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Celebrity used to mean a solemn occasion; X factor was algebraic; and fame was a huge terrifying Godzilla-like beast with many many tongues.
Here to try define celebrity and fame are historian Greg Jenner of the podcast You’re Dead To Me, Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger of Who? Weekly podcast, and writer, podcaster and videomaker Hank Green.
Anyone want to have a go at drawing Virgil’s Fama, described by Greg as ‘a terrifying, massive monster who stalks the land and she's covered with eyes and ears and tongues, and she grows in scale the more people that are gossiping about you’? I would love to see! Send pictures to me via twitter.com/allusionistshow or facebook.com/allusionistshow! The winner gets a prize of one thousand tongues.
EXTRA MATERIALS:
Some other relevant Allusionists to listen to are: the episode Gossip, about why we talk about celebrities; Typo Demon, for another wagging tongue-related terrifying creature; and towards the end of the Trust episode we talk about influencers.
“Even skeptics had to admit that Britney had kairos, what the ancient Greek rhetoricians described as ‘a passing instant when an opening appears which must be driven through with force if success is to be achieved.’”
Ben Zimmer on the etymology of ‘apeshit’.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
skimmington
skimmington, noun, historical: a procession intended to ridicule and make an example of a nagging wife or an unfaithful husband. Origin 17th century: perhaps from ‘skimming-ladle’, used as a thrashing instrument during the procession.
CREDITS:
Greg Jenner is a historian who has appeared on a few other Allusionists. He hosts the podcast You’re Dead To Me, and is the author of the new book Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen. You can find him on Twitter @greg_jenner and at gregjenner.com.
Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger host the podcast Who? Weekly, which you can find on your pod apps and on Twitter @whoweekly.
Hank Green is a podcaster, educator, video maker and writer. His new novel A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor is out now. Find him at hankgreen.com and on twitter @hankgreen.
The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and hear more of his composition on the new science podcast for kids Maddie’s Sound Explorers.
Find the show at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/allusionistshow.
