Allusionist 24: Spill Your Guts

It's cathartic; it's a useful historical record; and it might help you behave better on public transport. Neil Katcher and Dave Nadelberg from Mortified discuss the art and practice of keeping a diary. Find the Mortified podcast, stage shows,

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It's cathartic; it's useful historical records; and it might help you behave better on public transport. Neil Katcher and Dave Nadelberg from Mortified discuss the art and practice of keeping a diary.

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS:

• This website has a fair amount of information about Samuel Pepys, including his diary entries describing the Plague and the Great Fire of London - and some of the entries he wrote in code because they're a bit saucy.

• Pepys wrote his diary in shorthand, so snoopers couldn't understand it. Read a translation at Project Gutenberg.

• Anne Frank, meanwhile, edited a version of her diary for possible public consumption, which was the one published in 1947. The longer, private version was recently published.

• Mortification comes in many forms. All of which are funnier when they happened to someone else.

• My friend Jo Neary has been keeping an illustrated diary for decades. Occasionally, she shares some pages online, to my delight.

• Which of these medical acronyms will follow in LOL's footsteps and be in common use in textspeak within the next 30 years?

• Having trouble translating DAMHIKT, UDS or POTF? Acronym Finder is here to help.

• Here's the transcript of this episode.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
horst

CREDITS:

• Dave Nadelberg and Neil Katcher run Mortified. It's a weekly podcast, a stage show in many cities around the world, a documentary, a TV series, and books; find all these Mortified things at getmortified.com.

• This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Thanks for the advice, Eleanor McDowall and Martin Austwick (who also provided all the music).

• Communicate with me publicly at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.

- HZ

Allusionist 21: Eponyms I: The Ballad of Bic and Biro

Naming something after yourself: a grand display of egomania, or the humble willingness to be overshadowed by your own product? Stationery expert James Ward tells the tale of the people who begat the eponymous ballpoint pens Bic and Biro, because,

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Naming something after yourself: a grand display of egomania, or the humble willingness to be overshadowed by your own product?

Stationery expert James Ward tells the tale of the people who begat the eponymous ballpoint pens Bic and Biro, because, according to 99% Invisible's Roman Mars, "When it comes to word origins, an eponym is the shortest bet you’re going to get a good story out of it."

ADDITIONAL READING:

• Eponyms are swarming all over the place! Particularly when it comes to medical terms, about which there are lots of good little stories about the latter at Whonamedit? Looks like some of those eponymizers are very high achievers.

• You can read James Ward's delightful book Adventures in Stationery (AKA The Perfection of the Paperclip in some territories), and/or you can read about James Ward and his book to whet your appetite.

• Learn more about Thomas 'Bowdlerization' Bowdler. Also listener Mededitor shared this post about bowdlerized Shakespeare.

• Here's a brief history of pens; here's a slightly longer history of pens; and here's the picture dictionary version of the corporate history of Bic.

• Here's a transcript of this episode.

• Here's Roman's tweet that started this whole thing.

If you were creating an eponymous product, what would it be? Mine would be something which doesn't work until the very last minute, just before you throw it away in frustration.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
jacquerie

CREDITS:

• Roman Mars is El Groso of 99% Invisible. Find him at twitter.com/romanmars, and 99% Invisible at 99pi.org.

• James Ward is El Groso of Boring Conference. Find him at twitter.com/iamjamesward.com and at iamjamesward.com. And in case you've already forgotten from where I linked to it above, you can buy his book Adventures in Stationery.

• This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Thanks to Martin Austwick for the music and editorial help, and to Seth and Alison for letting me and Roman record in their Wendy House.

• Communicate with me at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.

Come back in a week's time for the next special edition of The Allusionist. If you don't, I'll borrow your pen and not return it.

- HZ

Allusionist 3: Going Viral

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Remember when 'viral' used to only mean something bad, IE something that would make you ill or destroy your computer? How things have changed. Tom Phillips from Buzzfeed UK explains the language they choose to make content go viral.

Remember when 'viral' used to only mean something bad, eg. something that would make you ill or destroy your computer?

How things have changed. Tom Phillips from BuzzFeed UK explains how they choose the language to make their content go viral. Why does Buzzfeed steer clear of round numbers, sarcasm and irony? Will the internet ever reach Peak Hyperbole? What's the curiosity gap and how do you cross it? Find out all by listening to the show via iTunes, through your favoured podcast directory, or via RSS.

A bit of additional reading:

• Buzzfeed not only analyses its own language, but also that of White House press secretaries to discover which president's regime is the cagiest.

• Here's BuzzFeed's style guide, for your interest.

• If you can't be bothered to study it, Time has interpreted its linguistic signifance for you.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
bavardage

Despite my mild cynicism in this episode about the imperative to share content far and wide, you are of course more than welcome to share this episode - and to say hi at facebook.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/allusionistshow.

- HZ

CREDITS

• Presented and produced by Helen Zaltzman.

• Tom Phillips is editorial director at BuzzFeed UK. Read his posts, and he tweets as @flashboy.

• Roman Mars roman marses every week on 99% Invisible, and tweets as @romanmars.

MUSIC

• 'Allusionist Theme' - Martin Austwick

• 'Chocolate Rain' [instrumental] - Tay Zonday

• 'Gangnam Style' [instrumental] - PSY

• 'Friday' - The Sound of the Ladies cover, original Rebecca Black