RobWords Live comedy review: Exploring etymology
The language geek brings etymology to life with slick visuals, fascinating facts and a gloriously silly singalong finale
He’s a popular guy, this Mr Words. Almost a million etymology geeks follow his YouTube channel where he imparts wit and wisdom on all things language. Judging by the chatter in the queue, there’s plenty of folk already familiar with Rob Watts (alas, Words is not his birthname). Tonight he’s educating us about the ‘wallies who ruined English’, among them the Williams (Caxton and The Conqueror) and a chap called Ivar The Boneless.
Watts imparts his passion with super-slick slides, fun animations and fascinating facts about the evolution of the English language and the quirks of its letters (an analysis of c, k and q causes soul-searching on why we even need all three). It’s a gently humorous TED-type talk, with Watts as a kind of Professor Brian Cox of the derivation universe, that climaxes with a revamp of our familiar alphabet, complete with enthusiastic singalong. Our A, B, C, it transpires, isn’t as easy as one, two, three.
RobWords Live, Assembly George Square Studios, until 16 August, 8.10pm.