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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 208: Ffff

May 11, 2025 The Allusionist
a boggle grid spelling the word fuck

Welcome to four letter word season!

We're kicking off with one of the most versatile words: it can be a noun, verb, punctuation, expostulation, full sentence on its own; it can be an intensifier, an insult and a compliment... and a Category A swear. Thus, of course, content note: this episode contains many category A swears, plus some sexual references.

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In episodes, Four Letter Words Tags etymology, vocabulary, lexicography, lexicon, society, culture, words, language, history, four letter words, Jesse Sheidlower, F Word, swearing, obscenity, swears, fuck, fucking, infixing, tmesis, dictionaries, taboo, slang, cursing, curses, insults, publishing, Jonathan Lighter, place names, surnames, last names, acronyms, backronyms, fugazi, Allen Walker Read, Horace Walpole, John S Farmer, W E Henley, Bristol, Austria, fugging, parts of speech, AI, sex, sexual, internet, online, Roger, shit, cunt, slurs, FUBAR, katabatic, SNAFU, profanity

Allusionist 207: Randomly Selected Words from the Dictionary

January 16, 2025 The Allusionist

Happy tenth birthday to this show! To celebrate, here's every randomly selected word from the dictionary from the first decade of the show. 

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In episodes, Tranquillusionist Tags etymology, vocabulary, lexicography, lexicon, words, language, history, dictionary, pricket, trivia, yarak, serene, serenity, ASMR, calm, calmness, meditation, sleep, mood, emergency, Tranquillusionist, relaxation, tranquil, tranquillity

Allusionist 201: Singlish

October 10, 2024 The Allusionist

"If you grow up being told that one of your first languages, Singlish, is actually a bad version of an already existing language, you kind of get this sense that “I'm just bad at language,” says Bibek Gurung, a former linguist who grew up in Singapore speaking Singlish with his family and friends, while schools and the government tried to quash it. "Language is a fundamental human skill. And to just have this sense that you're bad at this very fundamental skill really does a number to your self esteem and your abilities to communicate in general."

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In episodes Tags history, lexicon, Helen Zaltzman, society, culture, words, language, vocabulary, Bibek Gurung, Singapore, Singlish, Singaporean Colloquial English, Singaporean Standard English, Englishes, education, Speak Good English Movement, government, sociolinguistics, multilingual, multilingualism, policy, oppression, swearing, swears, punishment, school, portmanteaus, portmanteaux, mother tongue, Manglish, Malaysia, Straits, Tamil, Malay, Mandarin, China, Chinese, Asia, Asian, southeast Asia, dialects, creole languages, opsimath, code switching, English problematic fave

Allusionist 198: Queer Arab Glossary

August 9, 2024 The Allusionist
Boggle grid spelling out the words "Queer Arab Glossary"

Since 2019, Marwan Kaabour has been collecting Arabic slang words used by and about queer people, first for the online community Takweer, and now the newly published Queer Arab Glossary. "When researching for this book, I discovered so much of the sociopolitical, cultural, linguistic, and historical layers that make up the words," he says. He also discovered quite a lot about frying, white beans and worms (metaphorical ones).

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In episodes Tags lexicography, lexicon, society, culture, words, language, etymology, vocabulary, Marwan Kaabour, Takweer, Queer Arab Glossary, dialect, Arabic, Levantine, Iraqi, Egyptian, Gulf, Sudanese, Maghrebi, Al-Sham, Lebanon, Levant, Southwest Asia, North Africa, SWANA, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, Kurdish, queerness, queer, LGBTQIA, gender, masculinity, femininity, gay, trans, lesbian, sex work, genitals, penis, slang, slurs, colonisation, worms, yarn, crocodile, falcon, cow, hyena, food, frying, Hajj, K-pop, Mickey Mouse, Italian, French, English, metaphors, genderfree, detritivore

Allusionist 197. Word Play 7: Word Sport

June 29, 2024 The Allusionist
A boggle grid spelling out the words 'word sport'

At the Scripps National Spelling Bee, behind the spectacle of kids vying to be champion spellers, a whole lot of work goes on to make words into this word sport.

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In episodes, Word Play Tags words, language, etymology, vocabulary, lexicography, lexicon, word sport, word play, word games, Scripps National Spelling Bee, spelling bee, games, competitions, contests, sport, sports, spelling sports, spellers, television, TV, school, Merriam-Webster, dictionary, Corrie Loeffler, Ben Zimmer, Jane Solomon, beeple, beecap, champions, spinning, protest, textiles, American history, USA, Noah Webster, Marie Bolden, American English, Octochamps, hemlock, spell-off, bees, univocal

Allusionist 196. Word Play 6: Beeing

June 10, 2024 The Allusionist
A Boggle grid spelling out the word 'beeing' with a double E

I went to the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee, to marvel at kids spelling words I had mostly never even heard of. But when you’re at Bee Week, the competitive spelling is merely the tip of the icebee.

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In episodes, Word Play Tags words, language, etymology, vocabulary, lexicography, lexicon, word play, word games, Scripps National Spelling Bee, spelling bee, games, competitions, contests, sport, sports, spelling sports, spellers, television, TV, school, Merriam-Webster, dictionary, Corrie Loeffler, Paul Loeffler, beeple, beecap, Spellbound, Nupur Lala, money, griffins, Aditi Muthukumar, Ananya Prassanna, Rishabh Saha, Dev Shah, Charlotte Walsh, Bruhat Soma, bells, champions, existential dread, void, community, arimasp, anserine, commonation, daviely

Allusionist 183. Timucua

October 9, 2023 The Allusionist
A boggle set spelling out the word Timucua

When Spanish missionaries arrived in what is now called Florida, there were 100,000-200,000 Timucua people in the region. Just two centuries later, there were fewer than 100. Soon, with all the people who spoke it dead, the Timucua language died out, too, preserved only in a few Spanish-Timucua religious texts.

In the 21st century, linguistic anthropologist Aaron Broadwell and historian Alejandra Dubcovsky have been decoding and translating these texts to understand the Timucua language and the people who were writing it down.

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In episodes Tags language, lexicography, lexicon, vocabulary, history, translation, revival, survival, Aaron Broadwell, Alejandra Dubcovsky, Timucua, isolates, Florida, Georgia, USA, colonisation, missionaries, Franciscan, Indigenous Americans, Spanish, Christianity, conversion, genocide, Roman alphabet, writing systems, Catholic, Catholicism, catechism, communion, Genesis, Bible, Adam and Eve, Eve, gender, euphemisms, conquistadors, Timucua Rebellion, letters, writing, nival, lost language, Survival

Allusionist 182. Siblings of Chaos

September 24, 2023 The Allusionist

Lexicographer, author and Dictionary Corner resident Susie Dent has been studying words to make us feel happy. She brings etymologies concerning cows, gas, guts and fat, of bellies and breathing and bonanzas. And some that came from the high seas and aren't made up!

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In episodes Tags etymology, words, language, lexicography, lexicon, vocabulary, history, dictionaries, dictionary, Susie Dent, nitwit, breathing, respiration, Paracelsus, JB Van Helmont, Dutch, JR Tolkien, reversal, semantic bleaching, maritime, false etymology, sea, sailors, fat, tallow, cows, cattle, meat, animals, organs, mining, mines, may, ruthless, discombobulate, recombobulation, deep dives, emotional granularity, mubblefubbles, belly, bellies, nits, rivers, hibernation, heart, guts, intestines, divination, plagues, religion, Paganism, Christianity, augers, auspex, JRR Tolkien, susurrus, fellow, cheap, Cheapside, trade, market, Romans, Ancient Rome, Egypt, posh, CANOE, dote, auspicious, bellycheer, bonanza, catastrophe, courage, derelict, derive, digs, dismay, eucatastrophe, flotsam, fond, gas, hibernacle, inauguration, inspire, inwit, jetsam, lagan, latibulate, nice, outwit, panning out, perspire, pluck, rival, silly, slush fund, spifflicate, spirit, suspire, taghaelm, vegetable

Allusionist 181. Cairns

September 13, 2023 The Allusionist

There's an abiding myth that the landmark dictionaries are the work of one man, in a dusty paper-filled garrett tirelessly working away singlehandedly. But really it took a village: behind every Big Daddy of Lexicography was usually a team of women, keeping the garrett clean, organising the piles of papers, reading through all the citations, doing research, writing definitions, editing, subediting...essentially being lexicographers, without the credit or the pay.

Academic Lindsay Rose Russell, author of Women and Dictionary-Making, talks about the roles of women in lexicography: enabling male lexicographers to get the job done, but also making their own dictionaries, and challenging the very paradigms of dictionaries.

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In episodes Tags etymology, society, culture, words, language, lexicography, lexicon, vocabulary, history, dictionaries, dictionary, Lindsay Rose Russell, women, men, sexism, Merriam-Webster, Noah Webster, Samuel Johnson, James Murray, Jonathon Green, Green’s Dictionary of Slang, work, OED, Oxford English Dictionary, collaboration, wives, daughters, sheds, Ada Murray, Susan Ford, Jessie Craigie, William Craigie, John Florio, Mary Evelyn, John Evelyn, Robert Cawdry, Table Alphabeticall, labour, attribution, citation, hair, Fop Dictionary, feminism, feminists, feminist dictionaries, publishing, books, Gretchen McCulloch, amanuensis, geniculate

Allusionist 180. Project ENABLE

August 24, 2023 The Allusionist

Sterling Martin was in grad school, studying C. elegans worms, when COVID19 hit and suddenly he found himself in lexicography, as part of a team creating a Navajo-English dictionary of science terms.

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In episodes Tags Helen Zaltzman, etymology, society, culture, words, language, Sterling Martin, Project ENABLE, Frank Morgan, Navajo, Diné Bizaad, Diné, translation, translating, science, medicine, medical, biology, COVID19, lexicography, lexicon, vocabulary, neologisms, technology, accessibility, access, Indigenous languages, Native American languages, Native Americans, Indigenous Americans, language revitalisation, protons, electrons, chromosome, chemical, carnivore, bacteria, DNA, catalyst, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, font, keyboard, worms, C Elegans, veridical
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Allusionist 208: Ffff
Allusionist 208: Ffff
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Allusionist 207: Randomly Selected Words from the Dictionary
Allusionist 207: Randomly Selected Words from the Dictionary
Allusionist 206. Bonus 2024
Allusionist 206. Bonus 2024
A Christmas Carollusionist
A Christmas Carollusionist
Allusionist 205. Lexicat, part 2: now with added Dog
Allusionist 205. Lexicat, part 2: now with added Dog
Festivelusionists
Allusionist 204. Lexicat, part 1
Allusionist 204. Lexicat, part 1
Allusionist 203. Flyting
Allusionist 203. Flyting
Allusionist 202: Singlish Singlish
Allusionist 202: Singlish Singlish
Allusionist 201: Singlish
Allusionist 201: Singlish
Tranquillusionist: Ex-Constellations
Tranquillusionist: Ex-Constellations
Allusionist 200: 200th episode celebratory quiz!
Allusionist 200: 200th episode celebratory quiz!
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The Allusionist by Helen Zaltzman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.