Australia
Brazil
Canada
Germany
India
Ireland
Japan
Mexico
New Zealand
Philippines
South Africa
United Kingdom
Arts
The Allusionist
by Helen Zaltzman
Today: #162 in Arts on our combined chart.
Today: #93 in Arts, United Kingdom on our combined chart.
Today: #123 in Arts, Canada on our combined chart.
Today: #144 in Arts, Australia on our combined chart.
Today: #123 in Arts, New Zealand on our combined chart.
Chart positions today · United States
Not on the Germany charts we track today.
Not on the Brazil charts we track today.
Not on the Mexico charts we track today.
Not on the Ireland charts we track today.
Not on the India charts we track today.
Not on the Japan charts we track today.
Not on the Philippines charts we track today.
Not on the South Africa charts we track today.
If you like The Allusionist, try…
Fratello.com
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Ranking history · United States
Latest daily rankings: Oct 27. New rankings will appear after the next update.
Position on the Arts combined chart over the last 14 days. Toggle platforms to compare their positions. Lower rank numbers are better.
Episode releases
View as table
| Date | Combined Rank | Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Castbox |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 27 | #162 | #131 | — | — |
| Oct 26 | #125 | #100 | — | #89 |
| Oct 25 | #116 | #86 | — | #78 |
| Oct 24 | #98 | #68 | — | #63 |
| Oct 23 | #84 | #57 | #46 | #45 |
| Oct 22 | #56 | #35 | #47 | #35 |
| Oct 21 | #82 | #54 | #44 | #54 |
| Oct 20 | #63 | #40 | #35 | #33 |
| Oct 19 | #57 | #34 | #47 | #44 |
| Oct 18 | — | #183 | — | — |
| Oct 16 | #195 | #165 | — | — |
| Oct 15 | — | #190 | — | — |
| Oct 14 | — | #192 | — | — |
Latest episodes
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235. Trevor
October 20, 2026 · 26 min"I just thought: I wonder if I could get guys called Trevor to reclaim the name?" says Trevor Cunningham. "So I went on LinkedIn and I just looked for Trevors, and I started contacting them." And, having found way more Trevors than he had…
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234. No Names
September 22, 2026 · 34 minAlexinomia is the aversion to saying people's names. Psychologist Thomas Ditye explains what it means to have this condition - in some cases not even saying your spouse's name during 25 years of marriage - and the research he and colleague…
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233. Phobia
September 9, 2026 · 40 min'Phobia' gets used for anything from a mild aversion to a debilitating anxiety response to various forms of bigotry. Deboki Chakravarti and Sam Jones of the podcast Tiny Matters join to consider the term from its comedic origins with one…
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232. Vega
August 25, 2026 · 33 minWhat do you call yourself if you're a part-time vegetarian? What petty linguistic things would you change? And what do you do if people gripe at you if you say that you are bi or pan? To answer these questions from the Allusionist mailbag…
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Tranquillusionist: cheesy cheesybobs
August 11, 2026 · 21 minThis is the Tranquillusionist, in which I, Helen Zaltzman, say a series of words to relax your mind, replace a hectic interior monologue, maybe lull you to sleep, hopefully quell the mental uproar just for a little while. Today: nicknames…
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231. Lingthusionist
July 13, 2026 · 25 min“Linguistics and language is such a good mechanism for being curious,” says Lauren Gawne, linguistics prof, author of the book Gesture: A Slim Guide, and cohost of the podcast Lingthusiasm. I'm in vacation mode (although not on actual…
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230. Draculae part 4: Transformation
June 26, 2026 · 46 minThroughout the Draculae miniseries, about the Swedish and Icelandic translations of Dracula that played fast and loose with the original text, I've been wondering a couple of questions: why are cover versions of songs and remakes of films…
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229. Draculae part 3: Hunting Down the Count
June 9, 2026 · 37 minMany mysteries accompany the revelations that Powers of Darkness, the Icelandic and Swedish versions of Dracula, are not direct translations of Bram Stoker's original, but stories that significantly differ in character names, plot and…
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228. Draculae part 2: Surprises in the Vaults
May 25, 2026 · 36 minHappy World Dracula Day to all who celebrate! Visit theallusionist.org/draculae2 for more information about the topics in this episode plus a transcript. This is the second episode of the Draculae miniseries, about a literary mystery which…
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227. Draculae part 1: Enter the Castle
May 11, 2026 · 23 minA literary mystery came to me via a meme: “Someone translated Dracula into Icelandic, and it took over 100 years for anyone to point out he just made a fanfic rewrite of what he wanted the story to be.” In this first instalment of a short…
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226. Suburbia
April 27, 2026 · 44 min"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…
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225. Hues
April 13, 2026 · 41 minYou know what's an absolutely pesky kind of word to define in a dictionary? Colour names. A passel of lexicographers spent years - decades, even - trying different ways to describe colours in words for Webster's Third International…
About the show
Adventures in language with Helen Zaltzman. TheAllusionist.org