164. Emergency

The Allusionist

Helen Zaltzman

Arts, Education, Words, Linguistics, History, Entertainment, Helen Zaltzman, Etymology, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2022

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When is a war not a war? When the British Empire called it an 'emergency' so they didn't have to abide by wartime rules or lose their insurance payouts. Artist and researcher Sim Chi Yin reflects on the Malayan Emergency, a 12-year conflict that doesn't get talked about much now by either side; and historian Charlotte Lydia Riley considers the various reasons why the British opted for the term 'emergency', and why they don't celebrate even when they supposedly won them.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the illusionist in which I, Helen Salzman, catch a falling language and put it in my pocket, never let it fade away.
0:12.0	Today's episode is about one of the most old euphemisms I've ever come across.
0:17.0	No, it's not one of the powder room ones.
0:19.0	The euphemism is a particular use of the word emergency.
0:23.0	No, it's not a powder room emergency.
0:25.0	Quick bit of news for you if you are in or near Toronto on terro version, sorry to the other Toronto's.
0:31.0	The illusionist live show about epinems, your name here, is coming to town.
0:36.0	It will be on Hot Dog's Ted Rogers cinema on 11th December 2022 at 1pm at Matinee.
0:43.0	And aside from a few swears, I'd say the show is suitable for kids if you want to bring them depending on how into language-based amusement they are.
0:51.0	Perhaps this is the opportunity to learn that.
0:55.0	Tickets are on sale now at theillusionist.org slash events and everyone who comes gets a special illusionist pencil on with the show.
1:09.0	There are things that are often called emergencies.
1:12.0	So the small wars which are often referred to as emergencies in this period.
1:17.0	Yeah, how did they come up with that? And why?
1:21.0	Emergency comes from the concept of a state of emergency.
1:25.0	That's what it comes from. So it comes from the idea of Britain declaring a state of emergency in one of these places.
1:30.0	And you know, Britain can declare a state of emergency in Britain if it wants to.
1:33.0	It's something that governments can do to enable their executive to have more unfettered power.
1:39.0	I'm Charlotte Lydia Riley. I'm a lecturer in 20th century British History at the University of Southampton and I work on the history of British Empire.
1:48.0	A state of emergency might be declared in the event of say an environmental disaster or civil unrest or war or terrorism.
1:56.0	And it enables the government to do things like impose curfews or bring in the military or to push through laws quickly to detain people without some of the usual procedures.
2:07.0	But the way the British government has also used the term emergency was to avoid calling a war a war.
	...

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