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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 204. Lexicat, part 1

November 24, 2024 The Allusionist

Elsie the cat has a set of 120 buttons programmed with words. She uses them to lie, swear, apologise, express grief and frustration and love to her human, the author Mary Robinette Kowal, who talks about what's involved in learning to communicate via language buttons with companion animals. And animal behaviour expert Zazie Todd explains how animals might be interacting with human language. 

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In episodes Tags animals, cats, dogs, companion animals, pets, communication, species, buttons, Mary Robinette Kowal, Elsie, Zazie Todd, animal behaviour, Christina Hunger, AIC, Augmentative Interspecies Communication, swearing, emotions, animal psychology, psychology, Washoe, Kanzi, socialisation, nicknames, canine, feline, swears, litterbox, cursing, pet directed speech, pitch, tone, anxiety, learning, mewing, meows, research, semantics, nomology, Lexicat, verbing nouns

Allusionist 191. Hypochondria

March 23, 2024 The Allusionist

The word 'hypochondria' has travelled from meaning physical ailments in a particular region of your body, to ones that are only in your mind. It has been in fashion, and thoroughly out; it has been subject to a range of treatments; it has been lucrative for quacks; and it's a very understandable form of anxiety - which I have, and so does Caroline Crampton, author of the new book A Body Made of Glass: A History of Hypochondria.

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In episodes Tags etymology, vocabulary, history, Caroline Crampton, hypochondria, hypochondriac, hypochondrium, bodies, medical, medicine, health, anxiety, health anxiety, mental health, psychology, depression, melancholy, science, doctors, treatment, Four Humors, humoral theory, humorism, bile, hysteria, Cicero, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sanditon, literature, cures, wellness, quacks, class, panaceas, DSM-5, diagnosis, Somatic Symptom Disorder, Illness Anxiety Disorder, uncertainty, cancer, spleen, liver, gut, abdomen, uterus, womb, edaphic

Allusionist 160. Coward

September 9, 2022 The Allusionist

“Anxiety is the parrot sidekick that rides on my shoulder and occasionally squawks warnings in my ear,” says Tim Clare, poet and podcaster and author of the book Coward: Why We Get Anxious & What We Can Do About It. We talk about anxiety, cowardice, magic bullets vs silver bullets, the scary Bible, and seagulls.

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In episodes Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, society & culture, arts, literature, lexicon, vocabulary, etymology, history, entertainment, psychology, personality, mental health, Tim Clare, coward, cowardice, anxiety, anxious, fear, tail, lions, heraldry, angst, anger, military, WW1, First World War, executions, death, soldiers, Britain, shell shock, shame, PTSD, trauma, Napoleon III, India, Raj, seagulls, Proto-Indo-European, PIE, Ancient Greek, Latin, cows, dogs, traits, terrific, awesome, tremendous, Bible, angels, magic bullet, silver bullet, werewolves, medical, zauberkugel, Magneto, coda, cue, hangnail, queue, quinsy, quakebuttock, yips

Allusionist 14: Behave

July 1, 2015 The Allusionist
Behave Boggle board.png

Sometimes words can become your worst enemy. Clinical psychologist Jane Gregory tells how to defuse their power. There's more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/behave. This episode concerns mental health,

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Sometimes words can become your worst enemy. Clinical psychologist and cognitive behavioural therapist Dr Jane Gregory tells how to defuse their power.

NB: Today's show concerns mental health, and the discussion nudges some topics which may not be comfortable for everybody. So if you have concerns, please sit this episode out, and return in two weeks for the next one.

ADDITIONAL READING:

  • When Jane has time around working with her patients, she writes very interesting pieces about CBT at cognitivebehaveyourself.com.

  • Here's a summary of CBT from the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

  • Have any of you played a mental health-themed game like Hellblade? How was it?

  • Philippa Perry's psychotherapy comic book Couch Fiction is rather wonderful. Read this interview with her then buy a copy from your local bookshop because I can't bring myself to link to Amazon.

  • Read a brief history of tennis AKA 'sphairistike'.

  • Here's a load of tennis etymology.

  • The transcript of this episode is here.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
virga

CREDITS:

  • Dr Jane Gregory is a clinical psychologist working in the NHS and her own private practice. Find her at cognitivebehaveyourself.com and @CBYourself

  • This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. All the music is by Martin Austwick. Hear and/or download more at thesoundoftheladies.bandcamp.com.

  • Say hello to me at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.

I'll be back in a fortnight with a new episode. If you like this show, do tell someone about it. Not in a creepy pyramid scheme way; play it cool.

- HZ

In episodes Tags words, language, linguistics, therapy, CBT, cognitive behavioural therapy, psychotherapy, psychology, tennis, Wimbledon, sport, etymology, Ancient Greek, Old French, ball skills, defusion, sphairistike, lawn tennis, real tennis, Walter C. Wingfield, mental health, anxiety, OCD, Jane Gregory
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The Allusionist by Helen Zaltzman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.