MP3 • APPLE PODCASTS • RSS • GOOGLE • POCKETCASTS • TRANSCRIPT
What do you call yourself if you're a part-time vegetarian? What petty linguistic things would you change? And what do you do if people gripe at you if you say that you are bi or pan? To answer these questions from the Allusionist mailbag are esteemed alumsionists: Hrishikesh Hirway and Samin Nosrat of Home Cooking podcast; academic and author Alex Ketchum; lexicographer Kory Stamper; and linguist Lauren Gawne of Lingthusiasm podcast. Brace yourself for Hrishi’s puns, a verbs-based murder mystery twist, bisexuals unionising, and Kory Stamper trolling everyone.
Sorry: for the sake of financial survival, I have to allow third-party ads onto the show for the first time ever. I explain here, and if you want an ad-free version of the show, you can get one if you become a member of the Allusioverse at the $5 tier or above.
If you hear an ad for an evil company or product, contact me so I can get it removed.
EXTRA MATERIALS:
The American Dialect Society’s words of the year 2003, including ‘flexitarian’. ‘SARS’ and ‘metrosexual’ feature heavily. And ‘text’ as a verb is in there, reminding me how very recent some present-day staples are.
As Kory mentioned, there are studies into why people so hate the word ‘moist’. “Readers who find the word “moist” aversive may experience some unpleasantness in reading this paper.”
“Moist didn’t always inhabit such a precarious position in our psyche. The word certainly had an innocent enough beginning. It was during the medieval period when our modern moist was borrowed into English by the Anglo-Normans from Middle French moiste, which, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, had the mean-ing of “slightly wet or damp.” Used in fairly neutral or even positive contexts, it was regularly called upon to describe something fresh, as opposed to stale. This might explain why Chaucer was much fonder of the word than we are today, using it several times to describe a hearty drink.”
That time Samin told the press about her Jonathan Safran Foer-inspired daytime veganism.
My brain simply will not retain the difference between practice/practise. I just use the C form for verbs and nouns; come at me, Team S.
Why choose between bi and pan flags if you would like both?
Sign up at theallusionist.org/donate to fund the continuing existence of this independent podcast. In return, you can join me for regular livestreams where I read relaxingly from my ever-expanding collection of vintage dictionaries, plus you get bonus written content including behind the scenes info about every episode, membership of the Allusioverse Discord community, and watchalong parties for films and TV shows: together we're watching the 2026 season of Great British Sewing Bee. For $5/month or above, get the ad-free version of the show.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
fadge, noun, Australia/Aotearoa New Zealand:
a loose pack of wool containing less than a bale.
Origin 16th century (originally English dialect): of unknown origin.
CREDITS:
In order of appearance, you heard from:
Lauren Gawne, associate linguistics professor at Latrobe University, author of the book Gesture: a Slim Guide, and cohost of the podcast Lingthusiasm. Listen to Lingthusiasm in the pod places and at lingthusiasm.com, and listen to Lauren on our recent episode Lingthusionist.
Alex Ketchum, author, event organiser, and Associate Professor at McGill University's Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies. Her latest books are How to Organize Inclusive Events and Conferences, and Queers at the Table: An Illustrated Guide to Queer Food (with Recipes). And you can preorder her next book Digital Queers and High Tech Gays: The History of LGBTQ+ Cyber Activism. Listen to her in the episodes Bread and Roses, and Coffee and Bonus 2025.
Kory Stamper, writer and lexicographer. Her latest book is True Color: the Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color, from Azure to Zinc; you can hear her talk about it in the Hues episode; and hear her back in the Authority episode talking about what it is to be a lexicographer, the subject of her excellent book Word By Word.
Hrishikesh Hirway and Samin Nosrat, hosts of the world’s most charming podcast Home Cooking. Hrishi’s other podcasts include Song Exploder and he’s a musician with a new album out, In The Last Hour of Light - get it! Samin’s latest cookbook is Good Things, and you can find her Substack and more Samin-stuff at ciaosamin.com. They both appeared in the Food Quiz and Bonus 2021 and Hrishi has also featured in several other episodes including Namaste, Vocables and another mailbag episode, Shark Week.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, on the unceded ancestral and traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.
Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, @allusionistshow.bsky.social… Essentially: if I’m there, I’m there as @allusionistshow.
Back in two weeks with a new episode - HZ.
Our ad partner is Multitude. If you want me to talk compellingly about your product, sponsor an episode: contact Multitude at multitudeshows.com/ads. This episode is sponsored by:
• Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running your online forever home. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.
• Quince, luxurious clothing and homewares without the markup. Go to quince.com/allusionist for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.
