Allusionist 34: Continental

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I'm not usually one to yearn for the past, but today, trying to find a clear definition for what a continent is, I find myself thinking, "Pangaea. One single continent. That was a simpler time."

Plus: more 'please'. Following the previous episode, listeners from several continents have contributed their local experience of 'please' usage, in what eventually will surely be considered the definitive global study of human niceties. Also, Lynne Murphy and Rachele De Felice return to explain how 'thank you' is not necessarily an expression of gratitude.  

TL;DR: trust nothing.

READING MATTER:

• Yeah but come on, what IS a continent? Anyone?

• How the continents - whatever the hell they are - got their names.

• Learn about Pangaea and Panthalassa, so you’re prepared when the next supercontinent shows up.

• How and why non-European countries can compete in the Eurovision Song Contest.

• Cincinnati Please.

• “This is a shocked pair of girls who have just heard the apologetic U.S. soldier say that he looked like a bum. In English slang, he said he looked like his own backside.” Thanks to listener Mike for sending me this 1942 advice for Americans visiting Britain. So many linguistic obstacles for transatlantic travel(l)ers!

• There's a transcript of this episode at theallusionist.org/transcripts/continental.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
rowel

CREDITS:

• Linguist and 'please' investigator Lynne Murphy's blog is separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com and she is @lynneguist on Twitter. Rachele De Felice is @racagain on Twitter.

• This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, with music by Martin Austwick. Martin's continental drift-inspired instrument-free instrumental was the result of combining boredom, Garageband for iPad and all the homemade percussion options offered by a B&B room in Utah.

- HZ

Allusionist 33: Please

There's an ocean between Britain and the USA, but an even wider division between each country's use of a particular word: 'please'. Linguists Lynne Murphy and Rachele De Felice explain how one nation's obsequiousness is another nation's obnoxiousness.

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There's an ocean between Britain and the USA, but an even wider division between each country's use of a particular word: 'please'.

Linguists Lynne Murphy and Rachele De Felice explain how one nation's obsequiousness is another nation's obnoxiousness.

PLEASE, READ MORE ABOUT IT:

• Lynne Murphy’s blog is Separated By A Common Language. She has written about ‘please’ and ‘please’ in restaurants.

• Anthropologist David Graeber considers the reciprocity in using these niceties.

• “We should use "please" and "thank you" selectively so we don't confuse each other about the difference between favors and obligations”.

• Why do the British say ‘sorry’ so much?

• This claims to be a history of etiquette, but is mainly about forks. Get the forks right, and the rest follows (or so the fork tyrants would have you believe).

• Emily Post may have died in 1960, but she’s still looking out for your manners. Keeping the Post flag politely flying, her great-great-grandchildren host the Awesome Etiquette podcast.

• There's a transcript of this episode at theallusionist.org/transcripts/please.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
linstock

CREDITS:

• Lynne Murphy's blog is separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com and she is @lynneguist on Twitter. Rachele De Felice is @racagain on Twitter. If you're interested in linguistics, follow them!

• This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, with music by Martin Austwick.

• Please find me at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.

Please come back for another episode in two weeks.

- HZ

Allusionist 32: Soho

Around the world, there are several places called Soho, getting their names from an acronym/portmanteau-ish composite of local streets or neighbouring areas. But not the original Soho in London. In fact, London's place names are an etymological hotchpo...

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Around the world, there are several places called Soho, getting their names from an acronym-portmanteau-ish composite of local streets or neighbouring areas. But not the original Soho in London. In fact, London's place names are an etymological hotchpotch: landmarks present and long gone; 1000-year-old vanity projects; and Cockfosters.

This is a companion piece to the 99% Invisible episode 'The Soho Effect', about the proliferation of acranamed places.

MO SOHO INFO

• Peruse lots of historical and modern pieces about Soho on the Museum of Soho's blog, and find their touch screen exhibit on Sherwood Street.

• The Soho Stories app will take you on a walk around Soho and play anecdotes into your ear when you pass notorious places.

• There are so many stories of Soho, usually saturated with booze and sex; these ones are quite endearing.

• There’s yet another Soho in Britain’s second city, Birmingham. There are acranamers claiming it’s from ‘SOuth HOuse’, but it’s probably a second win for the hunting cry.

• Learn about Pittsburgh’s former Soho.

• Have a look at the first edition of Roget’s Thesaurus.

• Read an 1878 account of Soho, if you can handle the verbosity.

• The Londonist was keeping track of the city’s rebranded areas.

• Encyclopedia Briannica just tweeted to tell me that ‘acranames’ are actually ‘clipped compounds’. Yeah, but accuracy’s gain is acromanteaus’ loss.

• Hungry for more portmanteau words? There's a feastmanteau in the Brunch episode of this show.

• There's a transcript of this episode at theallusionist.org/transcripts/soho.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
yarak

CREDITS:

• Tony Shrimplin is the chair of the Museum of Soho, a grassroots community project which you can find at mosoho.org.uk and twitter.com/TheMuseumOfSoho. Pop into their Bowie's London exhibition, 9-23 April at 35 Beak St. You can also hear him on Soho Radio, Sundays at 10am.

• This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, except for the bit that was produced by Avery Trufelman and 99% Invisible. The music is by Martin Austwick.

• Tony and I met in the Soho landmark Black's Club, who very kindly paused the coffee machine while we were talking.

• Sound the hunting cries at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.

Let's reconvene in two weeks for another of these.

- HZ

Allusionist 31: Post-Love

Breaking up is hard to do, and it's hard to put into appropriate words. Comedian Rosie Wilby seeks a better term for 'ex', and family law barrister Nick Allen runs through the vocabulary of divorce. NOTE: this episode is not full of bawdy talk,

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Breaking up is hard to do, and it's hard to put into appropriate words.

Comedian Rosie Wilby seeks a better term for 'ex'; family law barrister Nick Allen runs through the vocabulary of divorce; and listeners share some of their worst break-up lines.

NOTE: this episode is not full of bawdy talk, but there are adult themes and a couple of category B swearwords.

A BIT (OF ADDITIONAL MATERIAL) ON THE SIDE:

• The Museum of Broken Relationships is coming to LA - do you have anything to exhibit?

• Listener Felipe reminded me about French artist Sophie Calle's Take Care Of Yourself, an exhibition about the email in which her boyfriend dumped her.

• Want more tales of break-ups? Get yourself to You Broke Up How?

• Here's Esther Perel on ghosting, AKA the coward's way out.

• Watch Rosie Wilby's TEDx talk 'Is Monogamy Dead?'

• Let the UK government explain the difference between civil partnership and same-sex marriage.

• Conscious uncoupling.

• Here's the transcript of the episode.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
quadrumanous

CREDITS:

• Rosie Wilby is a comedian and writer. You can find her live show dates, written work and more at rosiewilby.com and on Twitter @rosiewilby; you can hear her podcast, and her radio show Out in South London is on Resonance FM.

• Nick Allen is a family law barrister. I'm hoping you don't require the services of one of those, but if you do, Nick is the best.

• This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, with editorial help from Hrishikesh Hirway from Song Exploder. The music is by Martin Austwick.

• Don't go breaking my heart: let's keep our love alive at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.

Meet you back here in a fortnight.

- HZ

Allusionist 30: US Election Lexicon

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The 2016 US election isn't going away anytime soon, so let's seek refuge in etymology. Consider the linguistically appropriate age of a senator, and whether Congress should get sexy. And we revisit the UK Election Lexicon - http://theallusionist.

The 2016 US election isn't going away anytime soon, so let's seek refuge in etymology, as we did before in the first Election Lexicon.

EXCESS BAGGAGE:

• Oxford Dictionaries have had enough of these political terms, and perhaps so have you.

• Lo, here's a short history of filibustering.

• The linguistics of mass persuasion: how politicians make ‘fetch’ happen.

• And in case you needed to know about the sex lives of politicians during primaries, the escorts they hire are here to tell you.

• Here's the original Election Lexicon episode.

If you want podcasts about the US Election, I've heard good things about FiveThirtyEight, Bandwagon, Presidential, Slate's Political Gabfest, Candidate Confessional, Left, Right & Centre, The Pollsters, Whistlestop... And there's this episode from our pals Mortified.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
flockmaster

CREDITS:

• You heard from Jonathan Mitchell from The Truth; Benjamen Walker from Theory of Everything; Lauren Spohrer from Criminal; Hrishikesh Hirway from Song Exploder; Nick van der Kolk from Love + Radio; and Avery Trufelman and Katie Mingle from 99% Invisible.

• This episode was produced by Matt Hill and me. The theme tune is by Martin Austwick.

• Say hello at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman, regardless of on which shoulder you sport your parrot.

Meet you back here in a fortnight.

- HZ

P.S. Thanks to listener Matt for designing this bumper sticker after hearing the episode. We've got a chance of winning this, people...

Allusionist 29: WLTM part II

You're looking for your perfect partner, but dating sites keep matching you with duds. So what do you do? Conduct an elaborate linguistic experiment, of course! At least, that was futurist Amy Webb's response to the situation. But did it work?

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You're looking for your perfect partner, but dating sites keep matching you with duds. So what do you do? Conduct an elaborate linguistic experiment, of course!

At least, that was futurist Amy Webb's response.

Spreadsheets were involved. For what is the pursuit of love without spreadsheets?

NOTE: A number of you have written to posit that Amy's date who claimed to be an orthopaedic surgeon was saying 'anaesthetist', which is a legit job. Amy couldn't pronounce his mispronunciation, but he actually kept saying 'anestethist', which is not a legit job. (He also happened to know very little about orthopaedic surgery, but a lot about carpentry. You're allowed to say you're a carpenter if you're a carpenter, sir!)

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS:

• Watch (or read) Amy's TED talk: 'How I Hacked Online Dating'.

• There's far more detail about Amy's experiment in her very enjoyable book Data: A Love Story. Read an extract here.

• And here's an article she wrote about the data in dating.

• A mathematician did is own experiment with OK Cupid.

• OkCupid used to keep an interesting blog in which they analysed their own data. TL:DR? Here's a summary.

• And a linguist analysed OkCupid usernames.

• Cute as a button = urgent as pox?

• Here's a history of 'cute'...

• ...and one of 'adorkable'.

• inwhiches.tumblr.com - go!

• Missed WLTM part I? Here it is.

• There's a transcript of this episode here.

Do me a favour? / Want to appear in an upcoming show?
Go to a quiet place, and record yourself on whatever you’ve got - phone voice memo is fine - and tell me the worst thing you said to someone to break up with them. Or the worst thing someone said to you to break up with you.
By ‘worst’, I do mean ‘worst that you can kind of find funny now’ rather than something that will emotionally devastate you afresh to recount in this forum.
Send recordings to allusionistshow@gmail.com, if you’re willing for me to use them in the show. It’ll be anonymous, apart from your voice.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
spavin

CREDITS:

• Amy Webb is the founder and CEO of Webbmedia Group and the author of Data: A Love Story. She is @webbmedia on Twitter. She would also like to point out that what worked for HER might not work for YOU, so don't just copy her home-made algorithm wholesale, ok? Build your own!

• This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, with editorial aid from Julie Shapiro and Hrishikesh Hirway.

• Aside from a quick blast of 'The Perfect Nanny' from Mary Poppins, all the music is by Martin Austwick.

• Greet me at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman, but don't you dare refer to any of your body parts as 'The Captain'.

Back in a fortnight.

- HZ

Allusionist 28: WLTM part I

Your online dating profile is the latest spin on a 300-year-old tradition of advertising yourself in order to find a spouse, a sexual partner, or someone to take care of your pigs. Francesca Beauman, author of Shapely Ankle Preferr'd: A History of the ...

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Your online dating profile is the latest spin on a 300-year-old tradition of advertising yourself in order to find a spouse, a sexual partner, or someone to take care of your pigs.

Francesca Beauman, author of Shapely Ankle Preferr’d: A History of the Lonely Hearts Ad, digs into lonely hearts ads to see how British society and desires have evolved over the past three centuries.

WARNING: Some of the content is a little saucy, but not, like, swimming in sauce.

READING MATTER:

• Reviews of hundreds of different dating sites? You got it.

• I love reading the Blind Dates in the Guardian each Saturday, and The Guyliner’s dissection thereof shortly afterwards.

• Atlas Obscura tests the Victorian seduction technique of reading aloud.

• Not so much a lonely heart ad as a curious soul ad, but it resulted in one of the most intriguing books I’ve ever read: The Life Swap by Nancy Weber. Read about it here (NB spoilers).

• Warlock: offensive term?

• The transcript of this episode is at theallusionist.org/transcripts/wltm-i.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
extraposition

CREDITS:

• Find Francesca Beauman at francescabeauman.com and buy her books, including the excellent Shapely Ankle Preferr’d, from your usual book-buying places.

• This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman.

• Martin Austwick provided all the music.

• Matthew Crosby provided his voice.

• Allusionist listeners provided their dating profiles, for which I am extremely grateful.

• WLTM you at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.

This is a two-parter, and the second half is an absolute belter, so return next week to hear it.

- HZ

Allusionist 25: Toki Pona

There's a language which is said to be the smallest language in the world. It has around 123 words, five vowels, nine consonants, and apparently you can become fluent in it with around 30 hours' study. It was invented by linguist Sonja Lang in 2001,

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There’s a language which is said to be the smallest language in the world. It has around 123 words, five vowels, nine consonants, and apparently you can become fluent in it with around 30 hours’ study. It was invented by linguist Sonja Lang in 2001, and it’s called Toki Pona.

And Nate DiMeo, from the Memory Palace, decided we should learn it together.

FURTHER READING:

• tokipona.org is your first stop for Toki Pona information, such as Sonja Lang's book and the Facebook group.

• This is the article that first piqued Nate's and my interest in Toki Pona. I also enjoyed reading about this two-day Toki Pona learning binge.

• A Finnish psychiatrist experimented with getting his patients to record their thoughts in Toki Pona every day.

• Hey, linguistic size queens: here's a piece comparing number of words in different languages, and here are some stats for you.

• I need to read In the Land of Invented Languages by Arika Okrent, who appeared in this early episode of 99% Invisible about Esperanto.

• There are a lot more invented languages; here are a few mentioned in this episode: Kēlen, Ithkuil, Blissymbols, Lojban, Klingon, Elvish, Na'vi...

• Here's the transcript of this episode.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
kobold

CREDITS:

• Nate DiMeo makes the beautiful podcast The Memory Palace thememorypalace.us.

• This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Thanks to Eleanor McDowall.

• Martin Austwick provided all the music apart from the instrumental version of Survivor's 'Eye of the Tiger'.

• Communicate with me minimalistically at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.

- HZ