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It's the annual etymology quizlusionist! I’m on a family holiday for the first time since 1988, so enlisted my brother Andy Zaltzman of the Bugle podcast to test his/your wits on singing goats, explosives, mythological Greek sweeteners, attics, left-handedness and whales.
Can you beat Andy’s score? Play along using the interactive scoresheet at the bottom of this post.
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What is the expression 'beyond the pale' on about? How do you express the absence of feeling? Does 'testify' have anything to do with testicles? Do avocados have anything to do with testicles? How does the phrase "It's all Greek to me" relate to food styling? Can you have a caper with capers? Are sharks misunderstood, etymologically and morally? And finally: where do allusions come from?
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Those words on museum walls that you can't be bothered to read? They're more important than you think... Exhibition-maker Rachel Souhami explains why. Visit theallusionist.org/museums to find out more about this episode. Tweet @allusionistshow,
Read more about artist Fred Wilson and his 'Mining the Museum' exhibition and other works at the Maryland Historical Society.
Read a lengthy precis of the history of museums, if that's your bag.
Here's the etymology of the word 'museum'.
A few years ago, I went on a museums crawl in Vienna and saw such marvels as priapic armour, pickled conjoined foetuses, and meat animations. What's the weirdest museum you've been to?
Say hi at facebook.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/allusionistshow, and come back in a fortnight for the next episode.
Presented and produced by Helen Zaltzman, ie me.
Rachel Souhami designs and curates exhibitions, produces Museums Showoff, and tweets @rachelsouhami.
'Allusionist Theme' - Martin Austwick
'Wonderful World' - Sam Cooke
'The Writing's On The Wall' - OK Go
'Live As If Someone Is Always Watching You' - Smog
