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?

There’s a transcript of this episode at theallusionist.org/transcripts/eastwest.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

If you lived in East Germany before reunification and remember any specific terms or words, I’d be really interested to hear about them.

The Allusionist live show No Title is on tour in North America right now! Coming up: shows in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Portland, St Louis, Salt Lake City and Seattle. Check theallusionist.org/events for listings. And bring some small change if you want some Allusionist pins, totes and pencils!*

*These items aren’t on sale online yet, but you can get your Winterval-wear and some new singular they merch at theallusionist.org/merch.

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:

tatpurusha