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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 103. Food Into Words - transcript

August 6, 2019 The Allusionist
A103 food into words logo.jpg

FELICITY CLOAKE: It's very nerveracking because people spend money on ingredients, they may be cooking it for a special occasion, they try to impress a date or whatever - there's a lot that can go wrong with food and it's quite a weighty responsibility to be responsible someone's dinner or their birthday cake or whatever; it is a big deal.

RACHEL GREENHAUS: If it's a cookbook for family use, you're going to write it differently than if it's a cookbook for expert bakers and figuring out how to get the recipe that's right for that.

MIMI AYE: It's very different from cooking in real life, I think. Which is weird because you're trying to tell people how to cook the dish. 

RACHEL GREENHAUS: It would be really easy to show you, but it's hard to describe in language.

MIMI AYE: Yeah, it's a complete nightmare.

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In transcript Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, Helen Zaltzman, etymology, lexicon, vocabulary, bricole, food, cooking, cookery, eating, recipes, home ec, cookbooks, cookery books, glamorous sludge, MiMi Aye, Felicity Cloake, Rachel Greenhaus, America’s Test Kitchen, editing, manual, actions into words, senses into words, baking, culinary, appetite, measurements, instructions, books, constraints, publishing, photos, food photography, visuals, video, design, ingredients, senses, vegan, comparisons, breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper, snacks, creative, practical, pictures, illustrations, Burma, Burmese, meals

Allusionist 83. Yes, As In - transcript

August 24, 2018 The Allusionist
A83 Yes As In logo.jpg

TIGER WEBB: The broad thing about having unusual name is that it's a pretty effective substitute for an actual personality. I never had to develop one, because you could just do anything and people assume you’re interesting, or that there is some sort of grandiosity behind it.
HZ: Very colourful character.
TIGER WEBB: I'm really very boring and quiet. And the fact that I'm called Tiger I think does a lot to mask that. "Oh wow. Tiger, yeah, interesting fellow." I'm not though. But feel free to think that

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In transcript Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, Helen Zaltzman, Korean, Bertrand Russell, names, naming, childhood, babies, parents, birth, nominative determinism, personality, unusual names, character, fish, salmon, jewels, animals, tigers, birds, peregrine falcons, royalty, cinnamon, spices, food, jokes, bad jokes, conversation, small talk, William Blake, Tiger Woods, Pokemon, Tiger Webb, Paul Bae, Emerald Paston, Sapphire Paston, Steve Pretty, Cinnamon Nippard, Princess Ojiaku, Loveis Wise, Dennis Funk, Phoebe Judge, Criminal, Caspar Salmon, Peregrine Andrews

Allusionist 81. Shark Week - transcript

July 27, 2018 The Allusionist
A81+Shark+Week+logo.jpg

HZ: There used to be a term ‘goatmilker’, it was a bird that was believed to suck milk from goats at night, but it was also slang for sex workers, and therefore slang for vulvas.
HRISHIKESH HIRWAY: Wow.
HZ: Licentious men were known as ‘goatmilkers’, because they were frequenting these sex workers in the 17th century when this word was around.
HRISHIKESH HIRWAY: Again, not enough poetry in that for me.
HZ: Too vulgar for you?
HRISHIKESH HIRWAY: Yes, for my delicate sensibilities.

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In Radiotopia, episodes Tags The Beatles, indifference, emotions, nouns, verbs, adjectives, beyond the pale, phrases, sayings, ghetto, pale, impale, fences, Irish Pale, Russian Pale, Calais Pale, oppression, Jews, mood, ambivalence, testicles, balls, crotch, genitals, law, swearing, witness, testify, testis, ovaries, legal system, etymology, anatomy, Latin, Greek, ancient languages, Bible, supplication, stones, nuts, eggs, slang, avocados, Spanish, onomatopoeia, cinnamon, food, food styling, food stylists, brands, Chinese, it’s all Greek to me, typography, scribes, writing, placeholder, goats, capers, capering, foodstuffs, caprice, caprine, G.O.A.T., sharks, sea creatures, fish, Jaws, Mayan, xoc, German, sea-dog, dogs, loan shark, allusion, allude, Hrishikesh Hirway, Song Exploder, The West Wing Weekly, words, history, language, linguistics, expressions, Italian, goatmilker, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, Helen Zaltzman, lexicon, vocabulary

Allusionist 11: Brunchtime - transcript

May 20, 2015 The Allusionist

Motel. Email. Chocoholic. Labradoodle. Fanzine. Tanzania. Jazzercise. Breathalyzer. Televangelist. Chillax. Smog. Bromance. Velcro. Brangelina. Chrismukkah. Podcast. Jorts.

Modern English is awash with portmanteau terms, words formed from two or more words spliced together. The word ‘Portmanteau’, meaning a piece of luggage, is itself a portmanteau word from the 16th century, uniting the French words ‘porter’, meaning ‘to carry’, and ‘manteau’, meaning cloak. But credit for the Frankenword sense of 'portmanteau' goes to Lewis Carroll, in Alice Through The Looking Glass. Alice asks Humpty Dumpty to help her make sense of the Jabberwocky poem, full of portmanteaus like slithy, mimsy, galumph and chortle. “You see it's like a portmanteau,” says Humpty Dumpty, “there are two meanings packed up into one word.” 

Today, I want to unpack one particular portmanteau, and that portmanteau is 'brunch'.

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In transcript Tags words, phrases, terminology, food, breakfast, brunch, lunch, meals, eating, dining, Dan Pashman, The Sporkful, portmanteau words, portmanteaux
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Allusionist 200: 200th episode celebratory quiz!
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The Allusionist by Helen Zaltzman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.