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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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Tranquillusionist: Ex-Constellations transcript

September 26, 2024 The Allusionist

Let’s hear it for some of the constellations that we used to have but are now ex-constellations. 

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In Tranquillusionist, transcript Tags history, lexicon, society, culture, words, language, etymology, vocabulary, serene, serenity, ASMR, calm, calmness, meditation, sleep, mood, Tranquillusionist, relaxation, tranquil, tranquillity, stars, sky, firmament, celestial, Ptolemy, asterism, IAU, International Astronomical Union, Hadrian, dogs, technology, printing press, Gutenberg, Uranus, William Hershel, Johann Bode, Zeus, goats, crabs, myth, Greek myth, Ancient Rome, Romans, Latin, Greek, gods, deities, saints, relics, Saint Veronica, Jesus, Ancient Greece, astronomy, astronomers, Cerberus, John Hill, Henry Fielding, beeves, beef, feuds, Jerome Lalande, cats, sycophancy, royals, monarchy, monarchs, King Charles II, Prussia, King George III, King Charles I, scepters, sceptres, slugs, login, log line, log book, worms, constellations, asterisms, Phaeton, Helios, Hercules, reindeer, Mapertuis, Alessandro Volta, Jacques Cassini, Capra, Titans, telescopes, Maximilian Hell, conception, pregnancy, navigation, pangolin, ventifact

Allusionist 200. 200th episode celebratory quiz! transcript

September 13, 2024 The Allusionist

Here it is, the 200th episode of the Allusionist! To celebrate, here is a playalong quiz where the questions have been set by you, the smart listeners, and if you want to play as you listen, you can keep track of your scores via the score sheet at theallusionist.org/200, if you don’t have to hand the back of an envelope and a pencil you stole from IKEA.

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In transcript Tags Helen Zaltzman, words, language, history, etymology, vocabulary, ducks, moths, names, eponyms, traffic, driving, mathematics, writing systems, syntax, Korean, Hangul, G, creatures, sewing, sewing machines, bread, cloak, hood, St Martin of Tours, saints, holy relics, Portuguese, run, Douglas Adams, The Meaning of Liff, Canada, Canadian, double double, sign language, American Sign Language, Nicaraguan Sign Langage, French Sign Language, Jamaican Sign Language, British Sign Language, Lesle Hore-Belisha, road safety, loaves, yogh, letter G, lost letters, Normans, caput, French, dart, coffee, influence, influenza, town names, belisha beacon, calculus, chaplain, cobra, embarrass, ewer, flux, Ludlow, Milkshake Duck, monodon monoceros, mortgage, narwhal, rhinoceros, sewer, shampoo, toucan crossing, vilify, villain, vindaloo, acronyms, care package, Io, quiz, Greek deites, Zeus, Hera, Greek deities, cows, Greek mythology, Argus Panoptes, Greek gods, Herakles, Johan Christian Fabricius, Bosphorous Strait, suckmother, squid

Allusionist 199. 199 ideas that I hadn't made into podcasts yet - transcript

August 30, 2024 The Allusionist

This is the 199th episode of the show, and since before this show began, so for nearly a decade, I have been jotting down ideas in two documents - one for short ideas, one for long ideas. There are always more ideas than I have time and ability to make podcasts about, so now the documents are altogether 66 pages long and growing every day. So in this episode, you’re going to hear 199 ideas that I wanted to put into the podcast and haven’t yet.

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In transcript Tags words, language, history, etymology, vocabulary, Juliet Club, Romeo and Juliet, Verona, lost positives, desperate, prefixes, suffixes, Mc-, -core, -tron, -opoli, photography, smiles, animals, cows, cattle, Samuel Maverick, Maury Maverick, gobbledegook, legal, law, punctuation, Ancient Romans, trousers, clothing, clothes, pubs, bears, translation, fencing, kaput, caput, head, hats, hoods, medicine, trademarks, eponyms, popsicles, portmanteau, spiders, Hawaii, Hawaiian, protest, Kaleikoa Kaʻeo, Mele Kalikimaka, capes, Ludo, Parcheesi, Richard Kimble, cowboys, courtroom, oaths, DMV, vanity plates, Joe Lycett, knots, Kevin, Karen, saints, pastry, food, copaganda, police, humour, fine, idioms, rain, Sarah, names, euphemisms, place names, comedians, comedy, apartheid, sign language, Yolgnu, Australia, pandanus, nuts, posthumous, death, calendar, time, distance, measurement, emoji, pizza, X, K, H, dogs, France, French, master bedroom, master, technology, masterpiece, problematic, Scouts, Embers, renaming, spinsters, single, censorship, pregnancy, charcuterie, mushrooms, fly agaric, volcanoes, doula, gender inclusive language, gender inclusivity, chestfeeding, queerness, queer, LGBTQIA+, IKEA, products, product names, branding, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, printing, craft, cross stitch, bad decisions, problematic eponyms, Miranda rights, viruses, lost letters, heroin, aspirin, Amelia Jenks Bloomer, Johann Fust, Johannes Gutenberg, smells, granola, vampires, shoes, werewolf, bums, acme, acne, acumen, aftermath, album, amateur, attercop, average, beret, bespoke, biceps, bloomers, boudoir, bracatus, brochure, candletwist, capsize, chaperone, chord, cliche, cobweb, concrete, crestfallen, croupier, culottes, cynosure, delete, dessert, dutto, dwell, elixir, escape, extravagant, fathom, faux pas, foible, forte, furlong, germane, gimbal, glucose, Grape Nuts, grenade, habit, halcyon, harlot, jade, Kensington gore, limousine, loom, lower case, magenta, malaria, maverick, menu, miasma, migraine, negative, noon, nurse, Oprah Winfrey, overwhelm, pageant, patio, pecuniary, pedigree, petition, pluck, pomegranate, popsicle, positive, puce, retina, riposte, rival, rosemary, sabotage, salty, scavenger, schwa, scruple, slogan, sperate, stereotype, stillicide, stiricide, tabloid, taint, thornback, toady, travesty, treadmill, tutu, twist, tyre, upper case, valid, vamp, vindication, volcano, weregild, whelm, Winterfylleth

Allusionist 143 Hedge Rider transcript

October 13, 2021 The Allusionist
A143 Hedge Rider logo.jpeg

Sometimes it would be useful if a podcast had footnotes, wouldn’t it, so that if you came here just for etymology, you didn’t get derailed by a tale of someone frightening off a ghost with semen.

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In transcript Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, etymology, lexicon, vocabulary, history, Halloween, Latin, Greek, paganism, religion, Christianity, hedges, herbs, wood shavings, wood wool, wood, wicca, products, blunders, fish hook, names, exte berri, Basque, saints, garlic, spices, cloves, science, nescience, Leo Durocher, sportsball, seed, sexism, ghosts, demons, execution, Iceland, witches, God, zero, aught, buzzard, cauldron, clove, clumsy, conjure, craft, crone, drycræft, excelsior, exorcism, fact, gaff, gaffe, grimoire, hag, haggard, Harvey, hedge, hedge witch, Javier, magic, naught, naughty, nice, nice guys finish last, nought, ought, popple, semen, seminal, seminary, sorcerer, supernatural, wicked, witch, wizard, Xavier, legerdemain, hawks

Allusionist 139 Ladybird Ladybug transcript

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

Little coconut, tortoise beetle, golden turtle, spoon insect, patch-sewer, umbrella insect, flowery big sister, celestial path insect, red mother, Ali's mother, coral beetle, good luck bug, ladyclock, child of the sun, little midwife, Saint Lucia's little piglet, God's little cow, god's little lamb, god's chicken, devil’s chicken, god's horse, Flying Mary…

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In transcript 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 130 Valentine transcript

February 14, 2021 The Allusionist
A130 Valentine logo.jpeg

ST VALENTINE: I’m actually also the patron saint of beekeepers, epilepsy and plagues, but you don’t see beekeeper-shaped boxes of chocolates in the supermarkets in February, do you?

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In transcript Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, etymology, lexicon, vocabulary, St Valentine, St Agatha, saints, martyrs, sainthood, patron saint, patronage, love, romance, Valentine’s Day, Ancient Rome, Rome, Roman Empire, Roman emperors, February, purification, sacrifice, religion, paganism, Christians, Christianity, plague, epilepsy, birds, Lupercalia, Lupercali, priests, Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, courtly love, rituals, goats, rhyton, mud month
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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.