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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 197. Word Play 7: Word Sport

June 29, 2024 The Allusionist
A boggle grid spelling out the words 'word sport'

At the Scripps National Spelling Bee, behind the spectacle of kids vying to be champion spellers, a whole lot of work goes on to make words into this word sport.

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In episodes, Word Play Tags words, language, etymology, vocabulary, lexicography, lexicon, word sport, word play, word games, Scripps National Spelling Bee, spelling bee, games, competitions, contests, sport, sports, spelling sports, spellers, television, TV, school, Merriam-Webster, dictionary, Corrie Loeffler, Ben Zimmer, Jane Solomon, beeple, beecap, champions, spinning, protest, textiles, American history, USA, Noah Webster, Marie Bolden, American English, Octochamps, hemlock, spell-off, bees, univocal

Allusionist 196. Word Play 6: Beeing

June 10, 2024 The Allusionist
A Boggle grid spelling out the word 'beeing' with a double E

I went to the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee, to marvel at kids spelling words I had mostly never even heard of. But when you’re at Bee Week, the competitive spelling is merely the tip of the icebee.

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In episodes, Word Play Tags words, language, etymology, vocabulary, lexicography, lexicon, word play, word games, Scripps National Spelling Bee, spelling bee, games, competitions, contests, sport, sports, spelling sports, spellers, television, TV, school, Merriam-Webster, dictionary, Corrie Loeffler, Paul Loeffler, beeple, beecap, Spellbound, Nupur Lala, money, griffins, Aditi Muthukumar, Ananya Prassanna, Rishabh Saha, Dev Shah, Charlotte Walsh, Bruhat Soma, bells, champions, existential dread, void, community, arimasp, anserine, commonation, daviely

Tranquillusionist: Best In Show

April 4, 2020 The Allusionist
Tranquillusionist Best in Show.jpeg

This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, for the purposes of calming a frazzled brain, read the winners of Best In Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

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In Tranquillusionist, episodes Tags Helen Zaltzman, words, language, serene, serenity, ASMR, calm, calmness, meditation, sleep, mood, emergency, Tranquillusionist, dogs, best in show, Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, champions, terriers

Allusionist 89. WPM

November 16, 2018 The Allusionist
A89 WPM logo.jpg

This is a story of feats of speed and endurance, of record-breakers, of champions… Typing champions.

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In live recording, episodes Tags Allusionist Live, live performance, kalpa, words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, Helen Zaltzman, Allusionist live, live recording, keyboards, typewriters, computers, typing, typists, typing speed, speed typing, WPM, words per minute, Martin Austwick, Guinness World Records, record breakers, champions, typing competitions, competitive typing, competitions, Birdie Reeve, vaudeville, Rose Fritz, Marcellus Wiley, NFL, football, Dvorak Simplified Keyboard, QWERTY, Madison Square Garden, Columbo, cellphones, mobile phones, Spy, spies, reality TV, loggers, logging, TV, jobs, work, back sack and crack waxes, August Dvorak
Allusionist Patreon
Featured
Allusionist 210: 4x4x4 Quiz
Allusionist 210: 4x4x4 Quiz
queer playlist
Allusionist 209: Serving C-Bomb
Allusionist 209: Serving C-Bomb
feed bullshit
Allusionist 208: Ffff
Allusionist 208: Ffff
WhatsApp Image 2025-04-27 at 23.06.37.jpeg
several bits of news! (nothing bad)
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
Creative Commons Licence
The Allusionist by Helen Zaltzman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.