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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 194 Word Play part 4: Good Grids

May 13, 2024 The Allusionist

ERIK AGARD: What I see a lot in crosswords is, I think, not unique to crosswords where historically they've been for a very specific cross-section of an audience. They're written with certain people in mind, and certain other people not in mind. And I think we're starting to see the tip of the iceberg of some changes that expands the range of who they're for.

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In transcript, Word Play Tags society, culture, words, language, arts, word play, word games, puzzles, puzzling, crosswords, crossword puzzles, Erik Agard, Juliana Pache, Adrian Johnson, Rachel Fabi, Puzzles for Palestine, These Puzzles Fund Abortion, Black Crossword, New York Times, representation, publishing, symmetry, grids, fundraising, charity, breakfast test, constraints, marcescent

Allusionist 190 Craters - transcript

March 7, 2024 The Allusionist

ANNIE LENNOX: It really all came to light when I got the opportunity to name my first feature on Mercury - which was, side note, one of the most exciting things. To find something that is scientifically significant and then to get the chance to name it on another planet: super cool. 

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In transcript Tags history, Annie Lennox, International Astronomical Union, IAU, space, planets, craters, Mercury, Mars, Moon, Europa, mythical characters, myth, snake, Ceres, Venus, solar system, names, naming, renaming, eponyms, problematic eponyms, geology, Pablo Neruda, sexism, astronomers, astronomy, Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Sea of Tranquillity, representation, Sheila Stewart, Mary Brooksbank, Carolina Nairn, Disney, Freddie Mercury, Boaty McBoatface, regulus

Allusionist 157 Queerbaiting transcript

June 25, 2022 The Allusionist

LEIGH PFEFFER: I think people are a little too quick to ascribe the term ‘queerbaiting’ to anytime they see something that doesn't necessarily sit right with them on instinct. There's a tendency at this point to kind of use it as a synonym for bad representation. I think that there's a disconnect and a mismatch between what younger viewers nowadays are kind of expecting in queer representation versus what pop culture is providing. People are getting used to more representation. They want to see better representation. So let's talk about that. Let's talk about how do we get better representation? What do we call it when we have specific tropes that might lead to harmful stereotypes, instead of lumping everything under this term ‘queerbaiting’ - because if we muddy a term like that, it loses its meaning. We need to be intentional with the language we're using when we're discussing queer representation in media, because we're at a fragile point. We have to have the right language to criticise it.

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In transcript Tags history, words, language, lexicon, vocabulary, entertainment, culture, arts, etymology, Leigh Pfeffer, History Is Gay, pinkwashing, rainbow washing, representation, queer, LGBTQIA+, Hays code, queerbaiting, queer coding, race baiting, Disney villains, gender, Lavender Scare, Red Scare, fandom, online, slash, Star Trek, Kirk, Spock, Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, theurgy
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.