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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 148. Bonus 2021

December 23, 2021 The Allusionist

I've been saving them up all year, and now it's time for the annual selection box of Bonus Bits! Things this year's guests said that couldn't fit into their episode, or weren't related to language, but ARE related to being a bonus bit. We've got percussive pan protests; the mating habits, and male-killing habits, of ladybirds; Icelandic aunts/uncles/cousins/wait which member of the extended family are you referring to?; Morse code machines; and a surprisingly heated topic, the semantics of salad.

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In episodes Tags bonus, bonus episode, history, Samin Nosrat, Hrishikesh Hirway, Tamsin Majerus, Þorbjörg Þorvaldsdóttir, Paul Tyreman, Madi Lang, ladybirds, ladybugs, insects, entomology, genetics, disguise, salad, food, fruit, vegetables, rhymes, poetry, Icelandic, grandparents, relations, family, aunt, uncle, cousin, code, signals, Morse code, telegraphy, communications, protest, cacerolazo, nootropic

Allusionist 139. Ladybird Ladybug

July 12, 2021 The Allusionist
A139 Ladybird Ladybug logo.jpeg

They're not ladies and they're not birds; they're not even technically bugs! But that's not the most surprising thing about ladybirds/ladybugs and their brilliant variety of names.

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In episodes Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, etymology, lexicon, vocabulary, Helen Zaltzman, history, Tamsin Majerus, Johanna Mayer, Elah Feder, Science Diction, WNYC, ladybirds, ladybugs, insects, bugs, Virgin Mary, Mary Mother of God, cows, names, creatures, entomology, farming, crops, pests, pest control, deities, gods, saints, malaria, wine, coccinellidae, beetles, coleoptera, woodlice, roly polys, pillbug, collective nouns, loveliness

Allusionist 113. Zaltzology

January 24, 2020 The Allusionist
A113 Zaltzology logo.JPG

Alie Ward and I cover etymologies of words including ‘buxom’, ‘mediocre’, ‘coccyx’, ‘lacuna’, bust some etymological myths, discuss some broader attitudes towards language, and wonder why so many people hate the word ‘moist’.

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In episodes Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, Helen Zaltzman, etymology, lexicon, vocabulary, Alie Ward, Ologies, etymologist, entomologist, tomato, buxom, community, mediocre, coccyx, queue, swearing, c bomb, f bomb, swears, profanity, Galen, body parts, cliches, moist, Latin, science, species, rantipole, on fleek, entomology
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Featured
Festivelusionists
Allusionist 221. Scribe
Allusionist 221. Scribe
Allusionist 220. Disobedience
Allusionist 220. Disobedience
Allusionist 219. Making Trouble
Allusionist 219. Making Trouble
Allusionist 218. Banned Books
Allusionist 218. Banned Books
Allusionist 217. Bread and Roses, and Coffee
Allusionist 217. Bread and Roses, and Coffee
Allusionist 216. Four Letter Words: Terisk
Allusionist 216. Four Letter Words: Terisk
Allusionist 215. Two-Letter Words
Allusionist 215. Two-Letter Words
Allusionist 214. Four Letter Words: Bane Bain Bath
Allusionist 214. Four Letter Words: Bane Bain Bath
Souvenirs on BBC Radio 4
Souvenirs on BBC Radio 4
Allusionist 213. Four Letter Words: Dino
Allusionist 213. Four Letter Words: Dino
Allusionist 212. Four Letter Words: Park
Allusionist 212. Four Letter Words: Park
Allusionist 211. Four Letter Words: -gate
Allusionist 211. Four Letter Words: -gate
Allusionist 210. Four Letter Words: 4x4x4 Quiz
Allusionist 210. Four Letter Words: 4x4x4 Quiz
queer playlist
Creative Commons Licence
The Allusionist by Helen Zaltzman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.