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BY HELEN ZALTZMAN

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Allusionist 182 Siblings of Chaos transcript

September 22, 2023 The Allusionist

HZ: I thought the etymology of 'gas' was a big surprise as well.
SUSIE DENT: Oh, yes. It is a sibling of chaos.
HZ: In a sense, we're all siblings of chaos.

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In transcript Tags etymology, words, language, lexicography, lexicon, vocabulary, history, dictionaries, dictionary, Susie Dent, nitwit, breathing, respiration, Paracelsus, JB Van Helmont, Dutch, JR Tolkien, reversal, semantic bleaching, maritime, false etymology, sea, sailors, fat, tallow, cows, cattle, meat, animals, organs, mining, mines, may, ruthless, discombobulate, recombobulation, deep dives, emotional granularity, mubblefubbles, belly, bellies, nits, rivers, hibernation, heart, guts, intestines, divination, plagues, religion, Paganism, Christianity, augers, auspex, JRR Tolkien, susurrus, fellow, cheap, Cheapside, trade, market, Romans, Ancient Rome, Egypt, posh, CANOE, dote, auspicious, bellycheer, bonanza, catastrophe, courage, derelict, derive, digs, dismay, eucatastrophe, flotsam, fond, gas, hibernacle, inauguration, inspire, inwit, jetsam, lagan, latibulate, nice, outwit, panning out, perspire, pluck, rival, silly, slush fund, spifflicate, spirit, suspire, taghaelm, vegetable

Allusionist 124 Nightmare transcript

October 25, 2020 The Allusionist
A124 Nightmare logo.jpeg

Around 700 years ago, the word ‘haunt’ first appeared in written English, at least 200 years before it took on the meaning of a ghost frequenting a place.

HZ: It just meant that way where someone haunts a bar, as in they go to it a lot, but they're not an actual ghost. But it also meant to have sex with. And I could not do enough Googling safely to find out why it had that sense, because it just came up with a lot of websites about people having sex with ghosts. So I cannot find the etymology of this middle English use of 'haunt' in the sexual sense.
PAUL BAE: You've just screwed up your Google ads logarithm by looking up succubus, haunting, "Why sex haunting?"
HZ: The things I do for this show.
PAUL BAE: Exactly.

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In transcript Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, etymology, lexicon, vocabulary, Paul Bae, Chelsey Weber-Smith, sex, demons, sleep, bogeyman, boggart, bugaboo, bugbear, cobalt, devil, demon, haunt, horror, incubus, jack-o’-lantern lemur, nickel, nightmare, satan, succubus, bristling, hair, scary, adjectives, adverbs, Korea, Korean, myths, legends, folklore, hell, heaven, spirits, bears, fear, mining, miners, goblins, animals, elements, satanic, satanic panic, bible, Ancient Greek, slander, gods, turnips, kobold, copper, kupfernickel, Hebrew, adversary, Old Testament
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