The Allusionist podcast

The Allusionist

Adventures in language with Helen Zaltzman. TheAllusionist.org

Adventures in language with Helen Zaltzman. TheAllusionist.org

 

#233

212. Four Letter Words: Park

Get in, winner: we're going on a field trip. We're spending the day in five of Vancouver's... more

08 Jul 2025

48 MINS

48:04

08 Jul 2025


#232

211. Four Letter Words: -gate

The other day was the 53rd anniversary of the break-in at the Watergate Hotel, which not o... more

23 Jun 2025

37 MINS

37:03

23 Jun 2025


#231

210. Four Letter Words: 4x4x4 Quiz

Four Letter Word season continues with a quiz (which is a four-letter word itself) about f... more

07 Jun 2025

24 MINS

24:02

07 Jun 2025


#230

209. Four Letter Words: Serving C-bomb

Ten years ago, on the fourth episode of the show, I investigated why the C-word is conside... more

25 May 2025

50 MINS

50:39

25 May 2025


#229

208. Four Letter Words: Ffff

Welcome to Four Letter Word season! We're kicking off with one of the most versatile words... more

15 May 2025

44 MINS

44:13

15 May 2025


#228

207. Randomly Selected Words from the Dictionary

Happy tenth birthday to this show! To celebrate, here's every randomly selected word from ... more

17 Jan 2025

41 MINS

41:53

17 Jan 2025


#227

206. Bonus 2024

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

23 Dec 2024

48 MINS

48:04

23 Dec 2024


#226

205. Lexicat, part 2: now with added Dog

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

06 Dec 2024

54 MINS

54:49

06 Dec 2024


#225

204. Lexicat, part 1

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

24 Nov 2024

54 MINS

54:23

24 Nov 2024


#224

203. Flyting

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

09 Nov 2024

52 MINS

52:25

09 Nov 2024


#223

202. Singlish Singlish

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

29 Oct 2024

45 MINS

45:21

29 Oct 2024


#222

201. Singlish

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

12 Oct 2024

36 MINS

36:58

12 Oct 2024


#221

Tranquillusionist: Ex-Constellations

This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, give your brain a break by temp... more

28 Sep 2024

33 MINS

33:10

28 Sep 2024