Allusionist 100. The Hundredth

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To mark the 100th* episode of the Allusionist, here’s a celebratory parade of language-related facts: some of your favourites from the Allusionist back catalogue, some of my favourites from the Allusionist back catalogue, and a load of fresh facts making their Allusionist debut.

* short hundred, not long hundred.**

** not sure of the difference? Listen to the episode to find out!

Lots of episodes are referred to in the course of this, so if you’re curious to hear more about a particular fact, browse the transcript; if one of the 100 facts relates to a particular episode, I’ve linked to it there. No link = fresh fact!

The transcript is at theallusionist.org/transcripts/hundredth.

There’s also theallusionist.org/lexicon where you can click on a word to find out which episode discusses it.

Content note: this episode contains SWEARS.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• King bees —> queen bees.

• Peruse Charles Butler’s major beekeeping book, The Feminine Monarchie, or: The Historie of Bees.

• 6 Things Aristotle Got Wrong.

• Gosh I was so ignorant before about the plethora of screws.

• About John Frearson, inventor of an arguably superior cross-head screw to the phillips?

• Canada’s favourite: robertson screws.

• Since the brunch episode, I’ve collected many bad portmanteaus - if you see one in the wild, tweet a picture to me with the #portmantNO hashtag.

The Allusionist live tour of the new show, No Title, has landed in Australia! Get your tickets for the upcoming shows in Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin from theallusionist.org/events.

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:

halteres

CREDITS:

• Much gratitude for the recorded contributions provided by listeners Alaric, Amir, Angie, Ben, Brent, Brian, Bryce, Cameron, Charles, Charlie, Cheese, Christopher, Colin, David, Edward, Frances, Gabe, Gabriella, Haley, Harry, Jackie, other Jackie, Jeff, John, Jonas, Laura, other Laura, Leying, Matthew, Maxime, Maya, Mikel, Noah, Oscar/Gleb, Rachel, Rebecca, Rick, Sarah and Yajna.

• For the past four years, Matt Williamson has been superintending inwhiches.tumblr.com. He is now handing over duties to another listener, Ashra Kolhatkar. Thanks Matt! Thanks Ashra!! In his non-inwhich-gif-time (which is most of his time), Matt’s a project manager, so if you need one of those, email him at matt@williamson.ly. As well as volunteering for inwhich gif duty, Ashra volunteers at the Vancouver Orphan Kitten Rescue Association.

• This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Martin Austwick makes the music that you hear in every episode. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his new podcast Year of the Bird about the songs he writes.

• Find me online at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/allusionistshow.

Thanks ever so much for listening to the Allusionist! If you’ve liked any of the 100 episodes, tell someone else about it. Preferably someone who might enjoy it; and at a time when they’re receptive to podcast recommendations, so not eg while they’re taking their driving test or leading a funeral service or in the critical stages of making eggs benedict, because they’re never going to listen to the show if they associate it with a split hollandaise or overdone poached egg.

- HZ