Hey, this podcast includes an unbleeped swear word that's important to a story we tell.

So if you've got kids or sensitive ears around, you might want to save this one for later.

Olivia Coleman, the impossibly talented British actress, worked with an accent coach to prepare to play the

Queen of England, and a coach explained that to pronounce the word yes, as her majesty would,

Olivia should say the word that spelled E-A-R-S, like the things on the side of your head.

Okay, this might work slightly better if you have a British accent,

but I'm going to give it a go.

Ears.

Ears.

I love that.

I love it.

Okay, here's another language parlor trick,

maybe suited better for a new world accent.

Say the words, rise up lights in quick succession.

Rise up lights, rise of lights.

And boom, you're an Australian sand razor blades.

I am fascinated by accents and regional dialects, and I think a lot of us are.

We like knowing how other people swear, the kind of slang they fling around,

that the American zucchini is the British courgette,

that in India, the opposite of postponing something is to prepone it,

to hear our own familiar language, the substrate of our thoughts

made new and novel, is just a little electric thrill.

...