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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 119. Blood Is Not Water

July 14, 2020 The Allusionist
Allusionist 119 logo

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The Yiddish word for 'black' is, in certain uses, a slur. So Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, Arun Viswanath and Jonah Boyarin teamed up to translate Black Lives Matter without it.

The Yiddish word for ‘black’ is, in certain uses, a slur. So Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, Arun Viswanath and Jonah Boyarin teamed up to translate Black Lives Matter without it.

Heads-up: we will be talking about that sometimes-slur, shvartse, plus there is one Category B swear in this episode.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

  • Anthony writes about teaming up with Arun and Jonah and their process for translating Black Lives Matter.

  • See the list of Yiddish versions of terms related to the BLM movement that they and other Yiddishists have been working on.

  • How people have been signing Black Lives Matter in ASL.

  • Really fascinating episode of NPR’s Rough Translation about the French word for ‘ghostwriter’ also being a slur.

  • Arun writes about his translation choices in Harry Potter.

  • Re the editing out of Dean Thomas.

  • Differences between the UK/US texts of the first Harry Potter novel.

  • Jonah recommends checking out Jews for Racial and Economic Justice at jfrej.org.

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
fictile

fictile, adjective: made of clay by a potter; of or relating to pottery.

CREDITS:

  • Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell is a vocalist, composer and arranger; find his work at anthonyrussellbass.com and follow him on Twitter @mordkhetzvi.

  • Jonah Boyarin is an anti-racism organiser, writer, and translator; read his work in places such as Jewish Currents, Everyday Feminism and In Geveb, and follow him on Twitter @jonahNYC.

  • Arun Viswanath is a product analyst and translator; find his translation of the first Harry Potter novel at harrypotter.olniansky.com, and follow him on Twitter @a_a_viswanath.

  • The Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his new podcast Year of the Bird about the songs he writes.

  • This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman.

  • Find the show at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/allusionistshow.

In episodes Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, Helen Zaltzman, etymology, lexicon, vocabulary, BLM, Black Lives Matter, anti-racism, racism, POC, BIPOC, black, Black people, African diaspora, civil rights, Yiddish, translation, translators, translating, slurs, pejorative, Arun Viswanath, Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, Jonah Boyarin, African American, Judaism, Jewish, Jews, Harry Potter, Dean Thomas, edits, problematic, transliteration, phrases, idioms
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