Allusionist 47: The Year Without A Summer
Today: a tale of darkness, gathering storms, and a terrifying creature that resembles a human man...
No, nothing topical: it's The Year Without A Summer, the story of how Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, which first appeared on Eric Molinsky's excellent podcast Imaginary Worlds.
Read moreAllusionist 46: The State Of It
Each of the 50 states in the USA has its own motto. The motto might be found on the state seal, or the state flag; more often than not, it might be in Latin, or Spanish, or Chinook; it might be a phrase or a single word. And if you think you know what yours is, check that it is not in fact an advertising slogan.
Read moreAllusionist 45: Eponyms II - Name That Disease
If you love eponyms like Roman Mars loves eponyms, I'm afraid physician Isaac Siemens is here to deliver some bad news: medics are ditching them, in favour of terms that a) contain information about what the ailment actually is, and/or b) don't honour Nazi war criminals. Eponyms are controversial things.
Read moreAllusionist 44: This Is Your Brain On Language
What is your beautiful brain up to as you comprehend language?
Read moreAllusionist 43: The Key part II - Vestiges
If you don't have a Rosetta Stone to hand, deciphering extinct languages can be a real puzzle, even though they didn't intend to be. They didn't intend to become extinct, either, but such is the life (and death) of languages.
Read moreAllusionist 42: The Key part I - Rosetta
Languages die. But if they're lucky, a thousand-odd years later, someone unearths an artefact that brings them back to life.
Laura Welcher of the Rosetta Project shows us the Rosetta Disk, a slice of electroplated nickel three inches in diameter that bears text in 1500 languages for future linguists to decipher. Ilona Regulski of the British Museum describes how its namesake, the Rosetta Stone, unlocked hieroglyphics.
Read moreAllusionist 41: Getting Toasty
When you choose to spend the winter in Antarctica, you'll be prepared for it to be cold. You know that nobody will be leaving or arriving until springtime. And you're braced for months of darkness. But a few weeks after the last sunset, you might find you can't even string a sentence together.
Read moreAllusionist 40: Olympics
On your marks...
Get set...
GO!
It's the Etymolympics, where the gymnastics should be gymnaked and the hurdles are a bloodbath.
Read moreAllusionist 39: Generation What?
Which are you: Millennial, Generation X, Baby Boomer, Silent Generation, an impressively young-looking Arthurian Generation? Or are you an individual who refuses to be labelled? Demographer Neil Howe, author Miranda Sawyer and Megan Tan, the host of Millennial, consider whether the generational names are useful or reductive. Or both.
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