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Happy tenth birthday to this show! To celebrate, here's every randomly selected word from the dictionary from the first decade of the show. 

There are several more episodes in the Tranquillusionist style, gathered at theallusionist.org/tranquillusionist. And relevant otherlusionists include The Authority, about how dictionary-making really works, Trammels, about making stories from the example sentences in dictionaries, and Word of the Day.

Join me for a free livestream at 18 January 1pm PT/4pm ET/21:00 UTC at youtube.com/allusionistshow.

And the show’s taking a break! It’ll be back with renewed vigour in early May 2025, but in the meantime the Allusioverse will continue to be in full swing: become a member at theallusionist.org/donate. You get regular livestreams with me reading from my ever-expanding collection of dictionaries, inside scoops into the making of this show, and watchalong parties - such as Great Pottery Throwdown (2025), and Cold Comfort Farm (1995). And best of all, you get the company of your fellow Allusionauts in our delightful Discord community. 

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
pricket, noun:
1. a male fallow deer in its second year, with straight, unbranched horns.
2. historical: a spike for holding a candle.
Origin Middle English: from PRICK + -ET.

CREDITS:

• 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 music is composed 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, TikTok @allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, @allusionistshow.bsky.social… Essentially: if I’m there, I’m there as @allusionistshow. 

We’ll reunite in early May with a new episode. Any topics you want me to revisit from the first ten years of the podcast? Let me know! - HZ.

Our ad partner is Multitude. If you want me to talk compellingly about your product, sponsor an episode: contact Multitude at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by:

• Rosetta Stone, language-learning programs available for 25 different languages. Allusionist listeners get 50% off lifetime memberships at rosettastone.com/allusionist. 
• Understance: comfortable, stylish, size-inclusive bras and undies. Shop the range and learn about your own branatomy at understance.com.
• Curiosity Weekly from Discovery, the podcast that brings us the latest and greatest scientific discoveries, and explains them even for those of us who don’t have a science PhD. Listen to Curiosity Weekly in the places you get your podcasts.
• Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running your online forever home. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.

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🎁 Come to the Allusionist's 10th birthday live show

🎂 12 January 2025

🎉 Tickets: theallusionist.org/events

🎁 Come to the Allusionist's 10th birthday live show 🎂 12 January 2025 🎉 Tickets: theallusionist.org/events

It's the annual parade of Bonus Bits - things this year's guests said that I couldn't fit into their episodes, and/or weren't about language, but now is their time to shine.

We've got tricorn hats, changing your dog's name, Boston cream pie, parmesan vs vomit, the placebo effect's negative sibling, the universal blank, headache poetry and bawdy riddles. And more! Thanks to, in order of appearance:

• Joanna Kopaczyk, historical linguist and Professor of Scots and English Philology at the University of Glasgow. She previously appeared in the Flyting episode, about medieval Scottish diss poetry.

• Juliana Pache, maker of the daily mini puzzle Black Crossword - and now her book is out too, Black Crossword: 100 Mini Puzzles Celebrating the African Diaspora. She previously appeared in the episode Good Grids, about exciting developments in American crosswords.

• Ben Zimmer, linguist, writer, crossword constructor, and word panellist and judge at the Scripps Annual Spelling Bee. He talked about what goes into making spelling into sport in the Word Sport episode.

• Stacey Mei Yan Fong, baker and writer of the 50 Pies, 50 States project and book. She talked about her relationship with the Singlish language in Singlish Singlish.

• A.J. Jacobs, puzzler from The Puzzler podcast (I’m on some episodes!) and The Puzzler book and author of books including The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning, and The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. He appeared in the Lemon Demon episode, bringing word games and advice for writing with a quill.

• Zazie Todd, animal behaviour expert and author of books including Wag, Purr, and her latest, ​​Bark, the Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful or Reactive Dog. She talked about humans and animals communicating via language in the two Lexicat episodes.

• Caroline Crampton, host of Shedunnit podcast and author of books including A Body Made of Glass: A History of Hypochondria. She talked about the history, and her experience, of health anxiety in the Hypochondria episode.

Listen to all the previous years’ Bonus episodes, they’re always crammed full of curios and delights. Plus, here are all the Festivelusionists, because if not now, when? (Next December I guess!)

Also listen to The Podgoblin’s Hat, because it is a lovely podcast about the Moomins, and I’m on this episode about the excellent book Moominland Midwinter.

AND! I just read the whole of A Christmas Carol, with live musical scoring by Martin Austwick, and it is available on YouTube.com/allusionistshow.

EXTRA MATERIALS:

• Old English riddles.

• History of nocebo.

• I’m not recommending Zeebo, the open-label placebo, I’m just confirming that it exists.

• I didn’t want to get into the disagreement over which dictionary first featured the word ‘placebo’, but I appreciate this paper ‘Semantics of the placebo’ from 1968 for getting into it.

• William Dunbar’s migraine poem.

• “There is actually a surprising amount of evidence of how medieval people dealt with migraine… A thirteenth-century Welsh text recommends eating a baked or roasted hare’s brain stuffed with rosemary flowers.”

• History of forks.

• Order your own tricorn hat and historical sock-belts.

To help fund this independent podcast, take yourself to theallusionist.org/donate and become a member of the Allusioverse. You get regular livestreams with me reading from my ever-expanding collection of dictionaries, inside scoops into the making of this show, and watchalong parties - coming up, we've got Great Pottery Throwdown 2025, and Cold Comfort Farm (1995). And best of all, you get the company of your fellow Allusionauts in our delightful Discord community. 

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
bine, noun: a long, flexible stem of a climbing plant, especially the hop.
Origin 19th century: originally a dialect form of ‘bind’.

CREDITS:

• 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, TikTok @allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, @allusionistshow.bsky.social… Essentially: if I’m there, I’m there as @allusionistshow. 

Back mid-January 2025 with with the show’s TENTH BIRTHDAY episode - HZ.

Our ad partner is Multitude. If you want me to talk compellingly about your product, sponsor an episode: contact Multitude at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by:

• Rosetta Stone, language-learning programs available for 25 different languages. Allusionist listeners get 50% off lifetime memberships at rosettastone.com/allusionist. 
• Audio Maverick, a new 9-part documentary podcast from CUNY TV about radio maven Himan Brown. Hear about the dawn of radio and Brown's remarkable career, via archive footage and new interviews with audio mavericks, by subscribing to Audio Maverick in your podcast app.
• Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running your online forever home. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.
• Rocket Money, the personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions and monitors your spending. Go to rocketmoney.com/allusionist to save money and lower your outgoings.

Over four livestreams, 19-22 December 2024 starting each day at 12:30pm PT/3:30pm ET/20:30 UTC/check your timezone, I’m reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, with musical and visual accompaniment by Martin Austwick. Join us, all are welcome! It’ll be fun if you want, or lulling you to sleep if you don’t want. It’ll be festive if you want, or a tale of jerks learning a hard lesson if you don’t. The sidebar chat will be a great time; that, we can count on.

All the videos are at youtube.com/allusionistshow, specifically in the Allusionist Reads playlist. And if you can’t make the livestreams, they’ll be available not-live afterwards there too. Plus they are embedded downpost for your convenience.

Also, now's the optimal time to listen to the various Festivelusionists, about such things as Winterval and the many names for Santa, and real life Christmas elves, and the most frequently occurring words in Christmas songs (includes my evergreen ditty about meat sweats), but especially the one about why Christmas got so Dickensy. They are gathered in this playlist: theallusionist.org/festivelusionist.

Ho ho ho bah humbug,

HZ

The Allusionist reads A Christmas Carol, stave 1: Marley’s Ghost.

Scrooge is going about his daytime business of work, more work, and making other people's lives worse. Then that night he is visited by the ghost of his late business partner Jacob Marley, and guess what: business ghosts are not fun ghosts.

The Allusionist reads A Christmas Carol, stave 2: The Ghost of Christmas Past.

Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Christmas Past and is taken on a whistlestop tour of festivities from his boyhood and earlier adulthood, so he gets to see himself becoming ever more of a prick.

The Allusionist reads A Christmas Carol, stave 3: The Ghost of Christmas Present.

Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Christmas Present and is shown a whole lot of festive partayyyyyyyyyy, to which he himself is not, er, party. Also: the poor lil mite Tiny Tim. He'll be ok, right? Right??

The Allusionist reads A Christmas Carol, stave 4: The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, and stave 5: Christmas Day.

In Stave 4, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, and gives him some pretty scary life spoilers! Unless... Scrooge becomes a changed man? Tune into Stave 5 to find out!!

In Lexicat part 1, we met the author Mary Robinette Kowal and her cat Elsie, and learned about how they communicate via a set of buttons programmed with words.

In part 2, two talking dogs, Bastian and Parker - and their humans, Joelle Andres and Sascha Crasnow - join us too, and explain how they discovered some very unexpected things about what their animal companions are thinking and feeling thanks to the buttons, and how they changed the ways they communicate with other humans too. And animal behaviour expert Zazie Todd gives us some tips for interpreting cats’ and dogs’ body language.

Hear/read Lexicat part 1 first at theallusionist.org/lexicat1, then gallop back here for part 2.

Content note: this episode contains mentions of Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and death - human and animal death. But no descriptions of death.

EXTRA MATERIALS:

• The glossary of Elsie’s words so far.

• Elsie lies to get a sandwich, does not lie about not enjoying Mary Robinette learning French.

• Clever Hans the clever horse, albeit clever at reading his human’s physical cues if not actually clever at mathematics.

• How dogs act/are trained and edited to look like they’re acting.

• Some of you have already been asking about how to get started on using buttons with your companion animal; the Fluent Pet forums are quite extensive.

• Since we met, Elsie has acquired more words, and is now using 124 words. Which is more than the minimalist language Toki Pona contains.

Go to theallusionist.org/events for information about the upcoming livestreams where I read A Christmas Carol, and the Allusionist's big 10th birthday live show.

And, to help fund this independent podcast, take yourself to theallusionist.org/donate and become a member of the Allusioverse. You get regular livestreams with me reading from my ever-expanding collection of dictionaries, inside scoops into the making of this show, and watchalong parties - coming up, we've got Carol, Die Hard and Cold Comfort Farm. And best of all, you get to bask in the company of your fellow Allusionauts in our delightful Discord community. Mary Robinette will be answering some questions in there next week.

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
yarborough, noun: (in bridge or whist) a hand with no card above a nine.
Origin 20th century: named after an Earl of Yarborough,
said to have bet 1,000 to 1 against its occurrence.

CREDITS:

• Mary Robinette Kowal is a writer, cohost of the podcast Writing Excuses, professional puppeteer, and multi-award-winning novelist. Her upcoming book The Martian Contingency is available to preorder; find her work at maryrobinettekowal.com. And see her videos of Elsie (and sometimes Guppy the dog too) using the buttons on her YouTube and Instagram.

• Zazie Todd PhD is an animal behaviour expert and author of books including Wag, Purr, and her latest, ​​Bark, the Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful or Reactive Dog. Find out more about her work at companionanimalpsychology.com.

• Find Sascha Crasnow and her dog Parker here.

• Find Joelle Andres and her dog Bastian here.

• 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.

• Martin Austwick provided producetion and editorial assistance, and composed the music. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.

• Thanks to Erika Ensign, Scott Newman and Jenny Mills from On Air Festival, and Mary Robinette Kowal’s family Ken Harrison, Rob Kowal, and Jamie and Steve Harrison.

• Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, TikTok @allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, @allusionistshow.bsky.social… Essentially: if I’m there, I’m there as @allusionistshow. I’ll be posting some photos and videos from the time we spent with Mary Robinette, Elsie, Sascha, Parker, Joelle and Bastian.

Back in two weeks with the annual big box of bonus bits!

- HZ.

Our ad partner is Multitude. If you want me to talk about your product or thing on the show, sponsor an episode: contact Multitude at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by:

• Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running your online bailiwick. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.
• Constant Wonder, the podcast that opens our eyes and ears to the nature around us and its, yes, constant wonders. Listen to Constant Wonder in your usual podcast-listening places.
• Quince, luxurious clothing and homewares at prices 50-80% lower than comparable brands. Go to Quince.com/allusionist for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.
• Home Chef, meal kits that fit your needs. For a limited time, Home Chef is offering Allusionist listeners eighteen free meals, plus free shipping on your first box, and free dessert for life, at HomeChef.com/allusionist.

'Tis the season for the festive Allusionists!

This year, I’ll also be reading A Christmas Carol over four sessions on YouTube; details are at theallusionist.org/events, and you can also hit ‘Notify me’ on each video at youtube.com/@AllusionistShow/streams.

Here’s your playlist of episodes from the back catalogue, which are all also available in your podcast app, of course:

Winterval

It’s a portmanteau that became shorthand for the War On Christmas™, with a side of ‘political correctness gone mad’. But this is very unfair to Winterval.

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 ev...

Xmas Man

That mythical beardy man who supposedly gives children presents at Christmas - what’s he all about, and why does he have so many different names? Also, why were Victorian Christmas cards so scary and meaty?

CONTENT WARNING: Be wary of listening to this episode around young children, as there may be life spoilers. Historian Greg Jenner traces the origins of that mythical beardy man who turns up in December with gifts.

How the Dickens Stole Christmas

Charles Dickens wrote about the plight of the impoverished and destitute members of British society. So how come his name is a synonym for rosy-cheeked, full-stomached, fattened-goose, hearty merry “God bless us every one” Christmas? Plus: a trip to Dickensian London, recreated in an expo centre in California.

Charles Dickens wrote about the plight of the impoverished and destitute members of British society. So how come his name is a synonym for rosy-cheeked, full-stomached, fattened-goose, hearty merry "God bless us every one" Christmas?

Dear Santa

Jim Glaub and Dylan Parker didn’t think too much of it when, every year, a few letters for Santa were delivered to their New York apartment addressed to Santa. But then one year, 400 letters arrived. And they decided they had to answer them.

Jim Glaub and Dylan Parker didn't think too much of it when, every year, a few letters were delivered to their New York apartment addressed to Santa. But then one year, 400 letters arrived. And they decided they had to answer them.

It’s a very sweet story, but they’re still doing it and now have a non-profit — if you want to be a Santa for a kid in need, you can donate or get involved at miracleon22ndstreet.com 

A Festive Hit for 2020

The usual canon of holly jolly Christmas songs didn’t really fit the mood of 2020. So Jenny Owen Youngs, Martin Austwick and I wrote one that does. And it’s a banger!

The usual canon of Christmas songs may not really fit people's moods in this year 2020, when I'm not sure a lot of us are feeling all that holly jolly. So I drafted in singer and songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs and we wrote a festive song that is suitable for 2020.

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Elsie the cat has a set of 120 buttons programmed with words. She uses them to lie, swear, apologise, express grief and frustration and love to her human, the author Mary Robinette Kowal, who talks about what's involved in learning to communicate via language buttons with companion animals. And animal behaviour expert Zazie Todd explains how animals might be interacting with human language. 

This is the first half of a two-parter: in the next episode, some talking dogs - and their humans - come to visit, and we hear about the kinds of things you find out about what your animal friend is really thinking, and how it changes the ways you communicate with other humans too.

Content note: this episode contains a few category B swears.

EXTRA MATERIALS:

• You wait [insert amount of time here] for a podcast about companion animal communication, and two come along at once! Our friends Twenty Thousand Hertz have just released a pair of episodes about dogs and cats communicating, which I haven’t listened to yet so any overlap is coincidental, but I know they’ll be good because the show always is.

• Alumsionist Arlie Adlington also produced this show about magpie communication.

• A recently published academic paper: How do soundboard-trained dogs respond to human button presses? An investigation into word comprehension.

• The button system Elsie and Mary Robinette use is from Fluent Pet. I have no affiliation with them, but if you want to buy any, Elsie’s discount code ELSIEWANT gets you 12% off.

• The American Psychological Association’s Human-Animal Interaction section.

• Though he was there the whole time, you only hear one sentence from husband Martin in the episode - but here’s a whole video with him explaining our VERY useful diagramming system for planning the preparation and cooking of big meals such as might be happening imminently for American Thanksgiving. (This is not related to animal communication, unless your cat is standing scornfully on the kitchen worktop saying, “You’ll never have enough space in the oven to cook stuffing AND roast potatoes.)

To help fund this independent podcast, take yourself to theallusionist.org/donate and become a member of the Allusioverse. You get regular livestreams with me reading from my ever-expanding collection of dictionaries, inside scoops into the making of this show, and watchalong parties - coming up, we've got A Room With A View, Carol, Cold Comfort Farm and Hot Frosty. And best of all, you get to bask in the company of your fellow Allusionauts in our delightful Discord community. 

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
nomological, adjective:
relating to or denoting natural laws which are neither logically necessary nor theoretically explicable, but just are so.
Derivatives: nomologically, adverb.
Origin 19th century: from Greek nomos 'law' + - logical (see -LOGY).

CREDITS:

• Mary Robinette Kowal is a writer, cohost of the podcast Writing Excuses, professional puppeteer, and multi-award-winning novelist. Her upcoming book The Martian Contingency is available to preorder; find her work at maryrobinettekowal.com. And see her videos of Elsie (and sometimes Guppy the dog too) using the buttons on her YouTube and Instagram.

• Zazie Todd PhD is an animal behaviour expert and author of books including Wag, Purr, and her latest, ​​Bark, the Science of Helping Your Anxious, Fearful or Reactive Dog. Find out more about her work at companionanimalpsychology.com.

• 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.

• Martin Austwick also produced this episode, and composed the music. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.

• Thanks to Erika Ensign, Scott Newman and Jenny Mills from On Air Festival, and Mary Robinette Kowal’s family Ken Harrison, Rob Kowal, and Jamie and Steve Harrison.

• Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, TikTok @allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, @allusionistshow.bsky.social… Essentially: if I’m there, I’m there as @allusionistshow. I’ll be posting some photos and videos from the time we spent with Mary Robinette and Elsie.

Back in two weeks with Lexicat (And Dogs) part 2!

- HZ.

Our ad partner is Multitude. If you want me to talk compellingly about your product, sponsor an episode: contact Multitude at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by:

• CATAN - Dawn of Humankind, the game that lets you experience the rise of early human societies. Buy it at Catanshop.com and use the coupon code ALLUSIONIST to get a 10% discount.
• Audio Maverick, a new 9-part documentary podcast from CUNY TV about radio maven Himan Brown. Hear about the dawn of radio and Brown's remarkable career, via archive footage and new interviews with audio mavericks, by subscribing to Audio Maverick in your podcast app.
• Home Chef, meal kits that fit your needs. For a limited time, Home Chef is offering Allusionist listeners eighteen free meals, plus free shipping on your first box, and free dessert for life, at HomeChef.com/allusionist.
• Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running your online bailiwick. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.

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TODAY: join me and my dictionaries for a relaxing livestream

✨ theallusionist.org/events ✨

TODAY: join me and my dictionaries for a relaxing livestream ✨ theallusionist.org/events ✨

In 15th and 16th century Scotland, in the highest courts of the land, you'd find esteemed poets hurling insults at each other. This was flyting, a sort of medieval equivalent of battle rap, and it was so popular at the time that the King himself wrote instructions for how to do it well.

Writer and Scots language campaigner Ishbel McFarlane and historical linguist Joanna Kopaczyk explain the art of flyting, where an insult becomes slander, what's going on within the speech act of performative diss-trading, and what the legal consequences could be of being accused of witchcraft.

Content note: this episode contains brief references to historical capital and corporal punishments, and discussion of insults and slurs; there is also a derogatory term for sex workers, and category A and B swears.

Hey, I’m doing a special live show in Vancouver BC on 12 January 2025, for the Allusionist’s 10th birthday!
Get your tickets from the Rio Cinema.

EXTRA MATERIALS:

• Otherlusionists: listen to Ishbel talking about Scots language in Oot In The Open; hear more about speech acts in Sorry, which is about apologies; swear along with the Swearalong Quiz; and I’ll always take the opportunity to recommend the gentle Scots mystery of the name Fiona, parts 1 and 2.

• Read the famous flytings of William Dunbar and Walter Kennedy.

• For many centuries before the time period we’re talking about this episode, flyting was A Thing in many cultures. A variant was the Old English bēot, although it sounds less funny and more arrogant.

• Joanna was in the BBC documentary Scotland: Contains Strong Language, showing the first printed instance of the word ‘fuck’.

• A bill is in process with the Scottish parliament to obtain official language status for Scots and Gaelic in Scotland.

• “Owls aren’t doing calculus. Their immense eyes can see their prey by the light of one candle. Their enormous mouths can swallow a rat whole. Put the eyes, ears and mouth together and that leaves very little room in an owl’s skull for a brain. Approximately 1/3 or less of the skull’s volume is dedicated to owl brain.”

• Sorry, I was wrong - Tim Clare’s book is called The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World and Can Change You Too! Gah, this is what happens when I work silly hours!

To help fund this independent podcast, take yourself to theallusionist.org/donate and become a member of the Allusioverse. You get regular livestreams with me and my collection of reference books, inside scoops into the making of this show, and watchalong parties - we're enjoying Merchant Ivory films, the current seasons of Great British Bake Off and the Canadian version, and Taskmaster featuring my brother Andy. Coming up, we've got Pride & Prejudice, and Carol! And best of all, you get to bask in the company of your fellow Allusionauts in our delightful Discord community. 

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
grampus, noun (pl. grampuses):
1. a killer whale or other cetacean of the dolphin family.
2. British, dated: someone or something breathing loudly and heavily.
Origin 16th century: alteration (by assoc. with ‘grand’) of Old French grapois,
from medieval Latin. craspiscis,
from Latin crassus piscis 'fat fish'.

CREDITS:

• Ishbel McFarlane is a writer, performer and campaigner for the Scots language. Find out more about her work at ishbelmcfarlane.wordpress.com, and listen to her podcast series Edwin Morgan’s Second Life, about the poet Edwin Morgan.

• Joanna Kopaczyk is a historical linguist, and Professor of Scots and English Philology at the University of Glasgow. She is involved in the Future of Scots, a collaborative project working on community-driven policy for the language,

• 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 multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by:

• Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running your online bailiwick. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.
• Constant Wonder, the podcast that opens our eyes and ears to the nature around us and its, yes, constant wonders. Listen to Constant Wonder in your usual podcast-listening places.
• Rocket Money, the personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions and monitors your spending. Go to rocketmoney.com/allusionist to save money and lower your outgoings.
• LinkedIn Ads: convert your B2B audience into high quality leads. Get $100 credit on your next campaign at linkedin.com/allusionist.

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There's so much more to say about Singlish after last episode that we're saying some more of it this episode. Poet and academic Gwee Li Sui, author of Spiaking Singlish: A Companion to how Singaporeans Communicate, describes the resistance he received in Singapore when he published Singlish translations of literary works - and why they are important and celebratory for Singlish. And Stacey Mei Yan Fong, baker and author of 50 Pies, 50 States, explains how the language that used to be embarrassing for her is now a huge comfort.

EXTRA INFO:

• Gwee’s new book is Kaka Farm, his Singlish translation of Animal Farm.

• The Animal Farm animated film was part funded by the CIA. When George Orwell’s widow Sonia sold the rights, she didn’t realise the buyers were undercover agents.

• Gwee’s op ed in the New York Times, ‘Do You Speak Singlish?’…

• …and the Singaporean Prime Minister’s press secretary’s rebuttal.

• Wow, there are HUNDREDS of translations of Le Petit Prince!

• Singapore’s army is a Singlish incubator.

• Khong Guan biscuits.

• The refrain “steady pom pi pi!” has been trapped in my head all week.

• It’s lovely reading about Stacey’s pies, and her eight-flavour Las Vegas buffet pie is particularly impressive.

Guess what happens when you take yourself to theallusionist.org/donate and become a member of the Allusioverse? You get:
1. The glow of satisfaction at funding this independent podcast;
2. inside scoops into the making of each episode - enjoy my mind at its most wayward;
3. regular livestreams with me and my collection of reference books - it’s relaxing, but also very interesting to observe how different all the dictionaries are from each other, and what makes a really good one;
4. the company of your fellow Allusionauts in our delightful Discord community, where we share our joys and pains, and share tips for knitting/baking/what to read next;
5. watchalong parties - together we're enjoying the current seasons of Great British Bake Off and the Canadian version, and Taskmaster featuring my brother Andy. Coming up, we've got What We Do In The Shadows, several more Merchant Ivory films, Pride & Prejudice (BBC miniseries version), and Carol!

All that from just $2/month? What a good deal!

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
jobbery, noun:
the practice of using a public office or position of trust for one's own gain or advantage.

CREDITS:

• Gwee Li Sui is a poet, editor and academic, as well as the author of books including Spiaking Singlish and The Leeter Spiaking English, and translator into Singlish of The Leeter Tunku, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Winnie-da-Pooh, The Tale of Peter Labbit and Kaka Farm. Find his work at gweek.wordpress.com and he posts on Facebook and Instagram.

• Stacey Mei Yan Fong is a baker and author of the very insPIEring book 50 Pies, 50 States: an Immigrant's Love Letter to the Country She's Chosen to Call Home. Find out more about her and her journey in pies at 50pies50states.com, and follow her on Instagram.

• Many thanks to Y-Lynn Ong.

• 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.

• Martin Austwick provided editorial assistance and the original Allusionist music. Get 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, TikTok @allusionistshow, twitter.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 from the opposite side of the world - HZ.

Our ad partner is Multitude. If you want me to talk compellingly about your product, sponsor an episode: contact Multitude at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by:

• Rocket Money, the personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions and monitors your spending. Go to rocketmoney.com/allusionist to save money and lower your outgoings.
• Home Chef, meal kits that fit your needs. For a limited time, Home Chef is offering Allusionist listeners eighteen free meals, plus free shipping on your first box, and free dessert for life, at HomeChef.com/allusionist.
• Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running your online bailiwick. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.
• Constant Wonder, the podcast that opens our eyes and ears to the nature around us and its, yes, constant wonders. Listen to Constant Wonder in your usual podcast-listening places and at byuradio.org/constant-wonder.

MP3 • APPLE PODCASTS • RSS • GOOGLE • TRANSCRIPT

"If you grow up being told that one of your first languages, Singlish, is actually a bad version of an already existing language, you kind of get this sense that “I'm just bad at language,” says Bibek Gurung, a former linguist who grew up in Singapore speaking Singlish with his family and friends, while schools and the government tried to quash it. "Language is a fundamental human skill. And to just have this sense that you're bad at this very fundamental skill really does a number to your self esteem and your abilities to communicate in general."

Content note: this episode contains references to corporal punishment of children. And there is one category B swear.  

Come to the Allusionist meetup in Vancouver BC on 20 October 2024! Information is at theallusionist.org/events.

Come to the Allusionist meetup in Vancouver BC on 20 October 2024! Information is at theallusionist.org/events.

EXTRA MATERIALS:

• A Guide to All Six Singlish Expressions Heard During Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’ Concerts In Singapore.

• About the Speak Good English Movement.

• “Gurmit, who said he had received prior notice that the government wasn't too happy with the use of Singlish in the show, revealed that he was actually really afraid then. ‘My mind frame was that I am ready to migrate [right now]. That was how scared I was,’ he confessed.” 

• The Speak Good English Movement’s list of ‘common English mistakes’.

• Otherlusionists: there’s some Singapore history in Emergency, and Oot In The Open discusses the impact of people’s first languages being oppressed out of them. And Podcast Podcast talks about portmanteau words.

I was also on 50 Shades of Tayyy’s show talking about the origins of No Title, as well as finding a surprising teapot-shaped connection between the host Taylor Gonzales and me.

To help fund this independent podcast, take yourself to theallusionist.org/donate and become a member of the Allusioverse. You get regular livestreams with me and my collection of reference books, inside scoops into the making of this show, and watchalong parties - this month we're enjoying Merchant Ivory films, the current seasons of Great British Bake Off and the Canadian version, and Taskmaster featuring my brother Andy. And best of all, you get to bask in the company of your fellow Allusionauts in our delightful Discord community. 

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
opsimath, noun: poetic/literary: a person who begins to learn or study only late in life.
Origin 19th century: from Greek opsimathes, from opse 'late' + the stem math- 'learn'.

CREDITS:

• Bibek Gurung is a former linguist and, among other things, current performer - he has a live show coming up on 16 October! Follow Some Pulp Fiction for more shows.

• 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, TikTok @allusionistshow, twitter.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 multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by:

• Quince, high quality clothing and homewares at prices 50-80% lower than comparable brands. Go to Quince.com/allusionist for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.
• Rocket Money, the personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions and monitors your spending. Go to rocketmoney.com/allusionist to save money and lower your outgoings.
• Home Chef, meal kits that fit your needs. For a limited time, Home Chef is offering Allusionist listeners eighteen free meals, plus free shipping on your first box, and free dessert for life, at HomeChef.com/allusionist.
• Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running your online empire/new home for your cryptic puzzle that takes months to solve. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist.
• Bombas, whose mission is to make the comfiest clothing essentials, and match every item sold with an equal item donated. Go to bombas.com/allusionist to get 20% off your first purchase.