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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 217. Bread and Roses, and Coffee

September 24, 2025 The Allusionist

In their heyday of the 1970s and 1980s, there were more than 200 - possibly more than 400 - feminist restaurants and coffee shops in the USA and Canada. These places were aiming to change ways of working, and upend the hierarchies of restaurants; to provide food that was ethically sourced and affordable to customers, while providing staff with a decent wage; to signal to particular kinds of people that a space was specifically for them. They didn't always succeed, and often they didn't last for more than a couple of years. But they sure did try things.

Dr Alex Ketchum from McGill University, author of the book Ingredients for Revolution, a History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses and cofounder of the Queer Food Conference, explains the ups and downs of how these places used words.

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In episodes Tags society, culture, words, language, history, etymology, vocabulary, Alex Ketchum, 1970s, 1980s, USA, cafes, restaurants, coffee shops, spaces, feminists, feminism, lesbians, queer, trans, LGBTQIIA+, female, menu, food, signalling, politics, code words, hierarchy, collectives, waitstaff, cooks, chefs, terminology, social, work, labour, workplace, Bloodroot, ecofeminism, vegetarian, vegan, eating, recipes, dishes, food eponyms, eponyms, alcohol, caffeine, drugs, dieting, diet culture, dele, gourmet

Allusionist 186. Ravels

December 12, 2023 The Allusionist
a boggle grid spelling out the word 'ravels'

We’ve got knitting! We’ve got eponyms!! We’ve got knitting eponyms!!! Which come with a whole load of battles, f-boys, duels, baseball, scandals - and socks, lots of socks.

Fibre artist and Yarn Stories podcaster Miriam Felton discusses why grafting should ditch the name 'kitchener stitch'; we learn about the eponymous cardigan; and three towns in Ontario take pretty different approaches to having problematic namesakes.

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In episodes, Telling Other Stories, eponyms Tags etymology, vocabulary, history, denaming, renaming, Telling Other Stories, Miriam Felton, Canada, Canadian, Canadian history, UK, British, Britain, British history, wars, war, battles, Second Boer War, Africa, South Africa, concentration camps, Crimean War, Charge of the Light Brigade, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Battle of Balaclava, World War One, First World War, WW1, 19th century, 20th century, Queen Victoria, Winston Churchill, knitting, knitwear, knit, terminology, crafts, stitches, graft, grafting, Lord Kitchener, Lord Cardigan, Lord Raglan, Ceredigion, eponyms, Ontario, Russell, towns, military, army, conflict, campaigns, yachts, horse, cardigan, socks, raglan sleeve, seams, balaclava, Ravelry, King County, German, Germany, Berlin, House of Windsor, royals, monarchy, dachshunds, buns, lawsuits, schisms, criminal conversation, duels, referendums, politics, patriotism, garments, innovation, baseball, codes, spies, espionage, Vogue, knitting patterns, namesakes, Martin Luther King Jr, cachalot

Allusionist special play-at-home QUIZ 2018

December 18, 2018 The Allusionist
A91.5 logo Quiz.jpg

For a bit of fun to celebrate Radiotopia’s 2018 fundraiser, this episode is a wordy quiz for you to play along with as you listen.

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In episodes, quiz Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, Helen Zaltzman, Avery Trufelman, Articles of Interest, Roman Mars, 99% Invisible, 99PI, Nate DiMeo, The Memory Palace, Hrishikesh Hirway, Song Exploder, The West Wing Weekly, The Truth, Radio Diaries, podcast, podcasts, podcasters, quiz, questions, eponyms, history, etymology, phrases, idioms, animals, hedgehogs, turkey, urchins, botulism, sausage, Latin, i, tittle, diacritics, Bible, euphemisms, foot, aglet, clothing, shoes, shoelaces, fashion, garb, garments, apparel, clothing terminology, terminology, diseases, medieval, castles, toilets, WC, garderobe, wardrobe, clothes, bathroom, ammonia, hygiene, faeces, waste disposal, evacuations, bodily functions, mistranslation, Vulgate Bible, dogs, feist, feisty, fart, meat, cold shoulder, expressions, juice, Hawaii, turkeys, Turkey, poultry, names, imports, Aztecs, India, trade, Peru, geography, New World, Christopher Columbus, horror, burpees, exercises, exercise, physical exertion, George Washington Gale Ferris Jr, Ferris wheels, pleasure wheels, inventions, strongmen, World’s Fair, zeppelins, Led Zeppelin, Ferdinand von Zeppelin, bands, music, name changes, lawsuits, fur, fabric, felt, cloth, Stetson, hats, John B. Stetson, genitalia, genitals, penis, Radiotopian guest appearance

Allusionist 80. Warm Front

June 15, 2018 The Allusionist
A80 Warm Front logo.jpg

Today will be fine.

But wait: fine as in 'OK', fine as in 'really rather good', or fine as in 'no precipitation'? When you're a TV weather forecaster, you have to deal with the mismatch of your specialist vocabulary with that of the meteorological laypeople watching - as well as cover all the weather across a whole country, translate conditions into something the viewer can identify with, and warn people about cyclones without making them too panicked. (Or not panicked enough - do take sensible cyclone precautions, people!)

Nate Byrne, who presents the weather for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's News Breakfast, breezes in to shower us with meteorological knowledge.

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In episodes Tags words, language, communication, science, weather, meteorology, meteor, meteorologist, science communication, scicomm, clouds, rain, storms, cyclones, weather forecasts, television, TV, Australia, jargon, terminology, emotion, facts, wind, climate, showers, sun, sultry, knots, Beaufort Scale, numbers, sky, Nate Byrne, ABC
Allusionist Patreon
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.