"The myths, or the received wisdom, about Portuguese language in Brazil is that, of course we know we speak a very different version of the language, but this has always been explained to us as maybe perhaps a defect of sorts?" says linguist and translator Caetano Galindo, author of Latim em Pó, a history of Brazilian Portuguese. "You look deeper into things and you find you have to wrap your mind around a very different reality.”
Content note: this episode discusses the enslavement of African people.
Find out more about this episode and get extra information about the topics therein at theallusionist.org/brazilian-portuguese, where there's also a transcript.
Support the show at theallusionist.org/donate and as well as keeping this independent podcast going, you also get behind-the-scenes glimpses of the show, fortnightly livestreams, and the delightful Allusioverse Discord community with their disco kettles and knitted octopus tentacles.
The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at facebook.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, youtube.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/allusionistshow.
The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Martin Austwick provides the original music. Hear Martin’s own songs via PaleBirdMusic.com.
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:
• Bombas, whose mission is to make the comfiest clothes ever, and match every item sold with an equal item donated. Go to bombas.com/allusionist to get 20% off your first purchase. • Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running a sleek website. 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. Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
3/10/2023
40:30
171. Supplantation
Last episode, I mentioned that in London, Ontario, in 2019 a 9-year-old named Lyla Wheeler had launched a petition to rename her street, currently called Plantation Road. This episode, Lyla, now aged nearly thirteen, and her mom Kristin Daley recount the reasons why Lyla campaigned for this name change, how the neighbours reacted, what happened when the wider world heard about it, and why the street's name is still Plantation Road.
I hope you will not be deterred from campaigning for different, better words.
Content note: the episode contains references to enslavement of Black people and a brief description of the Canadian residential school system.
This is an instalment of the Telling Other Stories series, about renaming. Find out more about this episode and get extra information about the topics therein at theallusionist.org/supplantation, where there's also a transcript.
Support the show at theallusionist.org/donate and as well as keeping this independent podcast going, you also get behind-the-scenes glimpses of the show, fortnightly livestreams, and the Allusioverse Discord community. Over the next few weeks, we're watching Great Pottery Throwdown together.
The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at facebook.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, youtube.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/allusionistshow.
The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Martin Austwick provides the original music. Hear Martin’s own songs via PaleBirdMusic.com.
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:
• Bombas, whose mission is to make the comfiest clothes ever, and match every item sold with an equal item donated. Go to bombas.com/allusionist to get 20% off your first purchase. • Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running a sleek website. 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. • NordVPN is offering exclusivelusionist big discounts: grab the deal on this trusty VPN at nordvpn.com/allusionist, and try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee.Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2/24/2023
29:12
170. Actively Passive
Over the past few years, numerous products and places with the word 'plantation' in their names have rebranded. As for the word 'plantation' itself, architect and writer Kennedy Whiters of unRedactTheFacts.com advocates for replacing it with a more truthful term. She also watches out for use of the grammatical passive voice, because "It hides who did what to whom."
Content note: this episode contains discussions of anti-Black racism, violence and sexual violence.
This is an instalment of the Telling Other Stories series, about renaming. Find out more about this episode and get extra information about the topics therein at theallusionist.org/actively-passive, where there's also a transcript.
Support the show at theallusionist.org/donate and as well as keeping this independent podcast going, you also get behind-the-scenes glimpses of the show, fortnightly livestreams, special perks at live shows, and best of all the Allusioverse Discord community. Over the next few weeks, we're watching Great Pottery Throwdown together.
The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at facebook.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, youtube.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/allusionistshow.
The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Martin Austwick provides the original music. Hear Martin’s own songs via PaleBirdMusic.com.
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:
• Bombas, whose mission is to make the comfiest clothes ever, and match every item sold with an equal item donated. Go to bombas.com/allusionist to get 20% off your first purchase. • Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running a sleek website. 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. • NordVPN is offering exclusivelusionist big discounts: grab the deal on this trusty VPN at nordvpn.com/allusionist, and try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee.Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
2/10/2023
26:51
169. The Box
Erwin Schrödinger is one of the "fathers of quantum mechanics". He also sexually abused children. Trinity College Dublin recently denamed a lecture theatre that had been named after him - but his name is still on an equation that won the Nobel Prize for physics. And a cat.
Writer and historian Subhadra Das recounts how and why you rename a university building, and retired physicist Martin Austwick considers that renaming an eponymous equation or theory might be more difficult than unscrewing a sign from a wall.
This is an instalment of the Telling Other Stories series, about renaming.
Content note: this episode contains references to racism and eugenics, and to the sexual abuse of children. There is also a Category B swear.
Find out more about this episode and get extra information about the topics therein at theallusionist.org/box, where there's also a transcript.
Support the show at theallusionist.org/donate and as well as keeping this independent podcast going, you also get behind-the-scenes glimpses of the show, fortnightly livestreams, special perks at live shows, and best of all the Allusioverse Discord community. Over the next few weeks, we're watching Great Pottery Throwdown together.
The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at facebook.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, youtube.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/allusionistshow, while it still stands.
The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Martin Austwick provides the original music. Hear Martin’s own songs via palebirdmusic.com.
Our ad partner is Multitude. To sponsor the show in 2023, contact them at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by:
• Bombas, whose mission is to make the comfiest clothes ever, and match every item sold with an equal item donated. Go to bombas.com/allusionist to get 20% off your first purchase. • Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running a sleek website. 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. • NordVPN is offering exclusivelusionist big discounts: grab the deal on this trusty VPN at nordvpn.com/allusionist, and try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee.Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
1/27/2023
40:48
168. Debuts
There’s been a recurring theme on the show over the years, of filling gaps in language, removing stigma and bias, finding better ways to express ourselves and talk about our feelings and our bodies. Today Kalle Rocklinger, sex educator with RFSU, the National Association for Sexuality Education in Sweden, talks about how and why over the years, the RFSU has come up with and publicised new terms for body parts and sexual acts, and what they would still like to change. This is the first part of the Telling Other Stories series, about renaming things.
Content note: this episode contains discussions of sex and the associated body parts. Towards the end, there’s discussion of consent which includes references to rape (there are no descriptions of acts or anybody’s experiences). I mention when we’re about to arrive at that part of the conversation, so anybody who needs to duck out during that section has some warning.
Find out more about this episode and get extra information about the topics therein at theallusionist.org/debuts, where there's also a transcript.
Join me for the Allusionist's 8th birthday celebration livestream! 14 January 2023, 10-11pm UK time at youtube.com/allusionistshow. There'll be dictionary readings, live Tranquillusionist, and chitchat and camaraderie.
The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at facebook.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, youtube.com/allusionistshow and twitter.com/allusionistshow, while it still stands. Support the show at theallusionist.org/donate and as well as keeping this independent podcast going, you also get behind-the-scenes glimpses of the show, fortnightly livestreams, special perks at live shows, and best of all the Allusioverse Discord community. Over the next few weeks, we're watching Great Pottery Throwdown together.
The Allusionist is produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Martin Austwick provided editorial help and the original music. Hear Martin’s own songs via palebirdmusic.com.
Our ad partner is Multitude. To sponsor the show in 2023, contact them at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by:
• Bombas, whose mission is to make the comfiest clothes ever, and match every item sold with an equal item donated. Go to bombas.com/allusionist to get 20% off your first purchase. • Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running a sleek website. 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. Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionistSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.