A former resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, wonders why the English spoken there sounds distinct from both New Orleans English and Cajun English. It’s a combination of factors, including vowel lengthening common to the broader Southern dialect, a bit of influence from Cajun French vocabulary, and the process linguists call leveling, in which speakers unconsciously smooth out distinctive features of dialect to align with local norms. http://waywordradio.org

1670-Caller-Chris-Baton-Rouge-Accent

A listener from Indianapolis asks about the word chiffarobe meaning “a heavy wooden cabinet that combines hanging space with drawers.” The term is a blend of the French word chiffonier—originally a “rag-gatherer” used to store small personal items—and English wardrobe. Many furniture terms in English trace back to French, particularly names for elegant or specialized pieces, including armoire, bureau, commode, and chaise longue. http://waywordradio.org

1670-Caller-Judy-Chiffarobe

A San Diego, California, listener has observed that some advertising slogans that omit articles, such as Get iPhone 14 Pro or Do what’s best for Baby. The phrasing is intentional. Advertising often relies on a compressed, headline-like style that treats a product name as if it were unique, almost like a proper noun. Removing articles creates a sleeker rhythm and positions the item as iconic rather than ordinary, so iPhone or Baby in these phrases feels elevated and universal rather than tied to a single device or child. In the 1938 film Bringing Up Baby, the Baby being brought up is a leopard. Geoffrey Leech’s 1966 book English in Advertising addresses this topic. http://waywordradio.org

1670-Caller-Shannon-Omiting-Articles-In-Advertising

Terry from Franklin, Indiana, recalls a moment of confusion when she was working on a horse farm in south-central Pennsylvania. She asked a co-worker, "Are we going to let the stallions out today?" The co-worker responded, "No, they're already in." Terry says the conversation devolved into “Who's On First?” routine, because Terry didn’t understand that in that part of the United States, where the dialect is heavily influenced by German, let can mean “leave.” Other expressions heard in that area include leave the horse go or leave the book sit, all reflecting the multiple meanings of the German verb lassen. http://waywordradio.org

1670-Caller-Terry-Let

The rare adjective finifugal describes someone “averse to endings” or “wishing something could go on forever,” whether it’s a book, a beloved TV series, a podcast, or anything else you don’t want to end. It comes from Latin finis, “end,” and fuga, “flight.” http://waywordradio.org

1670-Finifugal

Ekphrasis is the literary device of depicting a visual work with a verbal description. A new anthology, Ensnaring the Moment: On the Intersection of Poetry and Photography, gathers the ekphrastic poetry of more than 100 poets writing specifically in response to photographs. Edited by art critic Leah Ollman, this collection treats poems as gateways into images, and images as doorways into memory. In the poem “Things that Lose by Being Photographed” by Rebecca Lindenberg succinctly conjures a winter scene with moonlight sugaring snow, two people dancing slowly, and a penny-colored dog shifting paws in the cold—a moment captured in a photograph that becomes a tender meditation on ordinary beauty. This poem is shared with permission of the poet. http://waywordradio.org

1670-Lex-Bag-Ensnaring-The-Moment

A Southern California resort for nudists—or naturists, as some prefer to be called—had a recent change of management, and residents received a notice that the place will now become a textile park. The word textile is often used in that community as an adjective to distinguish between those who prefer clothing and those who make a habit of going without. http://waywordradio.org

1670-Textile

As long as there has been photographic and video imagery, there have been manipulated videos and photos. But only in the last decade or so have the public become aware of what are known as “deepfakes”, computer or AI generated fake images, often of celebrities. The spread of deepfake imagery raises questions about truth and authenticity online – can we still trust what we see on screen?

To discuss deepfakes, and the idea of trust and authenticity in the digital sphere more broadly, the Phelan US Centre spoke to Dr Gili Vidan, Assistant Professor of Information Science at Cornell University’s Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.

This episode was produced by Chris Gilson and Avan Fata.

Further reading and resources

•	Robert Chesney & Danielle K. Citron, Deep Fakes: A Looming Challenge for Privacy, Democracy, and National Security,107 California Law Review 1753 (2019).
•	Habgood-Coote, Joshua (2023). Deepfakes and the epistemic apocalypse. Synthese 201 (3):1-23.

Take the Ballpark Listener survey and enter the prize draw for £250 in vouchers!

The Ballpark will be ten years old in 2026, and we want to hear from you to make the podcast even better, so we’re running a listener survey until 1 November 2025. 

•	Fill in our listener survey – it only takes 15 minutes – here: https://forms.office.com/e/Vcj8V8uGM1 
•	Voucher prize draw terms and conditions are available here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/united-states/the-ballpark/ballpark-listener-survey-prize-terms-conditions-2025 

LSE: The Ballpark | AI and deepfakes with Dr Gili Vidan

It seems every week we hear a new report of a cyber-attack. Recent examples include the hacks on Marks and Spencer's, Jaguar Land Rover, and the Co-op, all causing massive economic disruption.    

While these attacks seem to have come from cyber criminals working within the UK rather than other nation states, they highlight the destruction that cyber-attacks can wreak. What if those attacks were on our critical infrastructure? Our national grid? Our water supply? Is the UK prepared? 

Charlotte Kelloway meets former Director of Operations and Intelligence for the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Nigel Inkster, who discusses when a cyber-attack could constitute a declaration of war.  

She also talks to former Director Cyber in the Foreign Office and Associate Dean for Strategic Development at the LSE School of Public Policy Professor Alexander Evans about what the UK is doing defensively and offensively to prevent cyber-attacks.  

Dr Lauren Sukin from Nuffield College at the University of Oxford explains why there is a lack of regulation in the cyberwar space and explores if depictions of cyberwar in the media are realistic.  

Contributors: Professor Alexander Evans, Dr Lauren Sukin, Nigel Inkster    

Research links:  

Lauren Sukin: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00220027231153580  

Nigel Inkster: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Decoupling-Struggle-Technological-Supremacy/dp/1787383830  

LSE iQ is a university podcast by the London School of Economics and Political Science.  

Will the next World War be a cyberwar?

In this episode, we are unpacking how effective COP30 really was, did the promises match the expectations and  where did world leaders deliver or fall short . COP 30 was held in Belém, the gateway to the Amazon. From extreme heat and climate-driven floods and fires to the political symbolism of choosing the Amazon over Rio, the setting shaped everything. 

The expectations were high this year. Brazil promised a ‘forest-first COP,’ with more youth engagement, significant inclusion of indigenous communities and major moves on finance and fossil fuels. Our host Simon Chin Yee, from UCL’s School of Public Policy and one of our guest Elena, Climate Reality Project Central and Eastern Europe, both of whom attended COP30 shares their biggest takeaways from Belem.

Our other guest, Susannah Fisher, is a leading researcher and author whose new book on climate adaptation, Sink or Swim, was published in August (Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sink-Swim-world-changing-climate/dp/1399414054/). In this episode, she explains why adaptation is a crucial part of the COP agenda and why it can’t be overlooked.

The episode also features the recent National Emergency Briefing on climate, and its important call to action to sign their petition to ask the government and all public service broadcasters to hold an urgent televised briefing so that everyone understands the profound risks this crisis poses to themselves and their families.
https://www.nebriefing.org/open-letter-keir
 
Credits:
Date of episode recording: 28th Nov 2026
Duration: 39:38
Language of episode: English 
Presenter: Professor Mark Maslin and Dr Simon Chin-Yee
Producer: Adam Batstone

Guests:
Susannah Fisher – Author and Principal Research Fellow at Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction, UCL.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sink-Swim-world-changing-climate/dp/1399414054/
Elena-Alexandra Miron – Central and Eastern Europe Regional Organiser, Climate Reality Project.

Season 5, Episode 12 - The COP Verdict: What Went Right and Wrong

มะ...มีข้อความมาค่ะนายท่าน

ถ้าโหลดในนี้ไม่ได้ โควต้าเต็ม โปรดโหลดต่อที่นี่
http://www.mediafire.com/?d68rzkrx2k2pv72

ปล่อยของ !!! เสียงเตือนข้อความ
Message 01

จงร่วมกันใช้ และแชร์ออกไปให้ไกลโพ้น วะฮ่าๆๆๆ 
กำ ไม่มีคนใช้ ... อับอายเบย -//////-

Message01

serenity-beam