You’re holding a letter. What’s inside? A weather report from 5,000 miles away? Some devastating family history? A single word? A heartfelt dispatch from your past self that’s about to change the course of your life? Find out more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/open-me-2 . The show’s online home is http://theallusionist.org . Stay in touch at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow . Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist See omnystud...
Nov 10, 2017•27 min
From Me To You’s Alison Hitchcock and Brian Greenley didn’t know each other well. But when Brian was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, Alison offered to write him letters. 100 letters later, their lives were changed. Ear Hustle is a podcast made inside San Quentin by and about the men incarcerated there, in collaboration with Nigel Poor. In prison, a letter is a precious thing. Find out more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/open-me-1 . The show’s online home is http://theallusionist....
Oct 27, 2017•21 min
Roman Mars returns for our annual dose of eponyms – words that derive from people’s names. This year: explosive revelations about the origins of the word ‘guy’. Find out more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/guy . CONTENT NOTE: the episode contains a description of 17th century torture and execution. The show’s online home is http://theallusionist.org . Stay in touch at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow . Support the show: http://patreon.co...
Oct 14, 2017•21 min
You’ve encountered technobabble when Doc Brown is shouting about flux capacitors in Back To The Future, or when Isaac Asimov writes about positronic brains. Astrophysicist Katie Mack and NASA JPL technologist Manan Arya discuss how science fact relates to science fiction. This episode is a collaboration with Eric Molinsky of Imaginary Worlds; listen to his episode about technobabble, featuring ACTUAL HOLLYWOOD TECHNOBABBLERS, at http://imaginaryworldspodcast.org . The show’s online home is http:...
Sep 30, 2017•24 min
“Accent is identity. It’s a way of encoding and signaling – almost completely at an unconscious level for most people – who they feel like they are, who they want to be seen as, what group they feel like they belong to.” The podcast Twenty Thousand Hertz investigates how accents have evolved in the UK and USA. Hear Twenty Thousand Hertz at http://20k.org and find out more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/evolution-of-accents . Stay in touch at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow an...
Sep 14, 2017•25 min
Crossword-solving is often a solitary activity – over breakfast; on the train; on the loo… But a few times a year, crossword puzzle enthusiasts gather in their hundreds to compete to be the fastest, most accurate crossword-solver. This episode comes to you from a church basement on the Upper East Side of New York City, wherein takes place America’s second largest crossword puzzle tournament: Lollapuzzoola. For more about this episode, visit http://theallusionist.org/lollapuzzoola . Stay in touch...
Sep 02, 2017•29 min
“It’s sort of frozen body language; that’s what handwriting analysis is about.” Since it caught on a couple of hundred years ago, graphology – analysing handwriting to deduce characteristics of the writer – has struggled to be taken seriously as a practice. But undoubtedly, there are things about ourselves that we can’t help but reveal in our handwriting. Graphologist Adam Brand explains the ‘pseudoscience/useful art’. For more about this episode, visit http://theallusionist.org/graphology . Sta...
Aug 17, 2017•14 min
They look like numbers. They sound like numbers. You kinda know they are numbers. But they’re not actually numbers. Linguistic anthropologist Stephen Chrisomalis explains what’s going on with indefinite hyperbolic numerals like ‘zillion’, ‘squillion’ and ‘kajillion’. For more about this episode, visit http://theallusionist.org/zillions . Stay in touch at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow . Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist See omnystudio.co...
Aug 05, 2017•20 min
Translation, A Love Story: Translator listens to The Allusionist. Translator hears about the podcast The Memory Palace. Translator listens to The Memory Palace. Translator immediately becomes smitten with The Memory Palace. Translator translates The Memory Palace from English to Brazilian Portuguese, and turns it into a book – O Palácio da Memória – which will be published in Brazil two weeks hence. But, like any love story, it’s not quite that simple. Literary translator Caetano Galindo recount...
Jun 30, 2017•20 min
It’s August 2007. Lauren Marks is a 27-year-old actor and a PhD student, spending the month directing a play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She’s in a bar, standing onstage, performing a karaoke duet of ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’…and then a blood vessel in her brain bursts. When she wakes up in hospital, days later, she has no internal monologue, and a vocabulary of only forty words. Find out more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/eclipse , and more about Lauren at http://asti...
Jun 16, 2017•24 min
There’s a small matter I trip over regularly in the Allusionist: Dates. Not the fruit. Specicially, the terms BC and AD, Before Christ and Anno Domini (‘the year of the Lord’ (‘the Lord’ also being Christ)). How did Jesus Christ get to be all up in our system of counting the years? There’s more about the episode at http://theallusionist.org/abdc . Stay in touch at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow . Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist See omn...
Jun 01, 2017•17 min
As discussed in episode 51, Under the Covers part II, the vocabulary for sex and associated body parts is tricky to navigate in many ways – but even more so if you are trans or gender non-binary. CONTENT NOTE: this episode contains strong language and frank discussions of sex and bodies. There’s more about the episode at http://theallusionist.org/joins . Stay in touch at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow . Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist ...
May 19, 2017•18 min
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” Hrishikesh Hirway of Song Exploder wants people to stop saying ‘namaste’ after a yoga session. There’s more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/namaste . Stay in touch at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow . Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Californi...
May 05, 2017•19 min
“Sometimes you want to make the dictionary sexy but it’s just not a sexy thing,” says Kory Stamper, lexicographer for the Merriam-Webster dictionaries. Sorry if this is disillusioning news for you. The dictionary is not a sexy thing, but as Kory explains, it is a fascinating, complicated, exacting thing. There’s more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/authority . Stay in touch at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow . Support the show: http://pa...
Apr 14, 2017•15 min
“Recognizing someone’s humanity is crucial. Calling someone a migrant, calling someone an asylum seeker, calling them a refugee: these are official categories. But in many ways, depending on how they use them, they can change and become more negative.” So says propaganda and migration specialist Emma Briant, as she explains the dangers of conflating and misusing terms like ‘refugee’ and ‘asylum seeker’, while British/Asian/but-kinda-not author Nikesh Shukla wonders where he’s from – where he is ...
Apr 01, 2017•17 min
Sometimes words can become your worst enemy. Clinical psychologist Jane Gregory tells how to defuse their power. There’s more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/behave-rerun . The main part of this episode is a rerun, but there’s new material as well – get ready for a thrill-ride into medieval accounting technology. Stay in touch at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow . Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist See omnystudio.com/listene...
Mar 17, 2017•15 min
The term ‘sanctuary cities’ has been in the news a lot in the past few weeks, as places in the USA declare themselves to be havens for undocumented immigrants. Though ‘sanctuary’ has a history of meaning safety for the persecuted, it has an even longer history of meaning something quite different: refuge for criminals. Rosalind Brown, a canon at Durham Cathedral, and historian John Jenkins explain how and why, for 1000 years, churches in England offered shelter to murders and thieves fleeing jus...
Mar 07, 2017•18 min
Does the available vocabulary for sex leave something to be desired? Namely desire? (And also the ability to use it without laughing/dying of embarrassment?) Aiding in the search for a better sex lexicon – sexicon – are Kaitlin Prest of The Heart, and romance novelist Mhairi McFarlane. CONTENT NOTE: this episode contains Sexual Language from the start. For more information about this episode, visit http://theallusionist.org/covers-ii . Find the show at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http...
Feb 21, 2017•17 min
Escape into the loving embrace of a romance novel – although don’t think you’ll be able to escape gender politics while you’re in there. Bea and Leah Koch, proprietors of America’s sole romance-only bookstore The Ripped Bodice, consider the genre; and publisher Lisa Milton scrolls through the 109-year history of the imprint that epitomises romance novels, Mills & Boon. For more information about this episode, visit http://theallusionist.org/covers-i . Find me at http://twitter.com/allusionis...
Feb 08, 2017•18 min
Why is gaslighting ‘gaslighting’? What do bodily fluids have to do with personality traits? Why does ‘cataract’ mean a waterfall and an eye condition? And do doctors really say ‘Stat!’ or is that just in ER? To round off 2016, here’s the bonus edition of The Allusionist, featuring listeners’ etymology requests and extra material from guests who’ve appeared on the show this year. For links and more information about the episode, visit http://theallusionist.org/bonus2016 . The show will return in ...
Dec 30, 2016•18 min
There’s a word that has become shorthand for ‘the war on Christmas’ with a side of ‘political correctness gone mad’: Winterval. It began in November 1998. Newspapers furiously accused Birmingham City Council of renaming Christmas when it ran festive events under the name ‘Winterval’. The council’s then-head of events Mike Chubb explains the true meaning of Winterval. For more information about this episode, visit http://theallusionist.org/winterval . Find me at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow...
Dec 06, 2016•14 min
Today: a tale of darkness, gathering storms, and a terrifying creature that resembles a human man… No, nothing topical: it’s The Year Without A Summer, the story of how Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein. This piece first appeared on Eric Molinsky’s excellent podcast Imaginary Worlds. Hear all the episodes at http://imaginaryworldspodcast.org . For more information, visit http://theallusionist.org/frankenstein . Find me at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow ....
Nov 21, 2016•22 min
Each of the 50 states in the USA has its own motto. The motto might be found on the state seal, or the state flag; more often than not, it might be in Latin, or Spanish, or Chinook; it might be a phrase or a single word. And if you think you know what yours is, check that it is not in fact an advertising slogan. PRX staff reveal their state mottos – or what they thought were their state mottos, until this episode ruined it for them – and how those words have shaped their perception of their stat...
Nov 04, 2016•20 min
If you love eponyms like Roman Mars loves eponyms, I’m afraid physician Isaac Siemens is here to deliver some bad news: medics are ditching them, in favour of terms that a) contain information about what the ailment actually is, and/or b) don’t honour Nazi war criminals. Eponyms are controversial things. Visit http://theallusionist.org/name-that-disease for more information about this episode. Find me at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow . Support the sho...
Oct 16, 2016•19 min
What is your beautiful brain up to as you comprehend language? Cognitive psychologist Jenni Rodd takes a peek. Visit http://theallusionist.org/brain for more information about this topic. Find me at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow . Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-...
Oct 03, 2016•14 min
If you don’t have a Rosetta Stone to hand, deciphering extinct languages can be a real puzzle, even though they didn’t intend to be. They didn’t intend to become extinct, either, but such is the life (and death) of languages. NB: there is a CATEGORY B swear word towards the end of this episode. But it IS there for educational purposes only. ALSO NB: After the episode was released, I was alerted that listener Ryan’s request was about a FAKE Mike Pence statement. I CAN NEVER TRUST YOU AGAIN, RYAN!...
Sep 20, 2016•14 min
Languages die. But if they’re lucky, a thousand-odd years later, someone unearths an artefact that brings them back to life. Laura Welcher of the Rosetta Project shows us the Rosetta Disk, a slice of electroplated nickel three inches in diameter that bears text in 1500 languages for future linguists to decipher. Ilona Regulski of the British Museum describes how its namesake, the Rosetta Stone, unlocked hieroglyphics. Find out more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/rosetta . Find m...
Sep 07, 2016•16 min
When you choose to spend the winter in Antarctica, you’ll be prepared for it to be cold. You know that nobody will be leaving or arriving until springtime. And you’re braced for months of darkness. But a few weeks after the last sunset, you might find you can’t even string a sentence together. And even if you can, that sentence may only make sense in Antarctica. To explain why are Antarctica veteran Allison ‘Sandwich’ Barden, endocrinologist Tom Baranski, and astrophysicists Amy Lowitz and Chris...
Aug 21, 2016•18 min
On your marks… Get set… GO! It’s the Etymolympics, where the gymnastics should be gymnaked and the hurdles are a bloodbath. Find out more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/olympics . Seek me out online at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow , and on stage at the London Podcast Festival – get tickets at http://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/spoken-word/the-allusionist . Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist See omnystudio.com/listener...
Aug 04, 2016•10 min
Which are you: Millennial, Generation X, Baby Boomer, Silent Generation, an impressively young-looking Arthurian Generation? Or are you an individual who refuses to be labelled? Demographer Neil Howe, author Miranda Sawyer and Megan Tan, the host of Millennial podcast, consider whether the generational names are useful or reductive. Or both. Read more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/generation-what . Seek me out at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusi...
Jul 13, 2016•16 min
