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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 187. Bonus 2023

December 24, 2023 The Allusionist

It's our annual end of year parade of all the extra good stuff this year's podguests talked about, including a mythical disappearing island, geese, human dictionaries, the dubious history of the Body Mass Index, Victorian death department stores, and much more.

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In episodes Tags etymology, vocabulary, history, Caetano Galindo, Susie Dent, Lindsay Rose Russell, Aubrey Gordon, Dean Vuletic, Evie King, Cariad Lloyd, Griefcast, Hy-Brasil, myths, legends, islands, Ireland, Victorians, Georgians, death, 19th century, funerals, mourning, grief, grieving, posthumous, dead bodies, bodies, fat, anti-fatness, anti-fat, bias, medical, BMI, Body Mass Index, body positivity, eugenics, families, family, estrangement, Brazilian, brasileiros, Portuguese, wood, brazilwood, trees, dictionaries, walking dictionary, sleeping dictionary, gender, geese, goose, weaving, renaming, denaming, cremation, aquamation, ashes, burial, composting, graves, clothes, shopping, Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey, five stages of grief, Jay’s, Regent Street, London, jet, jewelry, Elizabeth Kubler Ross, street names, school names, John La Rose, Richmond, Virginia, Australia, K’Gari, Hobart, Macquarie Street, Tasmania, petitions, Toronto, Rob Ford, Michaelmas, Alfred Hitchcock, Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca, rebeca, cardigan, turtlenecks, lexicography, Adolphe Quetelet, Quetelet’s Index, Ancel Keys, Francis Galton, drapetomania, hysteria, Eurovision Song Contest, Eurovision, nul points, zero, French, Brazil, Brasil, gossamer, pavage, text, textile, clothing, bonus, bonus episode

Allusionist 186. Ravels

December 12, 2023 The Allusionist
a boggle grid spelling out the word 'ravels'

We’ve got knitting! We’ve got eponyms!! We’ve got knitting eponyms!!! Which come with a whole load of battles, f-boys, duels, baseball, scandals - and socks, lots of socks.

Fibre artist and Yarn Stories podcaster Miriam Felton discusses why grafting should ditch the name 'kitchener stitch'; we learn about the eponymous cardigan; and three towns in Ontario take pretty different approaches to having problematic namesakes.

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In episodes, Telling Other Stories, eponyms Tags etymology, vocabulary, history, denaming, renaming, Telling Other Stories, Miriam Felton, Canada, Canadian, Canadian history, UK, British, Britain, British history, wars, war, battles, Second Boer War, Africa, South Africa, concentration camps, Crimean War, Charge of the Light Brigade, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Battle of Balaclava, World War One, First World War, WW1, 19th century, 20th century, Queen Victoria, Winston Churchill, knitting, knitwear, knit, terminology, crafts, stitches, graft, grafting, Lord Kitchener, Lord Cardigan, Lord Raglan, Ceredigion, eponyms, Ontario, Russell, towns, military, army, conflict, campaigns, yachts, horse, cardigan, socks, raglan sleeve, seams, balaclava, Ravelry, King County, German, Germany, Berlin, House of Windsor, royals, monarchy, dachshunds, buns, lawsuits, schisms, criminal conversation, duels, referendums, politics, patriotism, garments, innovation, baseball, codes, spies, espionage, Vogue, knitting patterns, namesakes, Martin Luther King Jr, cachalot

Allusionist 185. Gems and Patties

November 21, 2023 The Allusionist

We’re returning to the theme of renaming, for two food-related renamings: the first one that mostly happened, the second that mostly did not - but in a good way.

Dr Erin Pritchard persuaded a British supermarket to rebrand a type of sweets that had a slur in their name. And Chris Strikes recounts the renaming conflict that was the Toronto Patty Wars of 1985.

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In episodes Tags vocabulary, history, Erin Pritchard, Chris Strikes, renaming, names, branding, brands, rebranding, rebrand, Telling Other Stories, slurs, offensive terms, food, foodstuffs, food terminology, patties, patty, Patty Wars, Toronto, Canada, Canadian, UK, British, Britain, ableism, little people, dwarfism, medical conditions, disability, discrimination, racism, bias, equality, activism, campaigning, supermarkets, Caribbean, Jamaica, Jamaican, product names, wrestling, pastry, Lloyd Parry, Brian Mulroney, Michael Davidson, law, beef, hamburgers, burgers, meat, meat puck, Patty Summit, 1985, 1980s, Patty Day, 23 February, yaw

Allusionist: Apple Fest!

October 22, 2023 The Allusionist

All aboard, we're off to the 2023 Apple Festival at the University of British Columbia, to taste some apples and, most importantly, enjoy some apple names. And before that, we return to the classic Sporklusionist applesode to refresh our memory about how apple names are chosen - eponyms, portmanteaus, geography, or corporate R&D, just like how our ancestors named apples.

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In episodes Tags vocabulary, words, language, Sporklusionist, Sporkful, Dan Pashman, apples, Cosmic Crisp, apple names, history, apple history, fruit, trees, fruit trees, cultivars, varietals, cultivation, Washington, WA, WSU, Washington State University, Kathryn Grandy, Kate Evans, Joanna Crosby, pomology, pomologists, Bloody Ploughman, pippin, Victorians, Britain, National Apple Congress, names, eponyms, applenyms, cappletalism, euphemisms, congress, swears, bloody, risque, Honeycrisp, Enterprise, The Jetsons, marketing, Jazz apple, jazz, trademarks, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Snapdragon, Strawberry apple, Jonathan apple, Granny Smith, food, Cats Head, Casthead, Court Pendu Plat, Medlar, Orleans Reinette, France, French, food history, Bramley, pome fruit, breeding, fruit breeding, plants, Victorian Britain, brands, branding, brand names, products, product names, focus groups, consumer testing, accessions, fruiterers, Scorpion apple, British Columbia, BC, UBC, festivals, events, Apple Festival, kenning, McIntosh, Grimes Golden, Oaken Pin, Hannah McGregor, Martin Austwick, Canada, Canadian, Apple Macintosh

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 178. Uranus

June 22, 2023 The Allusionist

Have you ever wondered why the planets in our solar system are all named after Roman deities, except two of them? One of those exceptions is Earth. The other is Uranus.

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In episodes Tags history, words, language, etymology, space, planets, Uranus, solar system, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Caelus, Pluto, Earth, astronomy, astronomers, Johann Bode, William Herschel, Georgian, George III, King George III, Nevil Maskelyne, galaxy, space words, Latin, Ancient Greek, deities, gods, goddesses, Gaia, Cronus, Titans, Furies, Hecatoncheires, Cyclopses, Giants, Nymphs, Ourania Aphrodite, sky, rain, rainmaker, Sanskrit, urine, myths, legends, songs, music, names, naming, International Astronomical Union, orbit, comet, apport, Martin Austwick

Allusionist 177. Fat part 2

May 27, 2023 The Allusionist

“The starting point is, and the research questions are all framed by: 'We know it's terrible to be fat, but how terrible is it?' Not: 'What would it take to give effective healthcare to fat people?'” says Aubrey Gordon, writer of the new book You Just need to Lose Weight and 19 Other Myths About Fat People, star of the documentary Your Fat Friend, and podcaster of Maintenance Phase. And it's not just healthcare where the alignment of 'fat' with 'unhealthy' - and 'thinner' with 'healthier' - becomes problematic and often very dangerous. "I really don't think people contend with the ways in which they are sending a message to everyone around them that there is a weight limit for people that they will love."

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In episodes Tags etymology, words, language, society & culture, history, fat, fatness, anti-fat bias, anti-fatness, fatphobia, Aubrey Gordon, Maintenance Phase, body, overweight, bias, obese, obesity, medical, medicine, health, stocky, stout, Fatlusionist, bodies, size, doctors, healthism, euphemisms, voluptuous, weight, weight gain, weight loss, dieting, diets, diet culture, rotund, infinifat, super fat, mollig, Robert Crawford, disability, ableism, obesity paradox, Valley of the Dolls, tret

Allusionist 176. Fat part 1

May 11, 2023 The Allusionist

It should just be an accurate descriptor of my body, but the word 'fat' has shaped so much more of my life, and our society. "There is this whole set of baggage that we are all culturally bringing to this word all the time," says Aubrey Gordon, writer of the new book You Just need to Lose Weight and 19 Other Myths About Fat People, star of the documentary Your Fat Friend, and podcaster of Maintenance Phase.

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In episodes Tags etymology, words, language, society & culture, history, fat, fatness, anti-fat bias, anti-fatness, fatphobia, Aubrey Gordon, Maintenance Phase, bodies, body, overweight, bias, obese, obesity, WHO, World Health Organisation, chairs, medical, medicine, health, Donald Trump, figurant, portly, stocky, stout
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Allusionist 212. Four Letter Words: Park
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Allusionist 211. Four Letter Words: -gate
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Allusionist 210. Four Letter Words: 4x4x4 Quiz
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Allusionist 209. Four Letter Words: Serving C-Bomb
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Allusionist 208. Four Letter Words: Ffff
Allusionist 208. Four Letter Words: 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
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Allusionist 205. Lexicat, part 2: now with added Dog
Allusionist 205. Lexicat, part 2: now with added Dog
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Allusionist 204. Lexicat, part 1
Allusionist 204. Lexicat, part 1
Allusionist 203. Flyting
Allusionist 203. Flyting
Creative Commons Licence
The Allusionist by Helen Zaltzman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.