226. Suburbia
The Allusionist
Helen Zaltzman
4.7 • 3.8K Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2026
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
"The word ‘suburbia’ sort of evokes a very fixed idea of a place that is identikit, that all suburbs are the same, that within the suburb everything is the same, that all people are the same, all experiences are the same," says social historian and author John Grindrod, "I think it has this kind of flattening-out facility, that word, that isn't true."
Content note: this episode contains one category B swear. And reference to Margaret Thatcher.
Visit theallusionist.org/suburbia for more information about the topics in this episode plus a transcript. Find John Grindrod's work at johngrindrod.co.uk, including his new book Tales of the Suburbs: LGBTQ+ Lives Behind Net Curtains, and his podcast Monstrosities Mon Amour.
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. Music and editorial advice were provided by Martin Austwick of palebirdmusic.com.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the allusionist in which I, Helen Zaltzman, scooch up a bit to make room for language. |
| 0:09.8 | Today's episode is about the word suburbia, how it obtained the connotations that it seems to have of being a bit too conventional or homogenous or unadventurous or parochial, that kind of thing. |
| 0:20.4 | The associations are not |
| 0:21.3 | usually flattering. But what was it about the development of suburbs that has made those ideas |
| 0:25.9 | stick to the words? We'll be talking specifically about suburbs in Britain because, for instance, |
| 0:32.0 | the American suburb, development and culture thereof, that is very much somebody else's PhD thesis or entire filmography. |
| 0:41.3 | And I'm aware that in some places like Australia, the word suburb just refers to a section of the |
| 0:46.4 | city rather than specifically an area that is not the centre. Where did English lose the word herb |
| 0:52.3 | along the way? I just had a birthday, so as a gift, please tell a friend or inquisitive-looking stranger |
| 1:00.5 | to listen to a lovingly made independent podcast like this one. |
| 1:04.0 | We make the indie pods would appreciate. |
| 1:06.1 | Speaking of, I am in an episode of the Science Fiction sitcom podcast, We Fix Space Junk. |
| 1:11.5 | Listen to the episode word wrangling via your usual pod methods. |
| 1:16.0 | Content note, this episode contains one category B swear. |
| 1:20.8 | On with the show. |
| 1:32.8 | Growing up on the edge of Croydon, how was that for you? |
| 1:37.2 | What was your sort of relationship to suburbia in your own life? |
| 1:42.4 | I had a really lovely family, so I was a very kind of happy life at home. |
| 1:48.1 | But as soon as I left the house, I felt really under siege all the time. |
| 1:49.7 | I felt really threatened. |
| 1:51.1 | I was quite obviously gay. |
| 1:54.9 | I was one of those kids where everyone tells you're gay before you know that you're gay. |
... |
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