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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 206. Bonus 2024 transcript

December 22, 2024 The Allusionist
a Boggle grid spelling out Bonus 2024, the numbers are in mismatched dice, one of which has a dinosaur skeleton next to the number

This is the Allusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, have been stashing away special Allusiobits all year, when the people who appeared on the show said interesting things that I couldn’t fit into their episode because there wasn’t room or it was not about language - waiting, just waiting, for this, the annual Bonus episode! This year we’ve got something called the ‘universal blank’, which actually does not refer to my emotions; we’ve got tricorn hats, poets with migraines, and why Boston cream pie isn’t a pie. And so much more. 

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In transcript Tags history, etymology, bonus, bonus episode, Joanna Kopaczyk, William Dunbar, flyting, poetry, poems, headaches, migraine, Juliana Pache, Black Crossword, crosswords, puzzles, Ben Zimmer, spelling bee, Scripps National Spelling Bee, homophones, letters, alphabet, pronunciation, Stacey Mei Yan Fong, names, pies, USA, America, American, cakes, Boston cream pie, Massachussetts, AJ Jacobs, framing, parmesan, vomit, -nyms, retronyms, capitalnyms, forks, elastic, tricorn hat, US constitution, battle reeactments, historical costume, hats, cloves, Zazie Todd, animal psychology, dogs, cats, companion animals, renaming, training, Caroline Crampton, Susan Sontag, battle, illness, suggestion, health, cancer, bodies, metaphor, anti-fat, placebo, nocebo, medicine, medical, pharmaceutical, riddles, Old English, monks, onion, bine

Allusionist 179 Andy Quiz transcript

August 10, 2023 The Allusionist

HZ: Which of the following sweeteners is named after an ancient Greek mythological character? A. saccharine, B. agave, C. stevia, D. aspartame?
ANDY ZALTZMAN: Well, Steve is not an ancient Greek mythological character. He's the third wheel In the Bible origin story along with Adam and Eve.
HZ: They got rid of him in the translations.

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In transcript Tags etymology, history, words, language, quiz, cows, ox, bovine, animals, Greek, Ancient Greek, Greece, Old English, Latin, classic, Proto-Indo-European, bucolic, butane, butter, gwou, vows, run, running, car, carriage, goats, goat song, caprine, John Oliver, comedy, explosives, explosions, Alfred Nobel, eponyms, ballistite, crying, weeping, left handed, right handed, sinister, right, Attis, cricket, sweeteners, myths, Thebes, Maenads, Bacchae, Euripides, saccharine, whales, kaboom, bang, applause, Kent, architecture, trivium, quadrivium, Dionysus, hockey, agave, baleen, boom, bugle, buttocks, careen, career, deplore, dynamite, explode, explore, jetton, left, profession, tragedy, trivia, whale penises

Allusonist 158 Creature Quiz transcript

August 5, 2022 The Allusionist

Magpie is short for:

A. Magnum PI
B. Margaret Pica
C. Magic Pigeon
D. Magister Pinetree

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In transcript Tags history, words, language, lexicon, vocabulary, entertainment, culture, arts, etymology, quiz, meatus, animals, creatures, fish, birds, beasts, magpie, Margaret, pie, pica, sexism, Latin, Greek, Old English, parrot, Italian, priest, piebald, skewbald, bald, camelopard, offend, elephant, raccoon, chicken pox, chickens, cowardice, pox, goose barnacles, geese, goose, barnacles, myths, squirrel, cattle, weasel, smell, stinky, ferret, eggs, manure, porpoise, shrews, beshrew, agriculture, poop, dung, bison, polecats, weasel words, chattel, property, real estate, fee, livestock, petunia, penis, genitals, bowels

Allusionist 100. The Hundredth - transcript

May 27, 2019 The Allusionist
A100 gif smaller.gif

Today there’ll be a celebratory parade of language-related facts that you’ve learned from the Allusionist and I’ve learned from making the Allusionist, so some old facts, some new facts - well, the new facts aren’t recently invented facts, they are established facts, just making their Allusionist debut.

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In transcript Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, Helen Zaltzman, etymology, lexicon, bees, gender, sexism, Aristotle, girl, foot, lady, lord, bread, Charles Butler, beekeeping, queen bees, king bees, Old English, Latin, Old Norse, vocables, Toki Pona, invented languages, constructed languages, Lauren Marks, Eclipse, aphasia, dictionaries, dictionary, lexicography, lexicology, eponyms, screws, phillips head screws, cross head screws, plus screws, minus screws, patents, inventions, mountweazels, Henry F Phillips, robertson screws, frearson screws, saxophone, Adolphe Sax, names, acronyms, IUD, g-spot, inventors, sideburns, NASA, TLAs, initialisms, prescriptivism, descriptivism, Skin Project, tattoos, mince, bench, please, step, stepmother, stepchild, stepfather, stepfamily, psychology, CBT, cognitive behavioural therapy, Jane Gregory, seance, portmanteau, portmanteaus, portmanteaux, endorphin, Tanzania, electrocution, log in, velcro, zazzification, pronouns, they, pith, singular they, namaste, orange, curses, Bath, curse tablets, pelvis, c-word, c-bomb, swears, swearing, profanity, penis, vagina, deniance, denial, Oulipo, halcyon, Ancient Greek, mythology, myths, legends, Alcyone, Ceyx, birds, kingfishers, halcyon days, Polari, Barnet, vogue, French, Welsh Patagonia, Welsh, Argentina, Wales, radish, radical, poll, hair, ballot, ball, politics, voting, elections, nice, Amazon, brands, brand names, trust, emoji, Victorians, Christmas cards, Winterval, slang, arseropes, halteres, Earlonne Woods, Ear Hustle, survival

Allusionist 95. Verisimilitude - transcript

March 6, 2019 The Allusionist
A95 Verisimilitude logo.jpg

HZ: Approximately how many languages have you invented at this point?
DAVID PETERSON: I think I've invented over 50 languages at this point. Not all of them are very large in terms of vocabulary size, and not all of them are very good. I had created about 17 before I ever started working on Game of Thrones.

HZ: The languages you hear in Game of Thrones: Dothraki -

[CLIP] Khal Drogo: “Moon of my life, are you hurt?”

HZ - the various dialects of Valyrian:

CLIP: Daenerys: “Valyrian is my mother tongue.”

HZ: - those aren’t the actors making up some gibberish. Those are functional languages, with large vocabularies and complex grammars and etymologies.

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In transcript Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, Helen Zaltzman, etymology, lexicography, Dothraki, Valyrian, Game of Thrones, George RR Martin, HBO, TV, television, adaptations, books, novels, fiction, fantasy, movies, conlang, conlangers, constructed languages, language creation, neologisms, invented languages, created languages, sf, science fiction, Esperanto, David Peterson, grammar, a priori, a postieri, i-mutation, Old English, Anglo-Saxon, mouse, mice, mouses, vowels, vowel shift, phonology, spelling, morphology, pronunciation, natural languages, naturalistic, evolution, phonetics, phonemes, vocabulary, metaphors, idioms, irregularities, khaleesi, Emilia Clarke, actors, acting, translation, translating, verbs, nouns, plurals

Allusionist 92. To Err Is Human - transcript

January 23, 2019 The Allusionist
A92 To Err is Human logo.jpg

SUSIE DENT: There never has been a golden age when everything was as it should be ever. Even though we tend to think that English is now at its most dumbed down, always; I think every generation has thought that.

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In transcript Tags umpire, bears, jerusalem artichoke, freelance, arse ropes, zounds, mistakes, English, sayings, language, swearing, eggcorns, profanity, lick into shape, debt, Countdown, Old English, plumber, linguistics, swears, comedy, Helen Zaltzman, lexicography, expressions, entertainment, anagrams, literature, shamefaced, Latin, cusses, education, hangnail, euphemisms, Jiminy Cricket, arts, curry favour, favor, errors, history, etymology, gadzooks, doubt, nickname, society & culture, Middle English, jeepers creepers, malaphors, jerusalem artichokes, buttonholing, dord, Susie Dent, words, cherries, lexicographers, secretary
Allusionist Patreon
Featured
feed bullshit
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!
Creative Commons Licence
The Allusionist by Helen Zaltzman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.