223. Bonus 2025
The Allusionist
Helen Zaltzman
4.7 • 3.8K Ratings
🗓️ 20 January 2026
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's the annual parade of Bonus Bits! Every year, the show's guests say too many interesting things and/or stuff that isn't languagey enough, so I save it up and release it in a delightful melange of facts and thoughts, about language and also not about language. That melange is today, and it includes dinosaur mouths and dinosaur poop, psychedelic plants, feminist cookbooks, and taking a class in profanity.
You hear, in order of appearance: Alex Ketchum, Martin Austwick, So Mayer, Hannah McGregor, Kelly Elizabeth Wright and Nicole Holliday.
Content note: there are category A swears in this episode.
Visit theallusionist.org/bonus2025 for a transcript of the episode and more information about all the people who appear in it, plus links to the previous Allusionists they were in.
(And yes I know 2025 is over, but I had to delay this for a month while enjoying a nasty bout of laryngitis, AKA Podcaster's Plague.)
Sign up at patreon.com/allusionist for a free account to get occasional emails about Allusionist events and such, like the birthdaylusionist livestream happening on 24 January at youtube.com/allusionistshow. Or, if you want a not-free account from $2/month, you get some more emails, with behind-the-scenes info about every episode; you also get membership of the charming and nurturing Allusioverse Discord community, where we hang out and keep each other company, and we're also watching the current season of Great Pottery Throwdown together; AND you get more regular livestreams with me reading from my ever-growing collection of dictionaries. AND you're keeping this independent podcast going, so thanks very much for doing that.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman, on the unceded ancestral and traditional territory of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. The music is by Martin Austwick. Download his own songs at palebirdmusic.com and on Bandcamp, and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.
Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, @allusionistshow.bsky.social… If I’m there, I’m there as @allusionistshow.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is The Illusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, present the annual parade of bonus bits from the year's interviewees, who said too many interesting things to be contained in their main episodes, and or talked about non-language matters. |
| 0:19.6 | I squirrel all that away until once a year. |
| 0:23.0 | I let it all out in a delightful melange of facts and thoughts about language and also not about language. |
| 0:29.3 | That melange is today. |
| 0:31.5 | And it includes dinosaur mouths and dinosaur poop, |
| 0:34.7 | psychedelic plants, feminist cookbooks, and taking a class in profanity. |
| 0:39.6 | I will link to all the people you hear today and the previous episode they were in at |
| 0:43.4 | the illusionist.org slash bonus 2025. Also over on the show site, there are transcripts for every |
| 0:50.0 | episode if you want to read your podcasts. And yes, usually the bonus bits appear at the end of the Gregorian calendar year, but I had |
| 0:57.8 | laryngitis. |
| 0:59.1 | My voice was non-working for a month, inconvenient in this profession. |
| 1:03.9 | Content note, the episode contains category A and B swears, and in the second half, we do |
| 1:09.9 | discuss anatomical and sexual swears. |
| 1:12.0 | I will warn you before that happens, though. So you know which part to duck out on, if that is |
| 1:17.4 | not on your agenda today. Listener Cliff messaged me to say, you give the warning at the beginning |
| 1:22.5 | of some shows about category A or B swear words. Who made up the categories and where is a list of them? |
| 1:28.7 | I've searched a couple of times, but all I get is lists of swear words and nothing about the categorisation. |
| 1:33.8 | Well, Cliff, your questions are all answered. |
| 1:36.3 | Way back in detonating the C-bomb, the fourth ever episode of the show. |
| 1:41.5 | On with the 2025 bonus bits. In the episode, Bread and Roses and Coffee, |
| 1:53.7 | Alex Ketchum, author of the book Ingredients for Revolution, a history of American feminist |
| 1:58.2 | restaurants, cafes and coffee houses, talked about the 1970s and 80s heyday of those establishments. Afterwards, some of you told me anecdotes about |
... |
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