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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 30: US Election Lexicon

February 17, 2016 The Allusionist

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The 2016 US election isn't going away anytime soon, so let's seek refuge in etymology. Consider the linguistically appropriate age of a senator, and whether Congress should get sexy. And we revisit the UK Election Lexicon - http://theallusionist.

The 2016 US election isn't going away anytime soon, so let's seek refuge in etymology, as we did before in the first Election Lexicon.

EXCESS BAGGAGE:

  • Oxford Dictionaries have had enough of these political terms, and perhaps so have you.

  • Lo, here's a short history of filibustering.

  • The linguistics of mass persuasion: how politicians make ‘fetch’ happen.

  • And in case you needed to know about the sex lives of politicians during primaries, the escorts they hire are here to tell you.

  • Here's the original Election Lexicon episode.

If you want podcasts about the US Election, I've heard good things about FiveThirtyEight, Bandwagon, Presidential, Slate's Political Gabfest, Candidate Confessional, Left, Right & Centre, The Pollsters, Whistlestop... And there's this episode from our pals Mortified.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
flockmaster

CREDITS:

  • You heard from Jonathan Mitchell from The Truth; Benjamen Walker from Theory of Everything; Lauren Spohrer from Criminal; Hrishikesh Hirway from Song Exploder; Nick van der Kolk from Love + Radio; and Avery Trufelman and Katie Mingle from 99% Invisible.

  • This episode was produced by Matt Hill and me. The theme tune is by Martin Austwick.

  • Say hello at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman, regardless of on which shoulder you sport your parrot.

Meet you back here in a fortnight.

- HZ

P.S. Thanks to listener Matt for designing this bumper sticker after hearing the episode. We've got a chance of winning this, people...

In episodes Tags politics, words, language, etymology, election, presidents, presidential, POTUS, USA, America, US, filibuster, congress, senate, radical, radishes, radicalism, elections, political, vocabulary, poll, vote, Avery Trufelman, Katie Mingle, Hrishikesh Hirway, Lauren Spohrer, Nick van der Kolk
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