The Allusionist

When Dave Nadelberg of Mortified used to visit his mother’s grave, he would look around at the nearby gravestones and see similar - or even the exact same - epitaphs for lots of different people. And it made him curious: who were these people, really? What were their personalities, what happened in their lives? And didn’t they deserve something more meaningful, more personal, than these bland and repetitive epitaphs? So when Dave’s father died a few years later, Dave was determined to choose better words to represent him in perpetuity. Go to to read more about this episode and find a transcript. Dave Nadelberg is the founder of Mortified: find the podcast, live events, books, TV series and documentary at . The Allusionist's online home is . The Allusionist live show No Title is on tour in North America - for all event listings, visit . The Allusionist is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collective of the finest podcasts on the interwaves. Find them at . This month, the Allusionist is sponsored by: • and enter the code ALLUSIONIST10 at checkout. • , and use the code ALLUSIONIST for 10% off your first month. •  and get 20% off your first purchase. •  to find out more, and text ALLUSIONIST to 484848 to try it for free. •  for a free trial, and use the code ALLUSION to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

On 9 November 1989, the demolition of the Berlin Wall began. Within a year, Germany was unified. East Germany dissolved and was incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany, took on its currency and its rules - and its lexicon. Both West and East Germany had already been speaking German, of course; but there were differences, from the years of very concerted separation, the attempts at isolating East Germany from what was considered Western culture and capitalism, and the specifically East German concepts that had their own vocabulary. What was that vocabulary, and where did it go? Go to to find out more about this episode and the people who appear on it. The Allusionist's online home is . The Allusionist live show No Title is on tour in North America - for all event listings, visit . The Allusionist is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collective of the finest podcasts on the interwaves. Find them at . This month, the Allusionist is sponsored by: • and enter the code ALLUSIONIST10 at checkout. • , and use the code ALLUSIONIST for 10% off your first month. •  and get 20% off your first purchase. •  to find out more, and text ALLUSIONIST to 484848 to try it for free. •  for a free trial, and use the code ALLUSION to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

In the last Food Season episode of the current batch, we get into the language of restaurant service - specifically those terms that give some of us fiery indigestion, like “Enjoy!” or “Are you still working on that?” Restaurant psychologist Stephani Robson and former server Sara Brooke Curtis explain how what servers say is affected by such things as restaurant furniture, tipping, the need to turn a table around quickly for the next diners, and customer moods and caprices. Find out more about this episode at . The Allusionist's online home is . The Allusionist live show No Title is on tour in North America - come to see us! For all event listings, visit . The Allusionist is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collective of the finest podcasts on the interwaves. Find them at . Also! I’m making a NEW PODCAST! Veronica Mars Investigations, wherein Jenny Owen Youngs (of Buffering the Vampire Slayer podcast) and I investigate every episode of Veronica Mars from the beginning. Find Veronica Mars Investigations in your podcast-getting app of choice, and at VMIpod on the social medias and . This month, the Allusionist is sponsored by: • , and use the code ALLUSIONIST for 10% off your first month. • . •  and get 20% off your first purchase. •  to find out more, and text ALLUSIONIST to 484848 to try it for free. •  for a free trial, and use the code ALLUSION to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Late 2019 will see the biggest apple launch of our lifetimes. 22 years in the making, ripening on millions of trees into picture-perfect redness, here comes the WA38, more snazzily known as the Cosmic Crisp. The name was the result of a year of focus groups, taste tests and word associations - a far cry from when apples were named after whichever end of a cat they resembled. This episode is a collaboration with The Sporkful podcast, where we have released companion episodes about apples: hear us talking about the naming of apples on this episode of the Allusionist, and on their episode ‘ . Find out more about this episode at . The Allusionist's online home is . The Allusionist live show No Title is on tour in North America - come to see us! For all event listings, visit . The Allusionist is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collective of the finest podcasts on the interwaves. Find them at . Also! I’m making a NEW PODCAST! Veronica Mars Investigations, wherein Jenny Owen Youngs (of Buffering the Vampire Slayer podcast) and I investigate every episode of Veronica Mars from the beginning. Find Veronica Mars Investigations in your podcast-getting app of choice, and at VMIpod on the social medias and . In October 2019, the Allusionist is sponsored by: • , and use the code ALLUSIONIST for 10% off your first month. • . •  and get 20% off your first purchase. •  to find out more, and text ALLUSIONIST to 484848 to try it for free. •  for a free trial, and use the code ALLUSION to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

Ever misspelled a word or committed a typo? It wasn’t your fault; you were demonically possessed. Ian Chillag from Everything is Alive podcast introduces us to Titivillus, the typo demon. Find out more about this episode at . The Allusionist's online home is . The Allusionist live show No Title is heading off on a tour of North America from October. For all event listings, visit . The Allusionist is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collective of the finest podcasts on the interwaves. Find them at radiotopia.fm. Also! I’m making a NEW PODCAST! Veronica Mars Investigations, wherein Jenny Owen Youngs (of Buffering the Vampire Slayer podcast) and I investigate every episode of Veronica Mars from the beginning. Find Veronica Mars Investigations in your podcast-getting app of choice, and at VMIpod on the social medias and VMIpod.com. In September 2019, the Allusionist is sponsored by: •  for a free trial, and use the code ALLUSION to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. •  and get 20% off your first purchase. •  to find out more, and text **ALLUSIONIST **to 484848 to try it for free. • and see how much you could be saving. Discounts not available in all states and situations.