Do you know your brass monkeys from your bairns? Or do those words make no sense at all to you? According to research from train company, CrossCountry, despite officially sharing the same language, Britain is far from a United Kingdom when it comes to what comes out of our mouths. It revealed that almost half of us struggle to understand regional words or phrases. Olivia Demetriades spoke to Professor David Crystal, a linguist, academic and author to find out more. She began by asking why we struggle to understand people from different parts of the country.

Guests: David Crystal

Published: Fri 2 December 2016