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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 136. Misogynoir

May 28, 2021 The Allusionist
A136 misogynoir logo.jpeg

“It's hard to address something if you can't actually name what it is,” says Moya Bailey, who coined a term that enables people to discuss a specific combination of racism and sexism: misogynoir.

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In episodes Tags Moya Bailey, misogynoir, misogyny, racism, race, Black women, portmanteau, neologisms, Diane Abbott, Alexandra Wilson, Meghan Markle, systemic bias, inequality, healthcare, doctors, medical, Flexner, discrimination, exuviae, words, language, linguistics, etymology, lexicon, vocabulary

Allusionist 122. Ghostwriter

September 28, 2020 The Allusionist
A122 Ghostwriter logo.jpg

The word for ‘ghostwriter’ in French is a racist slur. How did THAT come about? And what word could French-speakers say instead?

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In episodes Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, Helen Zaltzman, etymology, lexicon, vocabulary, Rough Translation, Ngofeen Mputubwele, Gregory Warner, NPR, French, France, race, racism, Black, BIPOC, ghostwriter, problematic terms, voting, voter suppression, plume, offensive, slurs, elections

Allusionist 73. Supername!

February 23, 2018 The Allusionist
A73 super logo.jpg

Up in the sky: look! It's an adjective! It's a noun! It's...Adjectivenoun! 

Your friendly neighbourhood superheroes might have thrilling and varied powers and spandex garments, but the way their names are concocted have followed only a handful of formulae in the past 80 years, since Superman sent superheroes soaring. 

(Yes, alliteration is one such naming formula.)

Glen Weldon of Pop Culture Happy Hour traces the supername's development from Adjective+Gender through Colour+Noun to Normal Name and Lone Noun.

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In episodes Tags names, nomenclature, superheroes, Superman, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Black Power, gender, Stan Lee, Marvel, DC, comics, comic books, Glen Weldon, language, words, Pop Culture Happy Hour, naming, PCHH, cartoons, movies, films, television, TV, alliteration, The Black Panthers, civil rights movement, Michael the bee, race, representation, Batman
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.