Something Rhymes with Purple - Al-jabr

Episode Date: April 18, 2023

In this weeks’ episode, we zero in on the exponential world of mathematics. Come and join us as Susie discusses the solitary life of odd numbers and whether or not there’s an official order to words of magnitude, plus Gyles tells us about Lewis Carroll’s surprising connection to maths and logics. We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us here: [e-mail]   Want even more purple, people? Join the Purple Plus Club by clicking the banner in Apple podcasts or head to purpleplusclub.com to listen on other platforms'   Don’t forget that you can join us in person at our upcoming tour, tap the link to find tickets: www.somethingrhymeswithpurple.com    Enjoy Susie’s Trio for the week:    Lagniappe: A free gift with another purchase Syngenesophobia: A dislike of one’s relatives Peen: The end of a hammer head (opposite the striking piece)     Gyles' poem this week was When I Have Fears’ by Noel Coward   When I have fears, as Keats had fears, Of the moment I’ll cease to be I console myself with vanished years Remembered laughter, remembered tears, And the peace of the changing sea. When I feel sad, as Keats felt sad, That my life is so nearly done It gives me comfort to dwell upon Remembered friends who are dead and gone And the jokes we had and the fun. How happy they are I cannot know But happy am I who loved them so.   A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production.     Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts     To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [e-mail]  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up y'all it's your man Mark Strong Strizzy and your girl Jem the Jem of all Jems and we're hosting Olympic FOMO your essential recap podcast of the 2024 Olympic Games in 20 minutes or less every day we'll be going behind the scenes for all the wins

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Something else. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Hello. I saw my math teacher with a piece of graph paper yesterday. I think he must be plotting something. This is Giles Brandros. Groaning at me is my lovely friend, Susie Dent. We're here with another episode of Something Rhymes with Purple. And today we're in the world of mathematics. Susie, what did the triangle say to the circle?

I've got the edge. Oh, not bad. I was going to say, you're pointless. But I think your answer's better. Why are, speaking of the edge, why are obtuse angles always so depressed? Don't know. Because they're never right. Right angles. Get it? Yeah. This is the reason I was no good at maths at school is I was happier with silly riddles and bad jokes. I was appalling. Were you any good at maths at school?

I really, I have to say I really worked at it. And what I always find fascinating in retrospect is how I was really good at algebra, which is slightly linguistic, isn't it? I love algebra. Geometry, I just could not get my head around, I'm afraid. So anything of sort of real practical application, I struggled. Anything that was about decoding, I quite enjoyed. So you say you struggled. I mean, I did have to work really hard. I struggled at every element of it. Yeah. But one of the great, you know, I'm a great enthusiast for poetry and for writing in generally. One of my great childhood influences was Lewis Carroll, who as Charles Dodgson was a lecturer in mathematics at Oxford University and very much into algebra. But there you go.

I mean, he was an authority on Euclid. Indeed, one of his biographers, who is a professor of mathematics and a friend of mine called Robin Wilson, he wrote a wonderful book about basically an introduction to Euclid, and he called it, Here's Looking at Euclid. Oh, that's brilliant. Let's just dig down into the world, well, the world of mathematics, but the very word mathematics. Where does mathematics as a word come from? Yeah, I was just double checking on Euclid, who was a Greek mathematician, but as I thought he was massive on geometry, wasn't he? So his was the bit that I couldn't master. Yes, mathematics and maths. I mean, one of the big questions is,

is it math or is it maths? It's that old complaint that American English gets it wrong and we get it right. Why do they call it math? But actually, do you know what? Both are equally right because, okay, this is going to sound incredibly complicated. I'll try and make it a little bit simple. But first of all, math is the first record that we have as an abbreviation of mathematics, but it did have a full stop after it. So it clearly was an abbreviation when it was written. So it wasn't pronounced that way but it was probably to someone saving time and thinking the word was mathematics all along so they would actually say mathematics not math but it was easier in writing to abbreviate it but the plural that we have maths

comes from the fact that this goes back to the latin as mathematica the mathematical art which in turn came from greek but we will leave that for the moment. And that Latin suffix, icca, as mathematica, can be interpreted as either a singular or a plural. So a feminine singular or a neuter plural. So when English borrowed these words, it could be ic or ix, depending on how you interpreted it. And indeed, if you look in the Middle Ages, you would have politic, mathematic, ethic, and that was under the influence of the French, eek. But then there was a shift in the centuries that followed and ix became the preferred form. So you have politics, ethics, etc. But it's not to say

that the Americans get it wrong. So it's a fairly big nutshell. But yeah, neither is right. And so we must stop complaining about the Americans saying math and just get on with it. And the original word, mathematic, I somehow thought, but I think I probably got this wrong, that the two parts of it were MA first and then thematic, math-thematic. Take it to pieces, would you? Okay, well, if we take it to pieces, it ultimately does go back to Greek, as I say. And they have a verb, manthenin, probably mispronouncing this, meaning to Greek, as I say, and they have a verb, manthanine, manthanane, probably mispronouncing this, meaning to learn, simply.

So, it was all about education. So, no, the theme bit is not related here. How interesting. And the mantha bit that comes from the Greek simply means to learn. Yeah. So, it wasn't in its origin to do with numbers, shapes. No, and you have to remember that English moves quite often when it comes to learning and education. It moves from something, either from something very broad to something very specific or vice versa.

But that broad to specific movement can be seen with grammar. Because if you remember, grammar meant all learning. And then it became reduced to sort of the learning, the kind of basic building blocks of language. But it was all learning, if you remember, including education on the occult and magic and that side of things. The magical arts moved into the word glamour, which was a sibling of grammar. And in fact, it's an offshoot of grammar. And the educational sense stayed with the grammatical bit, the grammar. What is intriguing me now, as you're explaining to me, this S came along, it didn't need to. So we have mathematics, ethics, politics. Once upon a time, people at school, let us say in Shakespeare's day, 400, 500 years ago, they would have learned about ethics, but they would also have learned about rhetoric. Yes. So they did ethic as well as rhetoric. And the S came later onto ethics and politics, mathematics, but it wasn't added to rhetoric.

No, it's interesting, isn't it? The shift happened in more or less in Shakespeare's time from the ick to the icks. But anyway, there's so much more to discuss. Should we go into addition and subtraction and things? Let's start with the stuff that I can do, which basically is addition and subtraction. When it comes to dividing, multiplying, oh good grief, and equations, I'm lost, but I can just about add and subtract. Tell us. Okay, so adding goes back to the Latin, add meaning to, that's ad meaning to, and dare meaning to give. So you are giving something to another sum and putting them

together. To subtract means to draw away or under. So the sub meaning under, usually, or away. And tract goes back to the Latin trahere, meaning to draw, which is why we have a tractor as well, because it pulls things or draws things along. divide it goes back to the latin dividere to sort of force apart if you like and that too goes back to latin and divide with something to be divided and it's linked to individual because individual if you break it apart goes back to the latin for not divisible because we are just one. Is that nice? Oh, intriguing. I like that. And then finally, to finish off the square, if you like, multiply. Now, if you buy multiply tissues, you will get the idea of multiplying because it goes back to the Latin plicare,

meaning to fold. So a multiplied tissue is one that, or hanky or whatever you call them, but they are multifolded, if you like. And if we multiply, we again folding, that's kind of suggest division, doesn't it? Because it's getting smaller. But the idea is that you are adding extra layers, if you like, when we multiply things. And that same plicare to fold, you will also find into replicate, believe it or not, which meant to refold originally. You know so much. I wonder if you know the origin of the symbols for these, the plus sign. Oh, gosh. The minus sign for subtract. Why divide is a line with a dot above it and below it. Why

multiply is a little x. That's a whole nother episode. Maybe we should do an episode on symbols, actually, because I know we've covered punctuation and the graphic abbreviations there and the symbols, but we should do one on semaphores and symbols. That would be brilliant. Let's do that. Coming up shortly, symbols. And actually, if anybody has an idea for a subject you'd like us to talk about, do always feel free to get in touch, wherever you are in the world. You simply contact us. It's purple at somethingelse.com. Odd numbers, even numbers. Why are odd numbers, odd numbers? Why even, even? Where do they come

from? So the first meaning of odd, which comes from the Vikings, was having one left when divided by two, which is pretty much the mathematical sense that we keep today. So that's why we have odd numbers. But it also led to the idea of, oh, that's a bit odd, something single or solitary and then unusual as a result. And even in the sense that it's flat and smooth, et cetera, that's an old English word. I guess even because things work out easily when divided by two or when you're dividing, you get a sort of straight result rather than a fraction, when you're dividing, you get a sort of straight result rather than a fraction, not related to the even that you will find in evening. Because I always used to think the evening was the evening out of the day. And I loved that idea. Oh, it's a charming idea.

Yeah, but actually it goes back to the German Abend. So yes, not the one that I thought. And you mentioned equation, similar idea really, that comes from the Latin equus or equus, A-E-Q-U-U-S, not related to equus, the horse. And it's interesting for me because it's at the heart of so many English words. So you have adequate, something that actually was much more positive than it is today. Equable, equanimity, when you have sort of an even temper. Equate, equity, equivalent equity equivalent equator because that's the circle where day and night are equal egalitarian etc you mentioned fraction yeah and that comes from what same as fragile that goes back to the latin frangere meaning to break up essentially and of

course a fraction is sort of breaking up integers Integers, and an integer is a whole number, and that comes from the Latin meaning intact or whole. And you pronounce it integer, not integer. I say integer, yes. But probably either is allowed, is it? Yeah, just a soft G is given, integer. So mathematics is the overall study of all these areas. So things like algebra, geometry,

they come within mathematics, do they? Oh, we have to talk about algebra because this is one of, not only one of the favourite things to do when I was younger, but also it's such a lovely etymology. So it goes back to the Arabic al, meaning the,

and then jabr, meaning the reunion of broken parts because it originally involved the surgical treatment of fractures in terms of bone setting. So algebra is really an exercise where you're restoring what's missing and pushing things together. So I love that. And actually, that algebra also gave us algorithm. So the al, forgive me for interrupting, you're telling me the al is like a definite article? Absolutely right. And I did this on Countdown the other day and people were astonished how often

owl crops up in different words. So alchemy gave us chemistry. Al, the chemi was the kind of mutation of metals. And alligator, if you trace it back, it's based on Latin, but it actually came from Spanish el, which operates in the same way, legato, the lizard. So that's there as well. Alcatraz. Alcatraz was all to do with pelicans. I mean, honestly, you can trace this al, this definite article, in many different ways.

So we have algorithm. We have logarithms. Do you remember log tables? I loathed log tables. Oh, I loved log tables. I couldn't understand log tables. There wereathed log tables. Oh, I loved log tables. I couldn't understand log tables. There were actual tables that you used, and then there was a kind of calculator, a kind of ruler type thing on which you calculated your logarithms.

Yeah, so logarithms simplify calculations, essentially. And yes, we have these printed tables of logarithms, which have now gone away because we've got calculators. But oh, I absolutely loved those. Anyway, that goes back to the Greek logos, meaning a reckoning or a ratio, and arithmos, meaning a number. And arithmos also, of course, gave us arithmetic. And just, we've touched on geometry and how bad I was at it. Geometry is a lovely history, actually, because it's one of the oldest branches of maths. And it really was designed to answer challenges such as those faced in surveying, because it's all about Earth measurement, geo and then metra, or the metri is measurement, really. And then eventually it was realised that geometry didn't have to be limited to that study of the Earth or flat surface. Well, the Earth isn't flat, but you know what I mean.

have to be limited to that study of the earth or flat surface. Well, the earth isn't flat, but you know what I mean. The study of surfaces and that actually even abstract images can be represented in geometric terms. So I love that. And can I please just tell you, you can tell I'm on a roll, even though I'm not a mathematician, about the calculator and the abacus. Oh, I'd like you to. So ancient methods of counting clearly show, you know, how it all began. So we've talked before, Giles, about how we count in digits. And a digit, of course, is your fingers as well, because we used to count on our fingers. And the reason so many cultures and civilizations use 10 as their sort of base is because we have 10 fingers, if you include the thumb.

The abacus that we know today with beads that slide along, they were used by the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans, ancient cultures. But the earliest abacus was probably a board covered with sand, and then someone could draw figures and rub them out again. And that was the original meaning in English. And it ultimately goes back to a Hebrew word meaning dust, because these figures were written in dust. And finally, the calculus again looks back to a Hebrew word meaning dust, because these figures were written in dust. And finally, the calculus again looks back to the ancient methods because a calculus was a small pebble and small pebbles again were used as basis for counting. You know so much. I think I need to lie down to recover for a couple of minutes.

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from over 190 assets and start with the 10 bucks in your pocket. Easy. Go to Kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. See Kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. This is something rhymes with purple. It's a podcast most of the time, but it's also a stage show. Well, it's a stage show during which we record a podcast. And our next one is due in the United Kingdom. We haven't gone international yet. Our audience comes from around the world, and we'd love to come to the United States, to Canada, to Australia, to India, to New Zealand, to parts of the world

where we know we have purple listeners. But at the moment, we're doing it in London, England, and in some parts of the UK. The next one in London is going to be on the 14th of May at the lovely Ambassadors Theatre in Covent Garden. Tickets have gone on sale this week. Each show that we do, each podcast show is different. I drop different names, tell different improbable stories, all of which are true, though they don't seem to be. And Susie gives us the amazing etymology that she just has in her extraordinary Bontz brain head. So for tickets and information, go to somethingrhymeswithpurple.com.

That's the way to find out more. You enjoy the live shows, don't you? I love the live shows just because we are always just overcome slightly by the warmth of the purple people. And it's just really nice to meet people who have listened to it from day one or have just discovered it. And some have travelled far and wide, which is also really humbling. So, yeah, I do love them. Good. You mentioned, Susie, the word angle earlier. What is the origin of that? Anything to do with Anglo-Saxons? Does it all come to the same thing? Well, very good point. Yes. It's from the Latin angulus, meaning a corner. But yes,

the angles were people really who migrated to england from germany as was then during the fifth century uh founded kingdoms in england in the midlands and east anglia and eventually gave their name to england and to the english but they came from a district called angle and that was a long curved peninsula It's now in Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. And yes, indeed, they are thought to have got their name because the area was shaped a little bit like a fish hook. And Angle was also an old name for a hook. So, yeah, isn't that fascinating that there's mathematics even in our name, England? And I should just say the ankle, the bend in the leg, goes back to that same idea because it's slightly angled. I love language. Well, that's why I love the world of purple people. If you're a purple person and you've got a query for us, just get in touch. It's purple at somethingelse.com. And who has been in touch with us this week? Oh, goodness. So many emails. First comes from Duncan Patty.

Thank you very much for emailing in, Duncan. He says, I was thinking back to an exercise we did in an English lesson at secondary school. We had to come up with as many different words as possible for something big and then discuss as a group how they all compare to one another, i.e. is gigantic, bigger or smaller than massive? Does something colossal dwarf, or is it dwarfed by, a behemoth or a leviathan? I was wondering whether there are any official orders of magnitude for words like this, or does their size relative to one another ebb and flow as language changes and devolves? Kind regards, Duncan. Beautifully worded email. And I'm about to disappoint Duncan no end. Because you can guess, there is, as far as I know, Duncan, there is no official order of magnitude.

And the picture becomes clouded really by what we call linguistic inflation, so hyperbole. And we have been upping the ante in language for such a long time, whereby big doesn't cut it anymore. It's got to be gigantic. It's got to be enormous. And enormous goes back to E meaning outside and the norm. So it's outside the norm. So it was actually originally enormity was applied to wickedness. So it was particularly moral. But anyway, that's besides the point. They are all varying sort of ingredients in a feast because we do tend to just throw them in in order to big up what

we're saying and ultimately they begin to lose a bit of meaning in the end. I think at some point hopefully we will have in life and in the economy as well as in language a bit of deflation where things reduce a little bit in size and we don't have to keep bigging things up because they are such beautiful words aren't they? They certainly are. I mean, you are intrigued by Duncan's inquiry. I'm intrigued by his surname. He's called Duncan Patty, P-A-T-T-I. And once upon a time, there was a woman called Adelina Patty, who was among the most famous people in the world. Now, have you heard of her? I haven't. That is intriguing because because 100 years ago,

she was a household name, not just in Britain, but across the world. And I'm wondering if Duncan Patti is in some way related to her. Maybe he can write to us again if he is. The reason that she was so famous is that she was an opera singer, an Italian 19th century opera singer. She earned huge fees. I mean, I think at one stage she was the highest paid performer in the world. She performed all over the world, in Europe, in America. She sang in public as a child in the 1850s, gave her last performance before an audience in 1914. She was born in Spain, but she died, believe it or not, this is how I became familiar with her, in South Wales, at Craigynos Castle in South Wales, not that far from Swansea and Cardiff. And I've always been

intrigued by her because when she died, there was an auction of her property, things that belonged to her. And my wife's grandmother, I think, went to the auction and bought some items from her home. And we have them in our home here. Some lovely little statuettes and little bits and pieces from Adelina Patti's home. And whenever we go to Paris, she's buried there. And she was so famous that on her gravestone is just the word Patti, P-A-T-T-I. It doesn't need to say anything more. Amazing. She was that famous, Madame Patti.

Oh, well, Duncan must let us know. I've been musing on some of the words that he comes up with, like behemoth or behemoth. That's from the Hebrew meaning a beast. And a leviathan definitely was a beast because, of course, in the Bible, leviathan was a sea monster. I sometimes equate it with the devil, actually, as well as a whale and a crocodile. But yeah, it's a brilliant letter. And I'm sorry that I couldn't answer it particularly well.

Now, we've also got a letter from Nancy. Have you got her email? Nancy Sola, another interesting name. Hi, Susie and Giles. This question popped into my head the other day. Why do we take laps in the pool or on the track and have laps on which we hold kittens, babies and books? What's the relationship between these uses of the word? That then got me thinking of the word laps, L-A-P-S-E, as well. Is that

connected in some way? We use words like this every day without thinking where they come from. That is, I did before I started listening to Something Rhymes with Purple. Now I'm often stopping to ponder the simplest words. Thanks for the entertainment and edification. Oh, isn't that nice? She writes from Ithaca in New York, and that's Nancy Sola. So, laps, L-A-P-S, that you do in the pool or going around the track, laps, something steeces, you lapse in doing something with an S-E on the end, and laps on which we hold our kittens, our babies, and our books. Yes. Okay. So, they are not related. I'll just start with that one first, at least not in our sort of immediate history. Perhaps if you trace them back to an ancient, ancient route, you might find some sort of link there. But I'll start with the lap, as in a lap of the pool or the lap,

you know, on our body. So, that was originally a fold or a flap of a garment. You'll find it in lapel as well. And in the Middle Ages, it was the front of a skirt, which if you held it up would catch or carry something. And from there, our area between the waist and the knees where you can carry a child or, you know, or an object came to be a lap as well. And the lap of a race is connected because it comes from that same idea of a fold to that of a sort of a coil or something going round. So a lap of a race normally is on a racetrack that is circular. The lap that you will find a cat doing or a dog doing or whatever when they're lapping milk or water or whatever, that's not connected. That goes back to a different Germanic source. Now, the lapse is in time lapsing or time elapsing, I should say, and to let something lapse. That

goes back to a Latin word meaning to glide or to slip or to fall, and actually lapsare for the Romans meant to stumble. And elapse comes from that same root. If something elapses, it falls away. Very good. Do you think we've got time to squeeze in one more? Why don't we try? This is from Mike Finn. I was wondering about the origin of the word dingus, D-I-N-G-U-S. I've always heard it used as a playful way of referring to someone who is foolish. But in a recent reviewing of The Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade calls the falcon a dingus. I see that Dashiell Hammett uses dingus in several of his works. What is the origin of this term? This is from Mike, who gets in touch from Southern California. Yeah, well, simple answer to this, I think. I mean, obviously, there are lots of words for things that we can't remember. So, you know, every household has got their own thingamajig or

thingy or, you know, whatever. And dingus is made on the same pattern, but it actually, you know, every household has got their own thingamajig or thingy or, you know, whatever. And dingus is made on the same pattern, but it actually, we think, is adopted from a South African word or an Afrikaans word, ding, meaning thing. And you'll find that ding in Dutch and you'll find it in German as well, meaning the same thing. So it's thingy over there. And it's as simple as that. Good.

Thank you for all that, Susie. And thank you for the people who have written into us. If you have got queries, we're here. And you find us at purple at somethingelse.com. Something always without a G. And every week at this time, Susie gives us a trio of words that she thinks are intriguing and we might enjoy. And we always do.

What are they this week? Yes. So I don't know about you, Jaz. I suspect you don't do as much online shopping as I do i don't like shopping in the real world very much so i tend to do online shopping and it particularly when we're trying to save on plastic and save on unnecessary stuff i get slightly annoyed when you have to have a free sample with something that you order even if actually you know it's going to go straight in the bin because you don't want it for whatever reason, but you can't switch that option off. In which case I'm rejecting what is known as a lagnap, L-A-G-N-I-A-P-P-E,

a lagnap. And it essentially means something that is given away with another purchase. It actually goes back from French and then from Spanish, but it's something given as a bonus, even if you don't want it. Is this quite a new word? No, it's not actually. I think it's been around for a while, but I just think it's quite useful. Not that we'll probably ever just call it a free whatever bonus, but I just sometimes end up calling the companies and saying, please, can I not have these little sachets of whatever, because I won't use them. Well, we give lanyaps on a regular basis

when people join our special club, don't we? Because the Purple Plus Club, as well as giving ad-free listening, we have bonus episodes thrown in for free. Oh yes, I know, but they're virtual, so they're not harming the planet. I think that's very good. Ah, that's the difference.

Yes, I thought you meant we were giving away merch. I didn't know about this. No, no, we're giving away shows. Quality stuff. So this is a word that just fills a linguistic gap. It's apropos of nothing really, but it's a peen, P-E-E-N. Do you know what that is? Peen?

Yes. I think I've heard this word. I think it's something to do with a tool of some kind. It is. Look at a hammer and it's the end of the hammerhead that's opposite the striking piece. Ah, often pointed. That's the peen, often pointed. Yeah, so you can use it to shake out screws and things. But yes, that's the peen. The other end of the hammerhead is the peen. Anyway, I don't suppose anyone's going to do anything with it, but just in case.

No, it's lovely. And probably they're more practical than this next one, which is such a mouthful, but I was glad to know that something existed for this. Syngenicophobia. And if anyone doesn't know how to spell it, and clearly I think would need a bit of help with this one because it is such a mouthful, you can always look on the summary of each episode when you go to the podcast listing. Syngenicophobia is a dislike of one's relatives. Oh my goodness. Yes, comes around every Christmas probably. Well, it could be quite, for some families, this could be quite a useful word.

Yes. Syngenicophobia. So, I mean, we know what a phobia is. That's a fear of something, isn't it? So it's really a fear maybe of one's relatives. A fear of someone who has your genes is how I like to look at it. The syn, S-Y-N, as in synchronicity.

And then genus, sort of same from the same family, the same clan. And is this one of those invented words that when people were making lists of phobias, they thought they'll come up with one for fear or dislike of one's relations? Very likely, yes. We take the classical elements, make it sound old, but actually we've only just invented them. But yes, how about a poem for us to finish off today? Well, do you know, last week, was it, I was talking about the great playwright Noel Coward. Yes. Because this year marks the 50th anniversary of his death, and next

year will mark the 125th anniversary of his birth. And this summer in the United Kingdom, there's to be a production at the Trichester Festival Theatre of The Vortex, a play written in the 1920s, when he was only in his early 20s, and possibly his breakthrough play. Extraordinary writer, from plays like Blythe, Spirit, Hay Fever, Private Lives. He also wrote amazing songs, and he wrote poems. And I went recently to Jamaica to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. And at his graveside, he's buried on a hill overlooking the bay in the part of Jamaica where he lived at his house, Firefly. We stood there and a friend of mine, Alan Brody, who looks after the Noel Coward estate, but is also, I think, the chair of the Noel Coward Foundation, he read a lovely poem

by Noel Coward. And it's a serious one. Last week, I read, the chair of the Noel Card Foundation. He read a lovely poem by Noel Card, and it's a serious one. Last week, I read a comical one. This is a serious one, and it owes something to the great poet Keats. This is by Noel Card, and it's called When I Have Fears. When I have fears, as Keats had fears, of the moment I'll cease to be, I console myself with vanished years, remembered laughter, remembered tears, and the peace of the changing sea. When I feel sad, as Keats felt sad, that my life is so nearly done, it gives me comfort to dwell upon remembered friends who are dead and gone,

and the jokes we had and the fun. How happy they are, I cannot know. But happy am I who loved them so. Oh, that's so beautiful. That's quite haunting, yes. It is beautiful. He was an extraordinary writer. He could be very funny.

He could be sentimental. He could be poignant. But basically, I think the reason his work lasts is that it rings true anyway that was noel card universal emotion isn't it the fear of death it's beautiful thank you so much for joining us today please keep following us you can find us on social media at something rhymes on twitter and facebook or at something rhymes with on instagram as g mentioned, there's also the Purple Plus Club where you can listen ad-free and lots of bonus episodes on words and language. Something Rhymes With Purple is a Something Else and Sony Music Entertainment production.

It was produced by Naya Dio with additional production from Chris Skinner, Ollie Wilson, Jen Mystery, Jay Beale and... Well, he's definitely not a free gift with another purchase, but, you know, he doesn't come every time. So I'm not going to call him a lanyard. It's Gully.