73. Supername!

Up in the sky: look! It’s an adjective! It’s a noun! It’s…Adjectivenoun!  Your friendly neighbourhood superheroes might have thrilling and varied powers and spandex garments, but the way their names are concocted have followed only a handful of formulae in the past 80 years, since Superman sent superheroes soaring.  (Yes, alliteration is one such naming formula.) Glen Weldon of Pop Culture Happy Hour traces the supername’s development from Adjective+Gender through Colour+Noun to Normal Name and Lone Noun. Find out more about this episode at http://theallusionist.org/supername. The Allusionist is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collective of the best podcasts on the interwaves. Hear them all at http://radiotopia.fm. The show’s online home is http://theallusionist.org. Stay in touch at http://twitter.com/allusionistshow and http://facebook.com/allusionistshow. This episode is sponsored by Audible – listeners in the US can get a free audiobook by taking out a trial membership at http://audible.com/allusionist or by texting 500-500. Radiotopia is going on tour! Join us in May at theatres in Atlanta, Durham, DC, Philly, NYC and Boston. Get your tickets at http://radiotopia.fm/live.