At Lunar New Year, certain foods are particularly lucky to eat. Why? Because in Chinese, their names are puns on fortunate things. Damn, maybe noodles are all it takes to get me into puns after all... Professor Miranda Brown, cultural historian of China specialising in food and drink, explains the wordplay foods of new year, and why names are so resonant in Chinese. Get the transcript of this episode, and find links to Miranda Brown's work and more information about the topics therein, at theallusionist.org/fortune. This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. The music is by Martin Austwick of palebirdmusic.com. Become a member of the Allusioverse at theallusionist.org/donate and as well as keeping this independent podcast going, you get regular livestreams, insight into the making of this show, and watchalong parties (lately, weekly gatherings to watch Great Pottery Throwdown - next weekend, the film Arrival) - AND to hang out with your fellow Allusionauts in our delightful Discord community, where I am posting all my best/worst portmanteaus and portmantNOs. The Allusionist's online home is theallusionist.org. Stay in touch via facebook.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, youtube.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/allusionistshow etc. Our ad partner is Multitude. If you want me to talk lovingly and winningly about your product or thing on the show in 2024, sponsor an episode: contact Multitude at multitude.productions/ads. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace, your one-stop shop for building and running your online empire. Go to squarespace.com/allusionist for a free 2-week trial, and get 10 percent off your first purchase of a website or domain with the code allusionist. Support the show: http://patreon.com/allusionist See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This is the illusionist in which I, Helen Zaltzman, rip off languages rubber mask, only to find an identical mask underneath.
Today's episode is about puns.
And if you listened to the first ever episode of this show, you will know that I am generally anti pun, but the puns in this episode are puns I enjoy.
Am I relenting as I advance in age?
On with the show.
Do you remember when you first sort of became aware of, like, why you ate certain things at New Year and how you felt about it?
Well, I mean, I was probably like a teenager or early teenager.
I think most 13 year olds are absolutely delighted to be around, and I was no exception.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
So my mom would actually generally very modern in her outlook.
So, you know, feminism was get rid of feudal society.
But when it came to New Year's and certain superstitions is what I called them, she was absolutely adamant we had to follow the rules around New Year's, and so we had to eat our lucky foods, even if some of those foods she forbade us from eating during the rest of the year.
And I would say, well, why do I have to eat spring rolls?
You know, you say, they're too greasy, and I'm gonna get pimples.
And she'd say, just eat it.
Just listen to me.
It's good, you know, make us rich, you know?
And I'm like, but I.
I don't see the connection between stuffing my face with spring rolls and getting rich.