Language of Food
Words and Actions
Let’s tuck into the language of food! We discuss advertisements for plant-based food and for meat and dairy, look at cookbooks with our interview guests, and find out how different descriptions of one and the same dish can make it cost more than twice as much in one place than another. Along the way, five people tell us about their work on everything from multilingualism in Korean coffeehouses to the use of foreign languages in early modern English recipes. Liberally sprinkled with metaphors, episode 32 is a feast of all things culinary and linguistic. The episode is accompanied by a...
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The language of emotions
Words and Actions
OMG!! A new Words & Actions episode has landed and we couldn’t be more excited! In this start to a six-part series, “The language of…”, we look at the language of emotion: in the workplace, in advertising and in online selling. There is a fair bit of swearing, our interview guest tells us about emotional labour, and in the end, your hosts get hit in the feels about a charity ad. Join us for a rollercoaster episode! First we look at a reaction by a company they posted online in response to reviews. This takes us straight to swearing. The work on swearing in...
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Financial Communication
Words and Actions
How do you talk money without losing trust—or your audience? From quarterly earnings calls to investor pitches, the world of financial communication is a tightrope walk of clarity, persuasion, and credibility. What makes numbers sound good? When does transparent/positive become too transparent/positive? And why does jargon sometimes feel like the best financial armour? Tune in for a lively dive into the art (?) of financial storytelling—with three experts sharing plenty of insights, red flags, laughs, and a nudge to rethink your next fiscal update and/or investment, especially when your...
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Language in Business, Language at Work
Words and Actions
Wait a minute. Why does ‘corporate consultant’ sound more prestigious than ‘business consultant’? Or does it? Do they mean the same thing? How does organizational communication differ from corporate or business communication? And what topics, genres and text types should textbooks on communication in these settings tackle when the genres themselves are blended? Welcome to the challenges of three authors revising a textbook on the power of language in business(?), now turned into a podcast episode and made even more interesting with Wittgenstein and Jonathan Clifton joining the writing...
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The Language of Corporate Social Responsibility: Language Discrimination
Words and Actions
Raves, poker nights and Marvel movies – no costs or effort were spared in this final episode on CSR to raise awareness about one of the most pervasive manifestations of discrimination: accentism. In the presence of experts, we uncover what is hidden beneath the surface, and just when we thought we would never judge someone based on the sound waves they produce, we dare(d) ourselves and you to eat the pudding… Long Notes: More information, a full transcript and academic references on wordsandactions.blog. We start episode 28 by critically reflecting on anti-discrimination efforts...
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Language awareness in the age of AI
Words and Actions
ChatGPT & company are here to stay. And so are linguists. Find out why in our exploration of the capabilities and shortcomings of generative AI and how it will affect the competences of lecturers, students and practitioners in business communication and beyond. Via tricks and tips on how to integrate these powerful text production tools in and outside the classroom, W&A once again underscores the crucial importance of language awareness and the human touch in the digital era. The discussion will take us past proper prompt engineering, output analysis, digital sweatshops and...
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The Language of Corporate Social Responsibility: Ecolinguistics
Words and Actions
Prepare to meet some ignorant pigs and silly cows in our second episode on CSR... Together with an expert in ecolinguistics, we will explore the discursive construction of our ideology-laden relationship to nature (and animals in particular!) via the analysis of presuppositions and metaphors, going from tepid COP27 implementation plans on global heating to Chinese self-serving CSR reporting. It will become painfully clear how and why language matters and you'll find out more about your ecosomatic awareness. As always, you can find more information, references to research and a...
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The Language of Corporate Social Responsibility: Responsible Communication
Words and Actions
All good things come in threes. Or more. Add a Chief Sustainability Officer, a body positive Barbie doll, a purple inclusive M&M and an actual expert in applied ethics and you get a lively discussion on true colours, washings and genuine CSR efforts in the first episode of our new mini-series (it comes in threes) on corporate social responsibility. Have a listen and find out more, including how energy companies account for their profits and your bills via legitimisation strategies. More information about the podcast and a full...
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Selling Hard and Soft
Words and Actions
Are you one of those people who is always tricked into doing or buying things you don’t want? Do you want to find out how they do it or how to do it yourself? You’re in luck! If you listen to this episode, you will find out all about it! You will even get free access to all the other W&A episodes on language in business, politics and beyond and you’ll discover that your current annoyance and reluctance by reading this is caused by genre awareness. Do it now or regret it later! #hardselltacticsshamelesslybroughttoyoubuyW&A. The episode, as always, is accompanied by a blog...
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Language and Identity Online
Words and Actions
Your identity is a right old mess. As is ours, mind you… and don‘t get us started on Marcus Rashford! In this episode we delve into the different layers and facets of identity construction in digital space. Via small stories, solo selfies and networked narratives, we offer ways to inspect different senses of selves as they are created in online environments. The journey will take us past talking dogs, overpowering teacher personas (yes, we are talking about ourselves!) socially constructed bosses, and walking gods. And we will get started on Marcus Rashford. For...
info_outlineThe episode is accompanied by a blog - for images, references and a full transcript please visit wordsandactionspodcast.
Creed, A. (2026). Wine words, cultural worlds: A systematic review of metaphor and language in global wine communication. Terminology. https://doi.org/10.1075/term.
The second sound clip, by Michael Chesnut, he mentions this article about coffee shops in South Korea:
Curran, N. M., Istad, F., & Chesnut, M. (2025). Standing out and fitting in: Korean coffee entrepreneurs’ strategies for survival. Food, Culture & Society, 28(3), 573-592.
The Brexit/breakfast confusion is documented in this video, with serious politicians and news presenters providing unintentional humour.
As mentioned by the hosts, several recent conferences have addressed the topic of language and food, including Digital P(a)lates on the language of online food practices, which was held in March 2026 at th Fee University Berlin (with Keri Matwick as one of the keynote speakers).
The third clip is by Ursula Kania, and for those of our listeners who read German, we warmly recommend this chapter on lesbian and gay cookbooks:
Kania, U. (2017). Warme Mahlzeiten oder: Was is(s)t eine Lesbe? Eine semiosoziologische Analyse schwul-lesbischer Kochbücher. In H. Dingeldein, & E. Gredel (Eds.), Diskurse des Alimentären: Essen und Trinken aus kultur-, literatur- und sprachwissenschaftlicher Perspektive (pp. 229-247). LIT Verlag.
Ursula’s contribution is followed by a sound clip by Marco Bagli, who demonstrates just how broad the scope of language and food research is, from Italian food at the courts of Elizabeth I and James I to Italianness as a translingual and multimodal identity in digital food discourse. And there is more on metaphor as well in his 2021 book:
Bagli, M. (2021). Tastes We Live by: The linguistic conceptualisation of taste in English. Walter de Gruyter.
Still in the introduction, the hosts talk about marketing plant-based foods. For an article on veganism and masculinity, see:
Brookes, G., & Chałupnik, M. (2022). ‘Real men grill vegetables, not dead animals’: Discourse representations of men in an online vegan community. Discourse, Context & Media, 49, 100640.
On the plant-based side, Oatley’s advert pitting its product against Cowhead, a representative of the dairy industry, can be found here and has been analysed in this article:
Ledin, P., & Machin, D. (2020). Replacing actual political activism with ethical shopping: The case of Oatly. Discourse, Context & Media, 34, 100344.
The metaphor of language as a window pane is proposed by Guy Cook in this book:
Cook, G. (2004). Genetically Modified Language: The discourse of arguments for GM crops and food. Routledge.
This episode’s interview guest, Marcelyn Oostendorp, and Erika talk about cookbooks and the cuisine of the Malay quarter of Cape Town.
Marcelyn mentions this article by chef Ruby Tamdoh on the proliferation of food memoirs:
Tandoh, R. (2017). The meaning of a food memoir. The Guardian, 3 November. https://www.theguardian.com/
The analysis section focuses on the relation between descriptions and prices of dishes in restaurants. Matt mentions a book on the language of menus, while Veronika refers to earlier research on the literacy requirements for writing and costing menus:
Jurafsky, D. (2014). The Language of Food: A linguist reads the menu. WW Norton & Company.
Satchwell, C., & Ivanič, R. (2007). The textuality of learning contexts in UK colleges. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 15(3), 303–316. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lancs.
Finally, the parallel between sparse food descriptions and empty spaces in advertising for luxury travel is based on this article:
Thurlow, C., & Jaworski, A. (2012). Elite mobilities: The semiotic landscapes of luxury and privilege. Social Semiotics, 22(4), 487-516.
And if you’re hungry by now - bon appétit!