The joys of writing lists

6 Minute English

BBC

Language Learning, Education

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Shopping lists, to-do lists, check lists – when was the last time you made, or followed, a list? When you stop to think about it, many of the things we read and write in our everyday lives are some sort of list, but why are they so common? Phil and Beth discuss this and teach you some new vocabulary.

Find a full transcript, worksheet and interactive quiz for this episode at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/6-minute-english_2025/ep-250904

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Want to improve your English conversation skills?
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0:11.4	Every week, learn a new phrase or idiom with the English we speak.
0:15.7	And across the year, listen to our special documentaries designed to improve your spoken English.
0:22.3	Search for Learning English Conversations in your podcast app or visit BBClearningEnglish.com.
0:29.3	Six Minute English from BBC LearningEnglish.com.
0:36.5	Hello, this is Six Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Phil.
0:41.0	And I'm Beth.
0:42.5	A list is a collection of items with a single item written on each line. And they're everywhere.
0:49.2	Shopping lists, to-do lists, even bucket lists, a list of all the things a person would like to do before they
0:55.8	die. In fact, there's an episode of Six-Minute English all about them.
1:00.3	Imagine you're at the supermarket and find someone's shopping list. This happens a lot to
1:06.0	Joe Nolan, a linguistics researcher whose new book explores our love of lists.
1:12.2	Here's Joe reading her shopping list on BBC Radio 4 program Word of Mouth.
1:18.2	I only list the first four items, but the list read Nanas, I.I. Puk, shrooms.
1:27.4	Nana's I. I.I. pukuk shrooms.
1:31.1	Nanas, I-I, puk, shrooms?
1:35.8	Can you work out what Joe was buying at the supermarket, Phil?
1:41.4	Okay, well, I'm going to guess that narnas are bananas and shrooms.
1:43.1	They've got to be mushrooms, right?
1:46.1	Okay, but what about I-I and Puk?
	...

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