The Allusionist
Episodes
44: This Is Your Brain On Language
03 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
What is your beautiful brain up to as you comprehend language? Cognitive psychologist Jenni Rodd takes a peek. Visit http://theallusionist.org/brain f...
43. The Key part II: Vestiges
20 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
If you don’t have a Rosetta Stone to hand, deciphering extinct languages can be a real puzzle, even though they didn’t intend to be. They didn’t...
42. The Key part I: Rosetta
07 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Languages die. But if they’re lucky, a thousand-odd years later, someone unearths an artefact that brings them back to life. Laura Welcher of the Ro...
41. Getting Toasty
21 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
When you choose to spend the winter in Antarctica, you’ll be prepared for it to be cold. You know that nobody will be leaving or arriving until spri...
40. Olympics
04 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
On your marks… Get set… GO! It’s the Etymolympics, where the gymnastics should be gymnaked and the hurdles are a bloodbath. Find out more about ...
39. Generation What?
13 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Which are you: Millennial, Generation X, Baby Boomer, Silent Generation, an impressively young-looking Arthurian Generation? Or are you an individual ...
38. Small Talk
25 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
“How are you?”“Oh, fine – and you?”“Yeah, not bad. Nice day today, isn’t it?”“Yes, it was a bit chilly this morning, but now the sun...
12 rerun: Pride
13 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
This week seems like a good one to listen again to last year’s episode Pride, about how the word came to be chosen for LGBTQ Pride. Activist and pub...
37. Brand It
29 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Got a company or a product or a website you need to name? Well, be wary of the potential pitfalls: trademark disputes; pronounceability; being mistake...
36. Big Lit
17 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
‘Classics’ started off meaning Latin and Greek works, then works that smacked of similar, and now – what, exactly? Books that are full of bonnet...
35. Word of the Day
01 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Open up a dictionary, and you’ll find the history of human behaviour, the key to your own psychological state, and a lot of fun words about cats. Di...
34. Continental
17 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
‘Continent’, as in a land mass, is much more complicated semantically than the bodily function control sense of ‘continent’. Plus: more ‘ple...
33. Please
01 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
There’s an ocean between Britain and the USA, but an even wider division between each country’s use of a particular word: ‘please’. Linguists ...
32. Soho
18 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Around the world, there are several places called Soho, getting their names from an acronym/portmanteau-ish composite of local streets or neighbouring...
31. Post-Love
05 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Breaking up is hard to do, and it’s hard to put into appropriate words. Comedian Rosie Wilby seeks a better term for ‘ex’, and family law barris...
30. US Election Lexicon
17 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The 2016 US election isn’t going away anytime soon, so let’s seek refuge in etymology. Consider the linguistically appropriate age of a senator, a...
29. WLTM part II
06 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
You’re looking for your perfect partner, but dating sites keep matching you with duds. So what do you do? Conduct an elaborate linguistic experiment...
28. WLTM part I
28 Jan 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Your online dating profile is the latest spin on a 300-year-old tradition of advertising yourself in order to find a spouse, a sexual partner, or some...
27. Bonus 2015
23 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
For the last episode of 2015, here’s a melange of etymologies requested by listeners, and anecdotes there wasn’t room for in the show earlier this...
26. Xmas Man
02 Dec 2015
Contributed by Lukas
CONTENT WARNING: Be wary of listening to this episode around young children, as there may be life spoilers. Historian Greg Jenner traces the origins o...
25. Toki Pona
19 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a language which is said to be the smallest language in the world. It has around 123 words, five vowels, nine consonants, and apparently you...
24. Spill Your Guts
04 Nov 2015
Contributed by Lukas
It’s cathartic; it’s a useful historical record; and it might help you behave better on public transport. Neil Katcher and Dave Nadelberg from Mor...
23. Criminallusionist
29 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Phoebe Judge and Lauren Spohrer from the podcast Criminal stop by to talk about the linguistic challenges of crime reporting. They also share their ep...
22. Vocables
21 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
La la la, dum di di dum, a wop bop a loo bop a wop bom bom – why are songs riddled with non-words masquerading as words? Hrishikesh Hirway from Song...
21. Eponyms I: The Ballad of Bic and Biro
14 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Naming something after yourself: a grand display of egomania, or the humble willingness to be overshadowed by your own product? Stationery expert Jame...
20. Baby Talk
07 Oct 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Why do we all sound like idiots when we talk to babies? Don’t be embarrassed, we’re helping them acquire language. Child psychologist Ben Jeffes e...
19. Architecting About Dance
24 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
“Talking about music is like dancing about architecture” is a problematic statement: not just because nobody can agree on who came up with it, but...
18. Fix part II
09 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The messiness of English is the price of its success. It is the most widely spoken language in the world, geographically, being an official language i...
17. Fix part I
28 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The English language is a mess. And if you don’t like it, what are you going to do about it – fix it? Good luck with that. In the early 18th centu...
16. Word Play
12 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Words are all over the place. So how do you turn them into fun games? Here to show the way is Leslie Scott, founder of Oxford Games and inventor of mo...
15. Step Away
29 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
‘Step-‘, as in stepparents or stepchildren, originated in grief. Family structures have evolved, but are stepmothers now so tainted by fairytale a...
14. Behave
30 Jun 2015
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 ...
13. Mixed Emojions
17 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Emoji allow communication without words. Could emoji be the universal language of the 21st century? Matt Gray and Tom Scott, founders of the emoji-onl...
12. Pride
03 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
“The poison is shame. The antidote is pride.” It’s June; the President of the USA has officially designated it LGBT Pride Month, and there’ll ...
11. Brunchtime
20 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
What does brunch have to do with Lewis Carroll? Fall down the rabbit hole of brunch semantics with Dan Pashman of the Sporkful podcast http://sporkful...
10. Election Lexicon
05 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
On the eve of the 2015 General Election in the UK, take a jaunt through the etymology of election-related words. Find out why casting a vote should be...
9. The Space Between
22 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
I know this is a show about words, but forget the words for a moment; look at the spaces between the words. Without the spaces, the words would be nig...
8. Crosswords
08 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Cryptic crosswords: delightful brain exercise, or the infernal taunting of the incomprehensible? Either way, crossword setter John Feetenby explains h...
7. Mountweazel
25 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
You’d think you could trust dictionaries, but it turns out, they are riddled with LIES. Visit theallusionist.org/mountweazel to find out more about ...
6. The Writing On The Wall
11 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Those words on museum walls that you can’t be bothered to read? They’re more important than you think… Exhibition-maker Rachel Souhami explains ...
5. Latin Lives!
25 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Every week since September 1989, a radio station in Finland has broadcast a weekly news bulletin…in Latin. WHY? Let’s find out! Visit theallusioni...
4. Detonating the C-Bomb
11 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
WARNING: this episode contains lots of swearing and words which some of you may find offensive. If, however, you love offensive words, you will enjoy ...
3. Going Viral
28 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Remember when ‘viral’ used to only mean something bad, eg. something that would make you ill or destroy your computer? How things have changed. To...
2. Bosom Holder
15 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
There are many synonyms for ‘underwear’. There are many synonyms for the body parts you keep in your underwear. But there’s only one word for ‘...
1. Ban The Pun.
14 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In late 2014, China announced it was to ban puns. Helen Zaltzman wishes she could ban puns in her own family. Warning: this episode features some hide...