The Allusionist
Episodes
132. Additions and Losses
12 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
"Sometimes I've heard people talk about losing a child and people say it's like losing a limb. And as someone who's lost both things, I just want to s...
131. Podlingual
25 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In their podcasts Mija and Moonface, Lory Martinez and James Kim create autobiographical fiction in multiple languages. There are a few swears in th...
130. Valentine
14 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
St Valentine's name may nowadays be all over the romance-related merch for 14 February, but he was also the patron saint of beekeepers, epilepsy and p...
129. Sorry
31 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Apologies are such important verbal transactions. So why are so many of them soooo bad? Susan McCarthy and Marjorie Ingall from SorryWatch and Laura B...
128. Bonus 2020
24 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
To round off the year, here are some choice cuts from the Allusionist vault of interesting things that guests said that there wasn’t room for in the...
127. A Festive Hit for 2020
14 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The usual canon of Christmas songs may not really fit people's moods in this year 2020, when I'm not sure a lot of us are feeling all that holly jolly...
126. Survival: Custodians of the Languages
28 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In Australia, there were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of languages. Until English arrived. Rudi Bremer and Karina Lester talk about the destruction an...
125. Swearalong Quiz
10 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Fill your lungs and get ready to shout out some profane answers: it’s the Swearlusionist Swearalong Quiz! Every answer is a swear word. Swearing, as...
124. Nightmare
25 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is the Alloooooooooosionist, in which we learn about the etymology of some scary words for Halloween, with the help of Paul Bae of The Black Tape...
123. Celebrity
10 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Celebrity used to mean a solemn occasion; X factor was algebraic; and fame was a huge terrifying Godzilla-like beast with many many tongues. Here to t...
122. Ghostwriter
28 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The word for ‘ghostwriter’ in French is a racist slur. How did THAT come about? And what word could French-speakers use instead? Ngofeen Mputubwel...
121. No Title
14 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 2014, a seemingly trivial and boring incident at the bank propelled me down a linguistic road via medieval werewolves, Ms Marvel and confusingly in...
Tranquillusionist: Home and Garden
28 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, quell anxiety and calm brain frenzies by replacing your interior monologue with words detac...
The Away Team redux
18 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After yet another spell of the British press and politicians using very dehumanising and derogatory rhetoric about migrants, I felt it necessary to go...
120. Shine Theory
30 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It’s great when you coin a phrase that really resonates with people, right? Until they start using it for businesses and ventures that are at odds w...
119. Blood Is Not Water
14 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Yiddish word for ‘black’ is, in certain uses, a slur. So Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, Arun Viswanath and Jonah Boyarin teamed up to transla...
118. Survival: Bequest
03 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When the Europeans arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as guns, stoats and Christianity, they brought ideas of cisgender monogamous heterosexuali...
117. Many Ways At Once
15 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Scots language didn’t have much of an LGBTQ+ lexicon. So writer and performer Dr Harry Josephine Giles decided to create one. Find out more abou...
116. My Dad Excavated A Porno
03 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The word ‘pornography’ arrived in English in the 1840s so upper class male archaeologists could talk about the sexual art they found in Pompeii wi...
115. Keep Calm and
16 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty years ago, a 1939 poster printed by the British government with the words ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ turned up in a second-hand bookshop in N...
Tranquillusionist: Punchlines
13 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, in the interests of temporarily trying to stop that feeling where you think your brain is t...
Tranquillusionist: Best In Show
04 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, for the purposes of calming a frazzled brain, read the winners of Best In Show at the Westm...
Tranquillusionist: Nmiigea
22 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, for the purposes of quelling anxiety and stress and sleeplessness, read the lyrics to ‘Im...
Tranquillusionist: Your Soothing Words
17 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We interrupt the Allusionist break to bring an emergency calming episode. I asked you listeners which words you find soothing. Here they are. Put this...
114. Alarm Bells
24 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As the climate changes, so does the vocabulary around it - to amplify concern, to dampen concern, to serve corporate concerns… It is linguistically ...
113. Zaltzology
24 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode is something a bit different to usual. A few months ago, I was a guest on the podcast Ologies, a terrific show where the very funny ...
112. Quiz 2019
24 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
For your last Allusionist of 2019, here is a quiz all about words for you to play along with as you listen. Get a pen and paper to jot down your answe...
Allusionist special: Podcast Podcast
16 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Here’s a special episode about the word that brought us all together… aaand a lot of you hate it. This piece was recorded in front of a live audie...
111. Engraving part 2: Precious
16 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Words engraved into metal are intended to last, though you don’t know who in the future is going to be reading them - your grandchildren wearing you...
110. Engraving part 1: Epitaph
26 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When Dave Nadelberg of Mortified used to visit his mother’s grave, he would look around at the nearby gravestones and see similar - or even the exac...
109. East West
14 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
On 9 November 1989, the demolition of the Berlin Wall began. Within a year, Germany was unified. East Germany dissolved and was incorporated into the ...
108. Enjoy!
30 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the last Food Season episode of the current batch, we get into the language of restaurant service - specifically those terms that give some of us f...
107. Apples
09 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Late 2019 will see the biggest apple launch of our lifetimes. 22 years in the making, ripening on millions of trees into picture-perfect redness, here...
106. Typo Demom
15 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Ever misspelled a word or committed a typo? It wasn’t your fault; you were demonically possessed. Ian Chillag from Everything is Alive podcast intro...
105. F'ood
03 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When is cheese not cheese, or crab not crab? When it’s spelled cheez or krab or even ch’eese or cra’b… Novelty spellings for foods-that-aren’...
104. Words into Food
17 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It’s Food Season at the Allusionist. Last episode we learned all about compiling recipes, turning food into words. This time, we meet someone who tu...
103. Food Into Words
05 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When recipe writing is done well, the skill and effort involved might not be evident. But explaining the different steps clearly so that people of var...
102. New Rules
14 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
I don’t know exactly when or where, but at some point in the past few years, I stopped putting punctuation at the end of sentences. Why? The interne...
101. Two Or More
26 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Oysters, fragrances, canoeing, space stations, God, hats, and of course people - the word ‘bisexual’ has described a great deal of different thing...
56+12. Joins & Pride
06 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate Pride Month, I’m playing two of the Allusionist episodes that have stuck with me the most during the show’s existence. The first is J...
100. The Hundredth
27 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
To mark the 100th* episode of the Allusionist, here’s a celebratory parade of language-related facts: some of your favourites from the Allusionist b...
99. Polari
12 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When there were no safe spaces to be gay, Polari allowed gay men to identify and communicate with each other, and to keep things secret from outsiders...
98. Alter Ego
27 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today: three pieces about alter egos, when your name - the words by which the world knows you - is replaced by another for particular purposes, such a...
97. The Future is Now?
11 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“There are two ways to say ‘The future is now’: you can say it optimistically, like, ‘The future is now! Isn't that cool?’ Or you could be l...
96. Trust
26 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Trust isn't a brand that you should use. It's a social glue that, when it breaks down, has really huge consequences to our lives.” Trust expert a...
95. Verisimilitude
11 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When you’re watching a fantasy or science fiction show, and the characters are speaking a language that does not exist in this world but sounds like...
94. Harsh Realm
22 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
On 15 November 1992, the New York Times printed a ‘Lexicon of Grunge’, a list of slang terms from the Seattle music scene. ‘Harsh realm’ = bum...
93. Gossip
09 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
‘Idle’, ‘trivial’, ‘scurrilous’: the word ‘gossip’ is often accompanied by uncomplimentary adjectives. But don’t dismiss it; from ch...
92. To Err Is Human
24 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
If you wince when you hear someone say “a whole nother level”, “hone in on” or “right from the gecko”, here’s some bad news: you might h...
Extra special QUIZ!
18 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Here’s a wordy quiz for you to play along with as you listen. Get a pen and paper, or fill in your answers online at theallusionist.org/2018quiz.The...
91. Bonus 2018
16 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Throughout the year, the people who appear on the Allusionist tell me a lot of interesting stuff. Not all of which is relevant to the episode they ini...
90. Dear Santa
30 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Jim Glaub and Dylan Parker didn’t think too much of it when, every year, a few letters for Santa were delivered to their New York apartment. But the...
89. WPM
17 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This is a story of feats of speed and endurance, of record-breakers, of champions… Typing champions. Recorded live at the Hot Docs Podcast Festival ...
88. Name Changers
04 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Why did you change your name? And why did you choose the name you chose? Listeners answer these two questions. Hear their stories of gender identity, ...
87. Name v. Law
22 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Iceland has quite exacting laws about what its citizens can be named, and only around 4,000 names are on the officially approved list. If you want a n...
86. Name Therapy
08 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“It’s the word that you use the most often and the soonest to describe yourself, and yet nobody’s really ever talked about how it kind of makes ...
85. Skin Story
23 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“I wanted a story that actually lives, and actually dies, and disappears.” In 2003, artist and author Shelley Jackson started the Skin Project: a ...
84. Trammels
08 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Why would you write books or poems or plays with only one vowel? Or in palindromes? Or only using the example sentences in dictionaries? Sometimes you...
83. Yes, As In
26 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“Really? As in the animal/foodstuff/music genre?” “Is that a stripper name?” “What were your parents thinking?” When your name is a word t...
82. A Novel Remedy
13 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When you’re feeling unwell, what’s the book you read to make yourself feel better? And why does it work? Clinical psychologist Jane Gregory explai...
81. Shark Week
28 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we’re dipping into the Allusionist mailbag full of listeners’ linguistic requests, with the help of special guest Hrishikesh Hirway of Song...
Imaginary Advice: S.E.I.N.F.E.L.D.
28 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Hello! I’m currently in hospital so am having to take a little time off work. Therefore, instead of a new Allusionist episode today, here’s my fa...
80. Warm Front
17 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 weath...
79. Queer
03 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Strange or obtuse; a stinging homophobic slur; a radical political rejection of normativity; a broad term encompassing every and any variation on sexu...
78. Oot in the Open
21 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You are born and raised in a household speaking a language. Then you start going to school, and that language is banned. If you speak it, you’ll be ...
42+43. Survival: The Key rerun
05 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
To accompany the current Allusionist miniseries Survival, about minority languages facing suppression and extinction, we’re revisiting this double b...
77. Survival part 1: Second Home
21 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
There are two main places in the world where the Welsh language is spoken: Wales, and the Chubut Province in Patagonia. How did this ancient language ...
76. Across the Pond
07 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Pavement/sidewalk; football/soccer; bum bag/fanny pack: we know that the English language is different in the UK and the USA. But why? Linguist Lynne ...
75. Ear Hustling
23 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we’re going inside to open up the unofficial dictionary of San Quentin state prison, compiled by Earlonne Woods of Ear Hustle podcast. Content...
74. Take A Swear Pill
09 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
CONTENT WARNING: there is swearing in this episode. But the happy news is: swearing is good for you! Dr Emma Byrne, author of Swearing Is Good For You...
73. Supername!
24 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Up in the sky: look! It’s an adjective! It’s a noun! It’s…Adjectivenoun! Your friendly neighbourhood superheroes might have thrilling and ...
72. Hey
09 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
“Hey.”“Going to the supermarket, want me to get you anything?”“Puppies or ice cream?”“What’s your glasses prescription?”“I wanna *...
71. Triumph/Trumpet/Top/Fart
26 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a year since Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States. And in that year, he’s caused a lot of changes in the j...
70. Bonus 2017
23 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the annual bonus episode. Throughout the year, the people who appear on the show tell me a lot of interesting stuff, not all of which is releva...
69. How the Dickens stole Christmas
09 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Charles Dickens wrote about the plight of the impoverished and destitute members of British society. So how come his name is a synonym for rosy-cheeke...
68. Curse Soup
25 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Somebody has really ticked you off. You’re all steamed up inside and you want to vent that rage using words, but you don’t want to confront them d...
67. Open Me part II
10 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You’re holding a letter. What’s inside? A weather report from 5,000 miles away? Some devastating family history? A single word? A heartfelt dispat...
66. Open Me part I
27 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
From Me To You’s Alison Hitchcock and Brian Greenley didn’t know each other well. But when Brian was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, Alison offered...
65. Eponyms III: Who’s That Guy?
14 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Roman Mars returns for our annual dose of eponyms – words that derive from people’s names. This year: explosive revelations about the origins of t...
64. Technobabble
30 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You’ve encountered technobabble when Doc Brown is shouting about flux capacitors in Back To The Future, or when Isaac Asimov writes about positronic...
63. Evolution of Accents
14 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
“Accent is identity. It’s a way of encoding and signaling – almost completely at an unconscious level for most people – who they feel like the...
62. In Crypt, Decrypt
02 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Crossword-solving is often a solitary activity – over breakfast; on the train; on the loo… But a few times a year, crossword puzzle enthusiasts ga...
61. In Your Hand
17 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
“It’s sort of frozen body language; that’s what handwriting analysis is about.” Since it caught on a couple of hundred years ago, graphology –...
60. Zillions
05 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
They look like numbers. They sound like numbers. You kinda know they are numbers. But they’re not actually numbers. Linguistic anthropologist Stephe...
59. One To Another
30 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Translation, A Love Story: Translator listens to The Allusionist. Translator hears about the podcast The Memory Palace. Translator listens to The Memo...
58. Eclipse
16 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It’s August 2007. Lauren Marks is a 27-year-old actor and a PhD student, spending the month directing a play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She’...
57. AD/BC
01 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a small matter I trip over regularly in the Allusionist:Dates.Not the fruit. Specicially, the terms BC and AD, Before Christ and Anno Domini...
56. Joins
19 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As discussed in episode 51, Under the Covers part II, the vocabulary for sex and associated body parts is tricky to navigate in many ways – but even...
55. Namaste
05 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” Hrishikesh Hirway of Song Exploder wants people to stop saying ‘nam...
54. The Authority
14 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
“Sometimes you want to make the dictionary sexy but it’s just not a sexy thing,” says Kory Stamper, lexicographer for the Merriam-Webster dictio...
53. The Away Team
01 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
“Recognizing someone’s humanity is crucial. Calling someone a migrant, calling someone an asylum seeker, calling them a refugee: these are officia...
14 rerun: Behave
17 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes words can become your worst enemy. Clinical psychologist Jane Gregory tells how to defuse their power. There’s more about this episode at ...
52. Sanctuary
07 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The term ‘sanctuary cities’ has been in the news a lot in the past few weeks, as places in the USA declare themselves to be havens for undocumente...
51. Under the Covers – part II
21 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Does the available vocabulary for sex leave something to be desired? Namely desire? (And also the ability to use it without laughing/dying of embarras...
50. Under the Covers – part I
08 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Escape into the loving embrace of a romance novel – although don’t think you’ll be able to escape gender politics while you’re in there. Bea a...
49. Bonus 2016
30 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Why is gaslighting ‘gaslighting’? What do bodily fluids have to do with personality traits? Why does ‘cataract’ mean a waterfall and an eye co...
48. Winterval
06 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a word that has become shorthand for ‘the war on Christmas’ with a side of ‘political correctness gone mad’: Winterval. It began in ...
47. The Year Without a Summer
21 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today: a tale of darkness, gathering storms, and a terrifying creature that resembles a human man… No, nothing topical: it’s The Year Without A Su...
46. The State Of It
04 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Each of the 50 states in the USA has its own motto. The motto might be found on the state seal, or the state flag; more often than not, it might be in...
45. Eponyms II: Name That Disease
16 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
If you love eponyms like Roman Mars loves eponyms, I’m afraid physician Isaac Siemens is here to deliver some bad news: medics are ditching them, in...