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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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Allusionist 1: Ban The Pun

January 14, 2015 The Allusionist

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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 hideous incidences of wordplay. Visit http://theallusionist.org/puns to find out more about this episode.

When it emerged I was going to make the Allusionist, I got a lot of people asking me, "Are there going to be puns in it?"

“No,” I cried! “No! I hate puns!”

This episode is about puns. 

I thought if I got them out of the way, we might never need speak of them again.

Late last year, China announced puns are to be banned across all media. Frankly, I wish I could ban them in my own family. I spoke to my brother Andy and my dad Zack about their punning which has blighted my life since 1980.

Perhaps all Zaltzmans should be tested for Witzelsucht Disease.

If you're a glutton for punishment, some brave soul has edited together nearly TWO HOURS of Andy's puns from his podcast The Bugle, which you can listen to here. Warning: high dose may prove fatal.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
gralloch

CREDITS

  • Presented and produced by Helen Zaltzman.

  • Andy Zaltzman can be found touring, on The Bugle podcast and tweeting as @zaltzcricket and @hellobuglers.

  • Zack Zaltzman can be found in his studio trying out puns on his sculptures.

  • Thanks to Chris Skinner.

MUSIC

  • 'Allusionist Theme' - Martin Austwick

  • 'China In Your Hand' [Instrumental] - T'Pau

  • 'Here' - Tindersticks

- HZ

In episodes Tags words, puns, wordplay, China, Chinese, homophones, hello, Andy Zaltzman, The Bugle, pun runs, Zack Zaltzman, Bible, Aristophanes, Ancient Greek, etymology, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, greetings, telephone, phone, jokes, comedy, Greek, humour, humor
← Allusionist 2: Bosom Holder
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Creative Commons Licence
The Allusionist by Helen Zaltzman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.