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The Allusionist

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A PODCAST ABOUT LANGUAGE
BY HELEN ZALTZMAN

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The Allusionist

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Allusionist 208. Four Letter Words: Ffff

May 11, 2025 The Allusionist
a boggle grid spelling the word fuck

Welcome to four letter word season!

We're kicking off with one of the most versatile words: it can be a noun, verb, punctuation, expostulation, full sentence on its own; it can be an intensifier, an insult and a compliment... and a Category A swear. Thus, of course, content note: this episode contains many category A swears, plus some sexual references.

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In episodes, Four Letter Words Tags etymology, vocabulary, lexicography, lexicon, society, culture, words, language, history, four letter words, Jesse Sheidlower, F Word, swearing, obscenity, swears, fuck, fucking, infixing, tmesis, dictionaries, taboo, slang, cursing, curses, insults, publishing, Jonathan Lighter, place names, surnames, last names, acronyms, backronyms, fugazi, Allen Walker Read, Horace Walpole, John S Farmer, W E Henley, Bristol, Austria, fugging, parts of speech, AI, sex, sexual, internet, online, Roger, shit, cunt, slurs, FUBAR, katabatic, SNAFU, profanity

Allusionist 135. SOS

May 13, 2021 The Allusionist
A135 SOS logo small.jpeg

SOS is a really versatile distress call. You can shout it; you can tap it out in Morse code; you can honk it on a horn; you can signal it with flashes of light; you can spell it out on the beach with debris from your wrecked ship.

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In episodes Tags Christian Ostersehlte, Paul Tyreman, SOS, CQD, CQ, mayday, codes, calls, distress, emergency, ships, shipping, maritime, boats, vessels, sea travel, sea, sailors, signals, communication, telegraphy, radio, wireless, technology, history, Titanic, acronyms, backronyms, false etymology, Germany, UK, Britain, Italy, Marconi, flags, Samuel Morse, Morse code
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Allusionist 221. Scribe
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Allusionist 220. Disobedience
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Allusionist 218. Banned Books
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Allusionist 217. Bread and Roses, and Coffee
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Allusionist 216. Four Letter Words: Terisk
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Allusionist 214. Four Letter Words: Bane Bain Bath
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Allusionist 213. Four Letter Words: Dino
Allusionist 213. Four Letter Words: Dino
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Allusionist 212. Four Letter Words: Park
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Allusionist 211. Four Letter Words: -gate
Allusionist 210. Four Letter Words: 4x4x4 Quiz
Allusionist 210. Four Letter Words: 4x4x4 Quiz
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The Allusionist by Helen Zaltzman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.