• Episodes
  • Listen
  • Transcripts
  • Tranquillusionist
  • Events
  • Lexicon
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Merch
Menu

The Allusionist

Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
A PODCAST ABOUT LANGUAGE
BY HELEN ZALTZMAN

Your Custom Text Here

The Allusionist

  • Episodes
  • Listen
  • Transcripts
  • Tranquillusionist
  • Events
  • Lexicon
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Merch

Allusionist 79. Queer

June 1, 2018 The Allusionist
A79 logo Queer.jpg

Strange or obtuse; a stinging homophobic slur; a radical political rejection of normativity; a broad term encompassing every and any variation on sexual orientation and gender identity: the word 'queer' has a multifarious past and complicated present. This is just a fraction of it.

Tracing the word's movements are Kathy Tu and Tobin Low from Nancy podcast, Eric Marcus from Making Gay History, and historian and author Amy Sueyoshi, with Jonathan Van Ness from Queer Eye.

Read more
In episodes Tags words, language, history, sexuality, sexual identity, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, identity, non-binary, trans, transgender, queer, queerness, queer history, queer studies, LGBTQIA, oppression, suppression, gay, lesbian, bisexual, homosexuality, bisexuality, law, legal, homophobia, NYC, New York, Pride, Queer Nation, USA, San Francisco, protest, reclamation, reclaiming, Queer Eye, Jonathan Van Ness, Getting Curious, Amy Sueyoshi, Eric Marcus, Making Gay History, Nancy, Kathy Tu, Tobin Low, Oscar Wilde, Bosie, Lord Alfred Douglas, 19th century, 20th century, 21st century, sexology, sex, military, WW1, WW2, World War One, World War Two, Presidio, Baker St Vice Ring, California, semantics, Queensberry, respect

Allusionist 46: The State Of It

November 4, 2016 The Allusionist

Each of the 50 states in the USA has its own motto. The motto might be found on the state seal, or the state flag; more often than not, it might be in Latin, or Spanish, or Chinook; it might be a phrase or a single word. And if you think you know what yours is, check that it is not in fact an advertising slogan.

Read more
In Radiotopia, episodes Tags words, phrases, linguistics, language, USA, United States of America, states, mottos, slogans, adverts, advertising, state mottos, Massachusetts, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Texas, Missouri, England, history, American Revolution, War of Independence, Show Me State, PRX, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Latin, pizza, Don't Mess With Texas
19 Comments

Allusionist 12 rerun: Pride

June 14, 2016 The Allusionist

"Rarely has any social movement come so far in such a short space of time."

This week seems like a good one to listen again to last year's episode Pride, about how the word came to be chosen for LGBTQ Pride. Activist and publisher Craig Schoonmaker tells the story.

Read more
In episodes Tags pride, LGBTQ, gay, lesbian, lesbian rule, homosexuality, queer, human rights, civil rights, New York, Stonewall
Comment

Allusionist 32: Soho

March 18, 2016 The Allusionist

Around the world, there are several places called Soho, getting their names from an acronym/portmanteau-ish composite of local streets or neighbouring areas. But not the original Soho in London. In fact, London's place names are an etymological hotchpo...

iTUNES • RSS • MP3

Around the world, there are several places called Soho, getting their names from an acronym-portmanteau-ish composite of local streets or neighbouring areas. But not the original Soho in London. In fact, London's place names are an etymological hotchpotch: landmarks present and long gone; 1000-year-old vanity projects; and Cockfosters.

This is a companion piece to the 99% Invisible episode 'The Soho Effect', about the proliferation of acranamed places.

MO SOHO INFO

  • Peruse lots of historical and modern pieces about Soho on the Museum of Soho's blog, and find their touch screen exhibit on Sherwood Street.

  • The Soho Stories app will take you on a walk around Soho and play anecdotes into your ear when you pass notorious places.

  • There are so many stories of Soho, usually saturated with booze and sex; these ones are quite endearing.

  • There’s yet another Soho in Britain’s second city, Birmingham. There are acranamers claiming it’s from ‘SOuth HOuse’, but it’s probably a second win for the hunting cry.

  • Learn about Pittsburgh’s former Soho.

  • Have a look at the first edition of Roget’s Thesaurus.

  • Read an 1878 account of Soho, if you can handle the verbosity.

  • The Londonist was keeping track of the city’s rebranded areas.

  • Encyclopedia Briannica just tweeted to tell me that ‘acranames’ are actually ‘clipped compounds’. Yeah, but accuracy’s gain is acromanteaus’ loss.

  • Hungry for more portmanteau words? There's a feastmanteau in the Brunch episode of this show.

  • There's a transcript of this episode at theallusionist.org/transcripts/soho.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
yarak

CREDITS:

  • Tony Shrimplin is the chair of the Museum of Soho, a grassroots community project which you can find at mosoho.org.uk and twitter.com/TheMuseumOfSoho. Pop into their Bowie's London exhibition, 9-23 April at 35 Beak St. You can also hear him on Soho Radio, Sundays at 10am.

  • This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, except for the bit that was produced by Avery Trufelman and 99% Invisible. The music is by Martin Austwick.

  • Tony and I met in the Soho landmark Black's Club, who very kindly paused the coffee machine while we were talking.

  • Sound the hunting cries at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.

Let's reconvene in two weeks for another of these.

- HZ

In episodes Tags language, cities, London, history, Soho, New York, USA, Hong Kong, Tony Shrimplin, Avery Trufelman, 99% Invisible, yarak, Roget's Thesaurus, thesaurus, Roget
1 Comment
Allusionist Patreon
Featured
Allusionist 208: Ffff
Allusionist 208: Ffff
WhatsApp Image 2025-04-27 at 23.06.37.jpeg
several bits of news! (nothing bad)
queer playlist
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!
Allusionist 199: 199 ideas that I hadn't made into podcasts yet
Allusionist 199: 199 ideas that I hadn't made into podcasts yet
Creative Commons Licence
The Allusionist by Helen Zaltzman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.