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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 160. Coward

September 9, 2022 The Allusionist

“Anxiety is the parrot sidekick that rides on my shoulder and occasionally squawks warnings in my ear,” says Tim Clare, poet and podcaster and author of the book Coward: Why We Get Anxious & What We Can Do About It. We talk about anxiety, cowardice, magic bullets vs silver bullets, the scary Bible, and seagulls.

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In episodes Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, society & culture, arts, literature, lexicon, vocabulary, etymology, history, entertainment, psychology, personality, mental health, Tim Clare, coward, cowardice, anxiety, anxious, fear, tail, lions, heraldry, angst, anger, military, WW1, First World War, executions, death, soldiers, Britain, shell shock, shame, PTSD, trauma, Napoleon III, India, Raj, seagulls, Proto-Indo-European, PIE, Ancient Greek, Latin, cows, dogs, traits, terrific, awesome, tremendous, Bible, angels, magic bullet, silver bullet, werewolves, medical, zauberkugel, Magneto, coda, cue, hangnail, queue, quinsy, quakebuttock, yips

Allusionist 118. Survival: Bequest

July 3, 2020 The Allusionist
A118 logo Survival Bequest.jpg

When the Europeans arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as guns, stoats and Christianity, they brought ideas of cisgender monogamous heterosexuality that were imposed upon the Māori people as if there had never been anything else. But one word, takatāpui, proved otherwise.

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In episodes, Survival Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, Helen Zaltzman, etymology, lexicon, vocabulary, Hemi Kelly, Elizabeth Kerekere, LGBTQIA, LGBTQ+, Pride, queer, sexuality, gender, identity, sex, relationships, families, family, community, Aotearoa, New Zealand, oppression, enby, NB, nonbinary, homosexuality, bisexuality, pansexuality, polyamory, heterosexuality, trans, intersex, rainbow people, genderfluid, fluidity, oppressed languages, minority languages, gender stereotypes, masculinity, femininity, monolingual, multilingual, loanwords, gender fluid, society, Christianity, Christian, religious, colonialism, colonial, Survival, colonisation, English, invasion, war, translation, Māori, takatāpui, Britain, British, UK, annexation, Treaty of Waitangi, urbanisation, whiteness, white privilege, privilege, English problematic fave, punishment, corporal punishment, shame, sailors, settlers, Maori Land Wars, art, carvings, bowdlerization, storytelling, story, stories, oral, oral tradition, writing systems, Roman alphabet, written, music, songs, singing, lyrics, whakataukī, proverbs, sayings, metaphor, imagery, genitalia, genitals, male, female, orthography, pronunciation, auscultation, stoats, laments, lost language, pronouns, context, gendered pronouns, erasure

Allusionist 114. Alarm Bells

February 24, 2020 The Allusionist
A114 logo Alarm Bells.jpg

How to communicate about climate in a way that results in useful action.

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In episodes Tags words, language, linguistics, education, comedy, entertainment, society & culture, arts, literature, Helen Zaltzman, etymology, lexicon, vocabulary, Alice Bell, Amy Westervelt, Robin Webster, climate, environment, climate change, climate crisis, climate emergency, fossil fuel, fuel, coal, natural gas, oil, energy, renewables, renewable energy, scicomm, green, clean, clean energy, PR, propaganda, industry, oil industry, natural resources, eco, ecology, Frank Luntz, fossils, manipulation, sustainable, sustainability, conversation, emotions, technology, blame, shame, guilt, greenwashing, Jay Westerveld, greenhouse effect, alarms, action, communication, science, scientists, evidence, alarmist, activists, global heating, global warming, warmists, Joseph Fourier, Nils Ekholm, John Henry Poynting, euphemisms, metaphor, flight shame, journalists, journalism, climate silence, fear, courage, flying, flight, hope, astroturfing, AstroTurf, ChemGrass, sceptics, climate sceptic, climate denier, radical, revolution, tech

Allusionist 78. Survival: Oot in the Open

May 25, 2018 The Allusionist
A78 Scots logo.jpg

You are born and raised in a household speaking a language. Then you start going to school, and that language is banned. If you speak it, you'll be punished physically or psychologically. Across your country, there are people like you who associate their first language with shame, or not even being a language at all.

This is the predicament of the Scots language.

Scots language campaigners Ishbel McFarlane and Michael Dempster recount how Scots was sent into the shadows, and how it is at long last returning to public.

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In episodes, Survival Tags English: Problematic Fave, Scots, Scotland, minority languages, Gaelic, UK, Britain, shame, language, bilingual, Geneva bible, Robert Burns, history, monarchy, monarchs, James I, James VI, dialects, Scots Gaelic, David Hume, spelling, survival, Survival, Ishbel McFarlane, Michael Dempster

Allusionist 74. Take A Swear Pill

March 9, 2018 The Allusionist
A74 swear pill logo.png

CONTENT WARNING: there is swearing in this episode. But the happy news is: swearing is good for you!

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In episodes Tags words, language, phrases, linguistics, neuroscience, neuropsychology, pain, analgesics, profanity, swearing, cold water test, swear words, swears, cusses, cursing, cuss, curse, Emma Byrne, Very Bad Words, Matt Fidler, science, emotional, emotions, brain, psychology, executive function, jokes, Phineas Gage, brain injuries, head injuries, health, chimpanzees, chimps, Washoe, behaviour, behavior, anthropology, manners, children, childhood, dementia, taboos, shame, social conditioning, defecation, excrement, sex, masturbation, body parts, experiments

Allusionist 51: Under the Covers - part II

February 21, 2017 The Allusionist
Under the Covers logo part II.jpeg

Does the available vocabulary for sex leave something to be desired? Namely desire? (And also the ability to use it wthout laughing/dying of embarrassment?) Aiding in the search for a better sex lexicon - sexicon - are Kaitlin Prest of fellow Radiotopia podcast The Heart, and romance novelist Mhairi McFarlane.

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In episodes Tags language, words, linguistics, vocabulary, sex, sexicon, genitalia, genitals, penis, vagina, clitoris, Latin, Greek, Ancient Greek, etymology, pelvis, Kaitlin Prest, The Heart, anatomy, bodies, body, sexual, relationships, love, emotions, feelings, failure, Mhairi McFarlane, novels, writing, Judy Blume, Ralph, masturbation, Onanism, shame, debridement, porn, body parts
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Allusionist 24: Spill Your Guts

November 4, 2015 The Allusionist

It's cathartic; it's a useful historical record; and it might help you behave better on public transport. Neil Katcher and Dave Nadelberg from Mortified discuss the art and practice of keeping a diary. Find the Mortified podcast, stage shows,

iTUNES • RSS • MP3

It's cathartic; it's useful historical records; and it might help you behave better on public transport. Neil Katcher and Dave Nadelberg from Mortified discuss the art and practice of keeping a diary.

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS:

  • This website has a fair amount of information about Samuel Pepys, including his diary entries describing the Plague and the Great Fire of London - and some of the entries he wrote in code because they're a bit saucy.

  • Pepys wrote his diary in shorthand, so snoopers couldn't understand it. Read a translation at Project Gutenberg.

  • Anne Frank, meanwhile, edited a version of her diary for possible public consumption, which was the one published in 1947. The longer, private version was recently published.

  • Mortification comes in many forms. All of which are funnier when they happened to someone else.

  • My friend Jo Neary has been keeping an illustrated diary for decades. Occasionally, she shares some pages online, to my delight.

  • Which of these medical acronyms will follow in LOL's footsteps and be in common use in textspeak within the next 30 years?

  • Having trouble translating DAMHIKT, UDS or POTF? Acronym Finder is here to help.

  • Here's the transcript of this episode.

RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
horst

CREDITS:

  • Dave Nadelberg and Neil Katcher run Mortified. It's a weekly podcast, a stage show in many cities around the world, a documentary, a TV series, and books; find all these Mortified things at getmortified.com.

  • This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Thanks for the advice, Eleanor McDowall and Martin Austwick (who also provided all the music).

  • Communicate with me publicly at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.

- HZ

In episodes Tags laugh out loud, written word, Neil Katcher, journaling, handwriting, Anne Frank, embarrassment, blogs, acronyms, noose, technology, kewl, history, Latin, Portuguese, teenage, awkwardness, etymology, French, Roman Mars, LOL, computers, Dave Nadelberg, communication, writing, embarrass, PRX, digital communication, kids, emoji, folk etymology, privacy, therapy, abbreviations, Passion House Coffee Roasters, language, confessional, punishment, little old lady, Livejournal, LOLINAD, paper, longevity, Samuel Pepys, diary, Usenet, rope, pineapple, Spanish, journals, LOLFDGM, words, blogging, diaries, typing, Mortified, shame
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Featured
Allusionist 210: 4x4x4 Quiz
Allusionist 210: 4x4x4 Quiz
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Allusionist 209: Serving C-Bomb
Allusionist 209: Serving C-Bomb
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Allusionist 208: Ffff
Allusionist 208: Ffff
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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.