, maybe definitely.”
Donald Trump, 10th January 2019
The many faces of ‘no’
Theresa May seems to have developed many ways of saying ‘no’ without actually meaning it. In her interview with Andrew Marr at the weekend, she frequently used reduced articulations of the word (e.g. ‘n-’) to preface her responses to Marr’s questions.
Slip of the Tongue: Titsly Come Dancing
Speech errors don’t get much better when they appear in front of a live audience of millions on the BBC for the final of Strictly Come Dancing. This Freudian slips will go down as one of the classics.
Quote of the week
“I believe that all fish should be in the sea.”
Benjamin Zephaniah, BBC Question Time, 29th November 2018
Slips of the Tongue: Repair Procedures
Slips of the tongue (speech errors) nearly always include some repair whereby the speaker realises the mistake and then attempts to correct for their error.
Slip of the Tongue: Borrowing from downstream
Speech errors (slips of the tongue) often ‘borrow’ from language in the mind that is downstream of the target language. Here is a good example from Theresa May at PMQs.
Continue reading “Slip of the Tongue: Borrowing from downstream”
Whooo! There’s that Corbyn stare again.
Prime Minister’s questions (PMQs) got a ‘whooo!’ of surprise today when Jeremy Corbyn was speaking at the dispatch box.
Bad things always come in threes
One way to put a politician on the spot is to ask them how many people have been affected by their policy. Three times seems to be the optimum number of times to ask according to the Andrew Marr’s rulebook as he interviewed Theresa May on Sunday.
Howzat! A hat trick of slips.
Slips of the tongue can be annoying for interviewers when they happen once. But when one error leads into another and then another, all in the space of a few words, it can be triply frustrating.
