It's the annual parade of Bonus Bits - things this year's guests said that I couldn't fit into their episodes,... more

In Lexicat part 1, we met the author Mary Robinette Kowal and her cat Elsie, and learned about how they... more

Elsie the cat has a set of 120 buttons programmed with words. She uses them to lie, swear, apologise, express... more

In 15th and 16th century Scotland, in the highest courts of the land, you'd find esteemed poets hurling insults at... more

There's so much more to say about Singlish after last episode that we're saying some more of it this episode.... more

"If you grow up being told that one of your first languages, Singlish, is actually a bad version of an... more

This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, give your brain a break by temporarily supplanting your interior monologue... more

I can scarce believe that I've made 200 episodes of this show, but here we are! To celebrate, here is... more

Next episode is the 200th, therefore this is the 199th. I raid the 66 pages of ideas for episodes I... more

Since 2019, Marwan Kaabour has been collecting Arabic slang words used by and about queer people, first for the online... more

At the Scripps National Spelling Bee, behind the spectacle of kids vying to be champion spellers, a whole lot of... more

I went to the 2024 Scripps National Spelling Bee, to marvel at kids spelling words I had mostly never even... more

Cain's Jawbone, a murder mystery cryptic puzzle novella in the form of 100 pages presented in the wrong order, has... more

Exciting things have been happening with crossword puzzles in the US: more constructors, more outlets to get puzzles published, clues... more

AJ Jacobs makes The Puzzler podcast, wrote The Puzzler book, and sometimes turns his whole life into a puzzle. He... more

This episode, and the next couple of episodes, are about word games! Today, Joshua Blackburn recounts how his sons' uninspiring... more

The word 'hypochondria' has travelled from meaning physical ailments in a particular region of your body, to ones that are... more

"It's quite a big undertaking going through every named feature in the whole solar system and trying to find out... more

This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, soothe your brain by saying a load of words that don’t... more

At Lunar New Year, certain foods are particularly lucky to eat. Why? Because in Chinese, their names are puns on... more

Lipreading has been in the news this month, thanks to gossip-stoking mouth movements at the Golden Globes that the amateur... more

It's our annual end of year parade of all the extra good stuff this year's podguests talked about, including a... more

We’ve got knitting! We’ve got eponyms!! We’ve got knitting eponyms!!! Which come with a whole load of battles, f-boys, duels,... more

We’re returning to the theme of renaming, for two food-related renamings: the first one that mostly happened, the second that... more

The word 'misophonia' describes a condition that statistically, 20 per cent of you have: an extreme reaction to certain sounds.... more

All aboard, we're off to the 2023 Apple Festival at the University of British Columbia, to taste some apples and,... more

When Spanish missionaries arrived in what is now called Florida, there were 100,000-200,000 Timucua people in the region. Just two... more

Lexicographer, author and Dictionary Corner resident Susie Dent has been studying words to make us feel happy. She brings etymologies... more

There's an abiding myth that the landmark dictionaries are the work of one man, in a dusty paper-filled garrett tirelessly... more

Sterling Martin was in grad school, studying C. elegans worms, when COVID19 hit and suddenly he found himself in lexicography,... more

It's the annual etymology quizlusionist! I’m on a family holiday for the first time since 1988, so enlisted my brother... more

Have you ever wondered why the planets in our solar system are all named after Roman deities, except two of... more

This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, say a load of words which aren’t really about anything, so... more

“The starting point is, and the research questions are all framed by: 'We know it's terrible to be fat, but... more

It should just be an accurate descriptor of my body, but the word 'fat' has shaped so much more of... more

Oh, you thought the Eurovision Song Contest was about songs? Or a fun international TV event that brings people together... more

There aren't many multilingual, multinational television shows that have been running for nearly seven decades. But what makes the Eurovision... more

"You can't redead the dead by you saying something shit," says Cariad Lloyd of Griefcast and author of You Are... more

"The myths, or the received wisdom, about Portuguese language in Brazil is that, of course we know we speak a... more

Last episode, I mentioned that in London, Ontario, in 2019 a 9-year-old named Lyla Wheeler had launched a petition to... more

Over the past few years, numerous products and places with the word 'plantation' in their names have rebranded. As for... more

Erwin Schrödinger is one of the "fathers of quantum mechanics". He also sexually abused children. Trinity College Dublin recently denamed... more

There’s been a recurring theme on the show over the years, of filling gaps in language, removing stigma and bias,... more

What do the hippocampus, homophones, Little Women, worrying and egg hacks have in common? They all star in the 2022... more

“I don't think that anyone should come away from this conversation not wanting to use the name Fiona. I think... more

A lot of people assume that Fiona is a very old Scottish name, but the first known Scottish Fiona is... more

When is a war not a war? When the British Empire called it an 'emergency' so they didn't have to... more

Provoked by current events, we've got three political eponyms for turmoiled times. Get ready for explosives, presidential pigs, Supreme Court... more

Self-help is a multibillion dollar genre of books, and Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenberg of By the Book podcast have... more

Empathy and kindness can be noble concepts in themselves, but as terms are thrown around enough to have become buzzwords,... more

“Anxiety is the parrot sidekick that rides on my shoulder and occasionally squawks warnings in my ear,” says Tim Clare,... more

Grab your stake and crucifix pendant, we're going vampire-hunting! Well, vampire-etymology-hunting. The podcast Buffering the Vampire Slayer, which recaps the... more

There's lots of fun etymology of creatures and a lot of fun etymology derived from creatures, and now it is... more

This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, say a load of deliberately boring words to distract your interior... more

The term 'queerbaiting' has evolved from meaning entrapment to marketing ploy to drawing "queer audiences into a piece of media... more

From whitewash (the paint) we got whitewashing (the covering up of misdeeds) and from there greenwashing, redwashing, bluewashing, purplewashing, pinkwashing... more

The name Tiffany has been around for some 800 years. But you can't name a character in a historical novel... more

Couple of easy straightforward questions for us to chew on: 1. What is ‘objectivity’ supposed to mean? And 2. does... more

Chinese is one of the oldest still-spoken languages in the world. But when technologies arrived like telegraphy and computing, designed... more

Hans Asperger would have been merely "a footnote in the history of autism", so why did he get to be... more

Hans Asperger would have been merely "a footnote in the history of autism", so why did he get to be... more

Bad hats, cat's pyjamas, banting, goops, creatures, and playing possum - what WERE people going on about during the Golden... more

"Warning: read and keep," says the piece of paper inside Kinder Surprise Eggs, in 34 languages; yet most people do... more

Complex PTSD is different to PTSD, but there's not that much understanding of it as its own condition - which... more

I've been saving them up all year, and now it's time for the annual selection box of Bonus Bits! Things... more

"It's really good if we can get the changes through here - that can be an inspiration for other other... more

The Icelandic language has remained so stable over the centuries, speakers can read manuscripts from 900 years ago without too... more

When you're trans and pregnant, some of the vocabulary of pregnancy, birth and parenting might not fit you. In fact,... more

The word 'asexual' has been used by humans describing themselves for several decades; 'aromantic' is newer. Both words enable people... more

Today it's the etymologies you requested! And a few you didn't! We've got witches, wizards, warlocks; conjurers and cloves; wood... more

Did any number cause as much trouble as zero? It stranded ships; it scrambles the brains of mathematicians, calendar users... more

Quiz time! Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway of Home Cooking podcast join to deliver questions about food etymology, as well... more

We use verbal numbers and we use numerals - why do we need both? Why do we have the ones... more

This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, read all the salads from the 1950 recipe book 282 Ways... more

They're not ladies and they're not birds; they're not even technically bugs! But that's not the most surprising thing about... more

Crazy, insane, nuts, mad, bonkers, psycho, schizo, OCD - casual vocabulary is strewn with mental health terms, but perhaps shouldn't... more

Exclamation; sign of agreement OR disapproval; gendered, but circumstantially gender-neutral; term of endearment: 'dude' can do it all! But its... more

“It's hard to address something if you can't actually name what it is,” says Moya Bailey, who coined a term... more

SOS is a really versatile distress call. You can shout it; you can tap it out in Morse code; you... more

It’s August 2007. Lauren Marks is a 27-year-old actor and a PhD student, spending the month directing a play at... more

If you were in Brazil during the military dictatorship of 1964-1985, tried to bake a cake from a recipe in... more

What to do to stick it to the powers that be? Send your message through something they really care about:... more

"Sometimes I've heard people talk about losing a child and people say it's like losing a limb. And as someone... more

In their podcasts Mija and Moonface, Lory Martinez and James Kim create autobiographical fiction in multiple languages.  There are a... more

St Valentine's name may nowadays be all over the romance-related merch for 14 February, but he was also the patron... more

Apologies are such important verbal transactions. So why are so many of them soooo bad? Susan McCarthy and Marjorie Ingall... more

Some choice cuts from the Allusionist vault of interesting things that guests said that there wasn’t room for in the... more

The usual canon of Christmas songs may not really fit people's moods in this year 2020, when I'm not sure... more

In Australia, there were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of languages. Until English arrived.

Fill your lungs and get ready to shout out some profane answers: it’s the Swearlusionist Swearalong Quiz!

This is the Alloooooooooosionist, in which we learn about the etymology of some scary words for Halloween, with the help... more

Celebrity used to mean a solemn occasion; X factor was algebraic; and fame was a huge terrifying Godzilla-like beast with... more

The word for ‘ghostwriter’ in French is a racist slur. How did THAT come about? And what can French-speakers say... more

In 2014, a seemingly trivial and boring incident at the bank propelled me down a linguistic road via medieval werewolves,... more

This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, quell anxiety and calm brain frenzies by replacing your interior monologue... more

the language of migration

It’s great when you coin a phrase that really resonates with people, right? Until they start using it for businesses... more

The Yiddish word for ‘black’ is, in certain uses, a slur. So Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell, Arun Viswanath and Jonah... more

When the Europeans arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as guns, stoats and Christianity, they brought ideas of cisgender... more

The Scots language didn’t have much of a lexicon of LGBTQ+ terminology. So writer and performer Dr Harry Josephine Giles... more

The word ‘pornography’ arrived in English in the 1840s so upper class male archaeologists could talk about the sexual art... more

Twenty years ago, a 1939 poster printed by the British government with the words ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ turned... more

This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, read the punchlines to classic jokes.

This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, for the purposes of calming a frazzled brain, read the winners... more

This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, for the purposes of quelling anxiety and stress and sleeplessness, read... more

A relaxing list of the words you listeners find soothing

The vocabulary around climate is fraught. Here's how to navigate it, and how to communicate about climate in a way... more

Ologies podcast host Alie Ward and I cover etymologies of words including ‘buxom’, ‘mediocre’, ‘coccyx’, ‘lacuna’, bust some etymological myths,... more

For your last Allusionist of 2019, here is a quiz all about words for you to play along with as... more

Here’s a special episode about the word that brought us all together… and a lot of you hate it.

Words engraved into metal are intended to last, though you don’t know who in the future is going to be... more

When Dave Nadelberg of Mortified used to visit his mother’s grave, he would look around at the nearby gravestones and... more

On 9 November 1989, the demolition of the Berlin Wall began. Within a year, Germany was unified. East Germany dissolved... more

In the last Food Season episode of the current batch, we get into the language of restaurant service - specifically... more

Late 2019 will see the biggest apple launch of our lifetimes. 22 years in the making, ripening on millions of... more

Ever misspelled a word or committed a typo? It wasn’t your fault; you were demonically possessed. Ian Chillag from Everything... more

When is cheese not cheese, or crab not crab? When it’s spelled cheez or krab or even ch’eese or cra’b…... more

When Kate Young spots a foodstuff or a feast in a novel, she finds ways to cook it in reality,... more

When recipe writing is done well, the skill and effort involved might not be evident. But explaining the different steps... more

I don’t know exactly when or where, but at some point in the past few years, I stopped putting punctuation... more

Oysters, fragrances, canoeing, space stations, God, hats, and of course people - the word ‘bisexual’ has described a great deal... more

To celebrate Pride Month, I’m playing two of the Allusionist episodes that have stuck with me the most during the... more

To mark the 100th episode of the Allusionist, here’s a celebratory parade of language-related facts

When there were no safe spaces to be gay, Polari allowed gay men to identify and communicate with each other,... more

Today: three pieces about alter egos, when your name - the words by which the world knows you - is... more

“There are two ways to say ‘The future is now’: you can say it optimistically, like, ‘The future is now!... more

“Trust isn't a brand that you should use. It's a social glue that, when it breaks down, has really huge... more

When you’re watching a fantasy or science fiction show, and the characters are speaking a language that does not exist... more

On 15 November 1992, the New York Times printed a ‘Lexicon of Grunge’, a list of slang terms from the... more

‘Idle’, ‘trivial’, ‘scurrilous’: the word ‘gossip’ is often accompanied by uncomplimentary adjectives. But don’t dismiss it; gossip may be more... more

If you wince when you hear someone say “a whole nother level”, “hone in on” or “right from the gecko”,... more

A wordy quiz for you to play along with as you listen. Get a pen and paper, or fill in... more

Throughout the year, the people who appear on the Allusionist tell me a lot of interesting stuff. Not all of... more

Jim Glaub and Dylan Parker didn’t think too much of it when, every year, a few letters were delivered to... more

This is a story of feats of speed and endurance, of record-breakers, of champions… Typing champions. Recorded live at the... more

Why did you change your name? And why did you choose the name you chose? Listeners answer these two questions.... more

Iceland has quite exacting laws about what its citizens can be named, and only around 4,000 names are on the... more

“It’s the word that you use the most often and the soonest to describe yourself, and yet nobody’s really ever... more

“I wanted a story that actually lives, and actually dies, and disappears.” In 2003, artist and author Shelley Jackson started... more

Why would you write books or poems or plays with only one vowel? Or in palindromes? Or only using the... more

“Really? As in the animal/foodstuff/music genre?” “Is that a stripper name?” “What were your parents thinking?” When your name is... more

When you’re feeling unwell, what’s the book you read to make yourself feel better? And why does it work? Clinical... more

Today, we’re dipping into the Allusionist mailbag full of listeners’ linguistic requests, with the help of special guest Hrishikesh Hirway... more

Hello! I’m currently in hospital so am having to take a little time off work. Therefore, instead of a new Allusionist... more

Today will be fine. But wait: fine as in ‘OK’, fine as in ‘really rather good’, or fine as in... more

Strange or obtuse; a stinging homophobic slur; a radical political rejection of normativity; a broad term encompassing every and any... more

You are born and raised in a household speaking a language. Then you start going to school, and that language... more

To accompany the current Allusionist miniseries Survival, about minority languages facing suppression and extinction, we’re revisiting this double bill of... more

There are two main places in the world where the Welsh language is spoken: Wales, and the Chubut Province in... more

Pavement/sidewalk; football/soccer; bum bag/fanny pack: we know that the English language is different in the UK and the USA. But... more

Today we’re going inside to open up the unofficial dictionary of San Quentin state prison, compiled by Earlonne Woods of... more

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

Up in the sky: look! It’s an adjective! It’s a noun! It’s…Adjectivenoun!  Your friendly neighbourhood superheroes might have thrilling and varied powers... more

“Hey.” “Going to the supermarket, want me to get you anything?” “Puppies or ice cream?” “What’s your glasses prescription?” “I... more

It’s a year since Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States. And in that year,... more

It’s the annual bonus episode. Throughout the year, the people who appear on the show tell me a lot of... more

Charles Dickens wrote about the plight of the impoverished and destitute members of British society. So how come his name... more

Somebody has really ticked you off. You’re all steamed up inside and you want to vent that rage using words,... more

You’re holding a letter. What’s inside? A weather report from 5,000 miles away? Some devastating family history? A single word?... more

From Me To You’s Alison Hitchcock and Brian Greenley didn’t know each other well. But when Brian was diagnosed with... more

Roman Mars returns for our annual dose of eponyms – words that derive from people’s names. This year: explosive revelations... more

You’ve encountered technobabble when Doc Brown is shouting about flux capacitors in Back To The Future, or when Isaac Asimov... more

“Accent is identity. It’s a way of encoding and signaling – almost completely at an unconscious level for most people... more

Crossword-solving is often a solitary activity – over breakfast; on the train; on the loo… But a few times a... more

“It’s sort of frozen body language; that’s what handwriting analysis is about.” Since it caught on a couple of hundred... more

They look like numbers. They sound like numbers. You kinda know they are numbers. But they’re not actually numbers. Linguistic... more

Translation, A Love Story: Translator listens to The Allusionist. Translator hears about the podcast The Memory Palace. Translator listens to... more

It’s August 2007. Lauren Marks is a 27-year-old actor and a PhD student, spending the month directing a play at... more

There’s a small matter I trip over regularly in the Allusionist: Dates. Not the fruit. Specicially, the terms BC and... more

As discussed in episode 51, Under the Covers part II, the vocabulary for sex and associated body parts is tricky... more

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” Hrishikesh Hirway of Song... more

“Sometimes you want to make the dictionary sexy but it’s just not a sexy thing,” says Kory Stamper, lexicographer for... more

“Recognizing someone’s humanity is crucial. Calling someone a migrant, calling someone an asylum seeker, calling them a refugee: these are... more

Sometimes words can become your worst enemy. Clinical psychologist Jane Gregory tells how to defuse their power. There’s more about... more

The term ‘sanctuary cities’ has been in the news a lot in the past few weeks, as places in the... more

Does the available vocabulary for sex leave something to be desired? Namely desire? (And also the ability to use it... more

Escape into the loving embrace of a romance novel – although don’t think you’ll be able to escape gender politics... more

Why is gaslighting ‘gaslighting’? What do bodily fluids have to do with personality traits? Why does ‘cataract’ mean a waterfall... more

There’s a word that has become shorthand for ‘the war on Christmas’ with a side of ‘political correctness gone mad’:... more

Today: a tale of darkness, gathering storms, and a terrifying creature that resembles a human man… No, nothing topical: it’s... more

Each of the 50 states in the USA has its own motto. The motto might be found on the state... more

If you love eponyms like Roman Mars loves eponyms, I’m afraid physician Isaac Siemens is here to deliver some bad... more

What is your beautiful brain up to as you comprehend language? Cognitive psychologist Jenni Rodd takes a peek. Visit http://theallusionist.org/brain... more

If you don’t have a Rosetta Stone to hand, deciphering extinct languages can be a real puzzle, even though they... more

Languages die. But if they’re lucky, a thousand-odd years later, someone unearths an artefact that brings them back to life.... more

When you choose to spend the winter in Antarctica, you’ll be prepared for it to be cold. You know that... more

On your marks… Get set… GO! It’s the Etymolympics, where the gymnastics should be gymnaked and the hurdles are a... more

Which are you: Millennial, Generation X, Baby Boomer, Silent Generation, an impressively young-looking Arthurian Generation? Or are you an individual... more

“How are you?” “Oh, fine – and you?” “Yeah, not bad. Nice day today, isn’t it?” “Yes, it was a... more

This week seems like a good one to listen again to last year’s episode Pride, about how the word came... more

Got a company or a product or a website you need to name? Well, be wary of the potential pitfalls:... more

‘Classics’ started off meaning Latin and Greek works, then works that smacked of similar, and now – what, exactly? Books... more

Open up a dictionary, and you’ll find the history of human behaviour, the key to your own psychological state, and... more

‘Continent’, as in a land mass, is much more complicated semantically than the bodily function control sense of ‘continent’. Plus:... more

There’s an ocean between Britain and the USA, but an even wider division between each country’s use of a particular... more

Around the world, there are several places called Soho, getting their names from an acronym/portmanteau-ish composite of local streets or... more

Breaking up is hard to do, and it’s hard to put into appropriate words. Comedian Rosie Wilby seeks a better... more

The 2016 US election isn’t going away anytime soon, so let’s seek refuge in etymology. Consider the linguistically appropriate age... more

You’re looking for your perfect partner, but dating sites keep matching you with duds. So what do you do? Conduct... more

Your online dating profile is the latest spin on a 300-year-old tradition of advertising yourself in order to find a... more

For the last episode of 2015, here’s a melange of etymologies requested by listeners, and anecdotes there wasn’t room for... more

CONTENT WARNING: Be wary of listening to this episode around young children, as there may be life spoilers. Historian Greg... more

There’s a language which is said to be the smallest language in the world. It has around 123 words, five... more

It’s cathartic; it’s a useful historical record; and it might help you behave better on public transport. Neil Katcher and... more

Phoebe Judge and Lauren Spohrer from the podcast Criminal stop by to talk about the linguistic challenges of crime reporting.... more

La la la, dum di di dum, a wop bop a loo bop a wop bom bom – why are... more

Naming something after yourself: a grand display of egomania, or the humble willingness to be overshadowed by your own product?... more

Why do we all sound like idiots when we talk to babies? Don’t be embarrassed, we’re helping them acquire language.... more

“Talking about music is like dancing about architecture” is a problematic statement: not just because nobody can agree on who... more

The messiness of English is the price of its success. It is the most widely spoken language in the world,... more

The English language is a mess. And if you don’t like it, what are you going to do about it... more

Words are all over the place. So how do you turn them into fun games? Here to show the way... more

‘Step-‘, as in stepparents or stepchildren, originated in grief. Family structures have evolved, but are stepmothers now so tainted by... more

Sometimes words can become your worst enemy. Clinical psychologist Jane Gregory tells how to defuse their power. There’s more about... more

Emoji allow communication without words. Could emoji be the universal language of the 21st century? Matt Gray and Tom Scott,... more

“The poison is shame. The antidote is pride.” It’s June; the President of the USA has officially designated it LGBT... more

What does brunch have to do with Lewis Carroll? Fall down the rabbit hole of brunch semantics with Dan Pashman... more

On the eve of the 2015 General Election in the UK, take a jaunt through the etymology of election-related words.... more

I know this is a show about words, but forget the words for a moment; look at the spaces between... more

Cryptic crosswords: delightful brain exercise, or the infernal taunting of the incomprehensible? Either way, crossword setter John Feetenby explains how... more

You’d think you could trust dictionaries, but it turns out, they are riddled with LIES. Visit theallusionist.org/mountweazel to find out... more

Those words on museum walls that you can’t be bothered to read? They’re more important than you think… Exhibition-maker Rachel... more

Every week since September 1989, a radio station in Finland has broadcast a weekly news bulletin…in Latin. WHY? Let’s find... more

WARNING: this episode contains lots of swearing and words which some of you may find offensive. If, however, you love... more

Remember when ‘viral’ used to only mean something bad, IE something that would make you ill or destroy your computer?... more

There are many synonyms for ‘underwear’. There are many synonyms for the body parts you keep in your underwear. But... more

In late 2014, China announced it was to ban puns. Helen Zaltzman wishes she could ban puns in her own... more