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 more than forty games - including word games such as Ex Libris, Anagram and Flummoxed, and the non-word game Jenga.
Read moreAllusionist 11: Brunchtime
Brunch. What does it actually mean?
Yeah yeah, it's breakfast + lunch, but in function or in form? And what does it have to do with Lewis Carroll?
I chewed this over during brunch with Dan Pashman, host of the food podcast The Sporkful and author of Eat More Better. Fall down the rabbit hole of brunch semantics with us.
SIDE ORDERS:
Here is the transcript of this episode.
Want to know some more about the Rise of Brunch? Here you go.
The origins of the name of the classic brunch dish Eggs Benedict are as clear as Hollandaise.
Here's more about Lewis Carroll and his portmanteaus, and in case you're really hungry for arguments about semantics, here's Alice conversation with Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass.
In several languages, oranges are called variations of 'Portugal'.
Have any of you read Brunch: A History? I'm intrigued.
A lot of people seem to really hate brunch. Portlandia's 'Brunch Village' episode was fiction though, right?
RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
extrados
Next episode will appear in a fortnight. Don't stay awake the whole time until then just to game the word 'breakfast'. You'll only be spiting yourself.
- HZ
CREDITS
This episode was produced by Anne Saini, Dan Pashman and me, and recorded at the Square Diner on Leonard St, NYC. They were very sporting about it.
Hear Dan Pashman on WNYC's The Sporkful every week - thesporkful.com - and read his very funny and useful book Eat More Better. He is @TheSporkful on Twitter.
As well as producing The Sporkful, Anne Saini has her own podcast, Mother. She is @CitySpoonful on Twitter.
You can hear more of my conversation with Dan on this episode of The Sporkful. If you think he was going down some terrifying paths of logic about breakfast, wait till you hear his theories about fizzy water!
All* the music in this episode is by Martin Austwick. Hear and/or download more at thesoundoftheladies.bandcamp.com.
* Aside from the songs playing in the background at the diner. I can make out 'Alone' by Heart and Maroon 5's 'Moves Like Jagger'. Shurrup, Maroon 5!Find me at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.
Me and Dan in the Square Diner, post-porklift.
Allusionist 10: Election Lexicon
On the eve of the 2015 General Election in the UK, join me for a jaunt through the etymology of election-related words.
Find out why casting a vote should be more like basketball, how debating could descend into fisticuffs, and why polling is hairy.
FURTHER READING:
Producer Matt and I went out in a high wind with a megaphone to record at the place for shouting about politics through a megaphone: Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park. Here's a brief history of Speakers' Corner, where people have been blowing high wind through megaphones for more than a century.
For those who insist upon continuing to do their campaigning indoors, here's a potted history of lobbying in the US.
I only briefly mentioned the origins of the Tories' name: it has a very knotty history. Read more about that here.
Swingometer fans! Thanks to the BBC, here're some archive videos and pictures of swingometers through history.
Here is the transcript of this episode.
RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
pismire
See you in a fortnight, unless etymologocracy wins the day and I'm too drunk on power to make this show.
- HZ
CREDITS
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, with megaphone assitance from Matt Hill. Matt tweets as @virtualmatthill and makes numerous podcasts and apps, including Spark London and the Media Podcast. Find more of his work at rethinkdaily.co.uk.
All the music is by Martin Austwick. Hear more of it at http://thesoundoftheladies.bandcamp.com/.
Find me at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.
So goddamn windy that day. The campaign trail is more challenging than I had expected.
