Empathy and kindness can be noble concepts in themselves, but as terms are thrown around enough to have become buzzwords, and in the process lose some of their meaning and purpose. Audiomakers Sandhya Dirks and Julia Furlan, and academic and podcaster Hannah McGregor, discuss the value and pitfalls of appealing to the emotions. Content note: there are mentions of parental death, cancer in adults and babies, and suicide. There are also a few category B swears. Find out more about this episode and get extra information about the topics therein at theallusionist.org/sentiment, where there's also a transcript. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow and instagram.com/allusionistshow. The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music is by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s own songs via palebirdmusic.com.Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Anxiety is the parrot sidekick that rides on my shoulder and occasionally squawks warnings in my ear,” says Tim Clare, poet and podcaster and author of the book Coward: Why We Get Anxious & What We Can Do About It. We talk about anxiety, cowardice, magic bullets vs silver bullets, the scary Bible, and seagulls. Content note for discussion about mental health, unsurprisingly, and colonial and military harmful practices. Find out more about this episode and some sources of the information therein at theallusionist.org/coward, where there's also a transcript. Find Tim's books, podcasts, writing courses and more at timclarepoet.co.uk. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow and instagram.com/allusionistshow. The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music is by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s own songs via palebirdmusic.com.  Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grab your stake and crucifix pendant, we're going vampire-hunting! Well, vampire-etymology-hunting. The podcast Buffering the Vampire Slayer, which recaps the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode by episode, invited me to answer their listeners' questions of language that the show had provoked. Together with BVTS hosts Kristin Russo and Jenny Owen Youngs, I tackle the etymology of coven, vampire/vampyre, wigging out, the name Buffy and Bovril; as well as google as a verb, conlang on TV, and why Latin is so often the language of spells and spookiness. There are several swears in this episode. Find out more about this episode and some sources of the information therein at theallusionist.org/bufflusionist, where there's also a transcript. Listen to Buffering the Vampire Slayer on your pod app and at bufferingthevampireslayer.com, where you can also hear the original XL version of this episode, and get tickets for their upcoming live and livestreamed grand finale. Sign up to be a patron at patreon.com/allusionist and not only are you supporting an independent podcast, you get patron-exclusive video livestreams and a Discord community full of language chat, crafts, pet pics and word games. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow and instagram.com/allusionistshow. The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music is by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s own songs via palebirdmusic.com.Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's lots of fun etymology of creatures and a lot of fun etymology derived from creatures, and now it is gathered into this fun playalong quiz about animal etymologies! There's an interactive answer sheet at theallusionist.org/creaturequiz, plus more information about various animals and etymologies, and as always the full dictionary entry for the randomly selected word. And come to see the new live show Your Name Here in Aotearoa New Zealand this month of August 2022! Ticket links are at theallusionist.org/events, and everyone gets a special Allusionist pencil. Each! Sign up to be a patron at patreon.com/allusionist and not only are you supporting an independent podcast, you get patron-exclusive video livestreams and a Discord community full of language chat, crafts, pet pics and word games. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow and instagram.com/allusionistshow. The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music is by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s own songs via palebirdmusic.com.Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, say a load of deliberately boring words to distract your interior monologue from whatever dystopian stew it is in. Today: a list of the Big Things of Australia. The Allusionist is on tour in Australia with the new live show Your Name Here, all about eponyms. Before you get too tranquil, visit theallusionist.org/events for dates and tickets to the remaining shows in Australia and the upcoming ones in Aotearoa New Zealand. Hurry!! OK, back to tranqullity. Find a transcript and some photos of the Big Things I've encountered at theallusionist.org/big-things. All the Allusionist episodes - other Tranquillusionists and also ones that are actually about something - are at theallusionist.org. The original music is by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s songs at palebirdmusic.com or search for Pale Bird Spotify and Bandcamp, and he’s @martinaustwick on Twitter and Instagram. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow and instagram.com/allusionistshow.Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The term 'queerbaiting' has evolved from meaning entrapment to marketing ploy to drawing "queer audiences into a piece of media that has no intention of actually meaningfully exploring queerness" says Leigh Pfeffer, host and producer of the podcast History Is Gay. Leigh tracks where the word's various incarnations came from, and why it should not be confused with 'queer coding'. This episode contains some swears. Find out more information about the topics in this episode at theallusionist.org/queerbaiting, plus a transcript and the full dictionary entry for the randomly selected word. And come to see the new live show Your Name Here in Australia and New Zealand! Ticket links are at theallusionist.org/events, and everyone gets a special Allusionist pencil. Each! You don't even have to share the same pencil! Sign up to be a patron at patreon.com/allusionist and not only are you supporting an independent podcast, you get patron-exclusive video livestreams and a Discord community full of language chat, crafts, pet pics and word games. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow and instagram.com/allusionistshow. The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music is by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s own songs via palebirdmusic.com.Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From whitewash (the paint) we got whitewashing (the covering up of misdeeds) and from there greenwashing, redwashing, bluewashing, purplewashing, pinkwashing - and now rainbow washing, where companies will put Pride flags all over products and posts during the month of June, but behind the scenes will not necessarily be useful - and sometimes they'll be anti-useful. Mitra Kaboli, host of the new podcast Welcome to Provincetown, helps sort the real allyship from the rainbow-washing; and writer Sarah Schulman, who popularised the term 'pinkwashing', explains the more political meaning of that word. This episode contains some swears. Find out more information about the topics in this episode at theallusionist.org/rainbow-washing, plus a transcript and the full dictionary entry for the randomly selected word. Sign up to be a patron at patreon.com/allusionist and not only are you supporting an independent podcast, you get patron-exclusive video livestreams and a Discord community full of language chat, craft pics and word game camaraderie. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow and instagram.com/allusionistshow. And come to see the new live show Your Name Here in Australia and New Zealand! Ticket links are at theallusionist.org/events. The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music is composed and sung by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s own songs via palebirdmusic.com.Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The name Tiffany has been around for some 800 years. But you can't name a character in a historical novel 'Tiffany', because people don't believe the name is old. Science fiction and fantasy author Jo Walton coined the term "The Tiffany Problem" to express the disparity between historical facts and the common perception of the past. Find out more information about the topics in this episode at theallusionist.org/tiffany, plus a transcript and the full dictionary entry for the randomly selected word. Sign up to be a patron at patreon.com/allusionist and not only are you supporting an independent podcast, you get patron-exclusive video livestreams and a Discord community full of language chat, craft pics and word game camaraderie. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow and instagram.com/allusionistshow.  The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music is composed and sung by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s own songs via palebirdmusic.com.  Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Couple of easy straightforward questions for us to chew on: 1. What is ‘objectivity’ supposed to mean? And 2. does it exist? Lewis Raven Wallace, a journalist and audiomaker fired from his public radio job over his blog post entitled ‘Objectivity is dead and I'm okay with it’, considers the principals and practice of objectivity, and what might be fairer ones. Find out more information about the topics in this episode at theallusionist.org/objectivity, plus a transcript and the full dictionary entry for the randomly selected word. Sign up to be a patron at patreon.com/allusionist and not only are you supporting independent podcast, you get fortnightly patron-exclusive video livestreams and a Discord community full of language chat, craft pics and word game camaraderie. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow and instagram.com/allusionistshow.  The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music is by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s own songs via palebirdmusic.com.Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chinese is one of the oldest still-spoken languages in the world. But when technologies arrived like telegraphy and computing, designed with the Roman alphabet in mind, if Chinese wanted to be able to participate then it had to choose between adapting, or paying a heavy price. And sometimes both were inevitable. Jing Tsu, author of Kingdom of Characters: the Language Revolution that Made China Modern, recounts how Chinese contended with obstacles like alphabetisation, Romanisation and standardisation. Find out more information about the topics in this episode at theallusionist.org/character, plus a transcript and the full dictionary entry for the randomly selected word. Sign up to be a patron at patreon.com/allusionist and not only are you supporting independent podcast, you get fortnightly patron-exclusive video livestreams and a Discord community full of language chat, craft pics and word game camaraderie. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow and instagram.com/allusionistshow.  The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music is by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s own songs via palebirdmusic.com.Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.