"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."
Read moreAllusionist 174. Eurovision part 1
There aren't many multilingual, multinational television shows that have been running for nearly seven decades. But what makes the Eurovision Song Contest so special to me is not the music, or the dancing, or the costumes that range from spangletastic to tear-off: no, it's the people butting heads about language. Historian Dean Vuletic, author of Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest, recounts the many changes in Eurovision's language rules, and its language hopes and dreams.
Read moreAllusionist special: Podcast Podcast
Here’s a special episode about the word that brought us all together… aaand a lot of you hate it.
Read moreAllusionist 105. F'ood
When is cheese not cheese, or crab not crab? When it’s spelled cheez or krab or even ch’eese or cra’b… Novelty spellings for foods-that-aren’t-made-out-of-the-thing-they-sound-like-they’re-made-out-of go back a pretty long way - ‘cheez’ was THE cheese-like substance of the 1920s - but right now, with plant-based foods on the rise, we’re seeing more of them.
Branding consultant and name developer Nancy Friedman casts her expert glance over the apostrophes and deliberate misspellings on foodstuffs; and vegan restaurant owner Melanie Boudens recounts how, this summer, the words ‘cheddar cheese’ on her menu landed her in trouble.
Read moreAllusionist 100. The Hundredth
To mark the 100th episode of the Allusionist, here’s a celebratory parade of language-related facts.
Read moreAllusionist 34: Continental
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I'm not usually one to yearn for the past, but today, trying to find a clear definition for what a continent is, I find myself thinking, "Pangaea. One single continent. That was a simpler time."
Plus: more 'please'. Following the previous episode, listeners from several continents have contributed their local experience of 'please' usage, in what eventually will surely be considered the definitive global study of human niceties. Also, Lynne Murphy and Rachele De Felice return to explain how 'thank you' is not necessarily an expression of gratitude.
TL;DR: trust nothing.
READING MATTER:
Yeah but come on, what IS a continent? Anyone?
How the continents - whatever the hell they are - got their names.
Learn about Pangaea and Panthalassa, so you’re prepared when the next supercontinent shows up.
How and why non-European countries can compete in the Eurovision Song Contest.
“This is a shocked pair of girls who have just heard the apologetic U.S. soldier say that he looked like a bum. In English slang, he said he looked like his own backside.” Thanks to listener Mike for sending me this 1942 advice for Americans visiting Britain. So many linguistic obstacles for transatlantic travel(l)ers!
There's a transcript of this episode at theallusionist.org/transcripts/continental.
RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
rowel
CREDITS:
Linguist and 'please' investigator Lynne Murphy's blog is separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com and she is @lynneguist on Twitter. Rachele De Felice is @racagain on Twitter.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, with music by Martin Austwick. Martin's continental drift-inspired instrument-free instrumental was the result of combining boredom, Garageband for iPad and all the homemade percussion options offered by a B&B room in Utah.
- HZ
Allusionist 27: Bonus 2015
Throughout the year, I've been stockpiling your requests for etymologies, and for the last episode of 2015, here are some answers! Ever wondered about the correct plural of 'octopus', who was the original nemesis, or whether 'picnic' is racist?
There's also a sprinkling of anecdotes there wasn't room for in the show earlier this year. Prepare for Klingon, acid trips, Cliff Richard, and Michael Palin's cock.
Read moreAllusionist 11: Brunchtime
Brunch. What does it actually mean?
Yeah yeah, it's breakfast + lunch, but in function or in form? And what does it have to do with Lewis Carroll?
I chewed this over during brunch with Dan Pashman, host of the food podcast The Sporkful and author of Eat More Better. Fall down the rabbit hole of brunch semantics with us.
SIDE ORDERS:
Here is the transcript of this episode.
Want to know some more about the Rise of Brunch? Here you go.
The origins of the name of the classic brunch dish Eggs Benedict are as clear as Hollandaise.
Here's more about Lewis Carroll and his portmanteaus, and in case you're really hungry for arguments about semantics, here's Alice conversation with Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass.
In several languages, oranges are called variations of 'Portugal'.
Have any of you read Brunch: A History? I'm intrigued.
A lot of people seem to really hate brunch. Portlandia's 'Brunch Village' episode was fiction though, right?
RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
extrados
Next episode will appear in a fortnight. Don't stay awake the whole time until then just to game the word 'breakfast'. You'll only be spiting yourself.
- HZ
CREDITS
This episode was produced by Anne Saini, Dan Pashman and me, and recorded at the Square Diner on Leonard St, NYC. They were very sporting about it.
Hear Dan Pashman on WNYC's The Sporkful every week - thesporkful.com - and read his very funny and useful book Eat More Better. He is @TheSporkful on Twitter.
As well as producing The Sporkful, Anne Saini has her own podcast, Mother. She is @CitySpoonful on Twitter.
You can hear more of my conversation with Dan on this episode of The Sporkful. If you think he was going down some terrifying paths of logic about breakfast, wait till you hear his theories about fizzy water!
All* the music in this episode is by Martin Austwick. Hear and/or download more at thesoundoftheladies.bandcamp.com.
* Aside from the songs playing in the background at the diner. I can make out 'Alone' by Heart and Maroon 5's 'Moves Like Jagger'. Shurrup, Maroon 5!Find me at facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/helenzaltzman.
Me and Dan in the Square Diner, post-porklift.
