Something Rhymes with Purple - Barocco

Episode Date: August 30, 2022

Building on our recent fascination with cathedrals, this week we cast our architectural net a bit wider by taking a look at the other wonderful structures we walk past every day. Eavesdrop on us as we delve beneath the facade and open a window on everything from Bauhaus to Gothic, whilst being a little arch along the way.   We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us here: [e-mail]   We currently have 20% off at the SRwP official merchandise store, just head to: https://kontraband.shop/collections/something-rhymes-with-purple   Want even more purple, people? Join the Purple Plus Club via Apple Subscription, simply follow this link and enjoy a free 7 day trial: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/something-rhymes-with-purple/id1456772823   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:   Scripturiant: having a strong urge to write.  Patrizate: to imitate one's fathers or forebears.  Catillate: to lick the dishes clean.   Gyles' poem this week was 'The Living Proof' by Roger McGough    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. Welcome to Something Rhymes with Purple. My name is Giles Brandreth, and I'm the co-presenter of this weekly podcast all about words and language. I love words. I love language. And I love my co-host, Susie Dent. We have been friends for a very long time, but every week she manages to surprise me because she knows so much and she wears her scholarship so lightly. How are you, Susie? What kind of a week have you had? Is everything good in your world? I'm fine, thank you. I've had a swallowing week. Do you remember swallowing? Tell me what it means again. Yeah, it means sweltering, mafting, as they would say in Northeastern England. Yes, it's been very, very hot here.

And I don't know if you're sitting in your cool basement. I'm sitting in a rather warm study at the moment. I am very good at keeping cool. And one of the things I've been doing during the hot weather is keeping on my jumpers, my sweaters, because I love them. And I have this curious idea that my sweaters are rather like a thermos flask. You can put hot cocoa into a thermos flask, it stays hot. You can put ice cubes in, they stay cold. So when I'm cool, I put on a sweater and it keeps me cool. That's my idea. But more seriously, I've been escaping the heat outdoors by going to buildings that are cool. And I've been visiting some art galleries where they're beautifully air-conditioned and you can feel cool. They're not crowded and you can sit and look at great art. I visited a local library, which was air conditioned and just sat there.

It was fantastic. And I have been to several churches and cathedrals. To walk in a cathedral cloister when it's brilliantly hot outside, somehow there's a breeze in there. It's fantastic. Always. I remember trying to do a bit of filming years ago now in the cloisters of New College here in Oxford. And I literally could barely stand up. The wind was just blowing so much, was blowing my papers away.

It was whistling through. And of course, you know me being quite a nesh person. I was positively freezing. So it was not a good day. But I imagine in the mafting, swelting, swallowing heat is absolutely beautiful. Well, I was literally swept away in New College Cloisters on the 6th of June, 1968, because... Is this a marriage proposal? I was an undergraduate, a student. They were called undergraduates then.

We can discuss another time when they became to be called students. Anyway, putting on a production of Cinderella for the following Christmas. But I was auditioning people that day. And a couple of people came that were memorable, that have stuck in my mind to those auditions in New College Cloisters. One was a lady who was brilliant and funny and delightful. I asked her to be the fairy queen in my production of Cinderella. And she agreed.

And she was a fantastic fairy queen. And she went on to become the head of MI5 and is now Baroness Manningham Buller, Eliza Manningham Buller, Lady of the Garter. But she began, yeah, and she has something in common with the queen. They're both ladies of the garter, and they both have appeared in pantomime i think they're probably the only two members of the order of the garter who have appeared in pantomime because the queen during the second world war at windsor castle was in a production of cinderella and um eliza manning and bulla was the fairy queen in my production of cinderella who did who did the queen play i have to know uh she played the prince charming part oh okay yeah and margaret was the cinderella i'm guessing. Absolutely right.

Yes. I was looking for a Cinderella. And next in came this beautiful girl who was not blonde. I'd got it into my head I had for a blonde Cinderella. So I asked this girl to be one of the fairies. Anyway, she didn't want to be a fairy. So she told me she wouldn't be a fairy. But then I said, could she stay behind?

And she agreed that she would stay behind. And at the end of the day, in New College Cloisters, standing there as the wind was sweeping around us, the cool breeze. It was a hot day, but the breeze kept us cool. I asked her out for a meal. And when we finished recording this podcast, I'll be having another meal with her 55 years later, because that's how I met my wife, in the cloisters. So, let's talk about words like cloister. We did an episode recently on

cathedrals, didn't we, in the architecture, and we were inspired, I remember that, to delve further into the world of architecture. So, can we begin, actually, we explore words and language, can we begin with the word architecture explore words and language, can we begin with the word architecture? Does that relate to an arch? Yes, it does in some ways, actually. So yes, let's start with that. So essentially, architect and architecture goes back to the Greek archi, meaning chief, and tekton, meaning a a builder so the architect was the chief builder of a project so arch itself as in the um the arch that you might walk under if you were going into new college cloisters that actually goes back to a latin word arcus meaning a bow or a curve which

is obvious then because we now use it for anything that has the shape of a bow, if you like, whether it's the path of the sun that forms an arc or shooting arrows, an archer, etc. But the other meaning, arch, chief or principal that you will find in architect here does go back to that Greek archos meaning chief or ruler. And you can find that in anarchy, which means the state of having no ruler, the an there means without, so without a chief. And in archipelago, which meant actually the chief sea and was originally used as a proper name for the Aegean Sea. And then because the Aegean Sea is known for its large number of islands,

it was actually then transferred to a group of islands rather than the sea. Is this why your arch enemy is like your head enemy? Yes, exactly. The chief or principal enemy. Yeah, exactly that. To go into styles of architecture, movements of architecture, would take a whole series. Let's stick with, as it were, architectural terms for parts of the building. I mean, movements of architecture, I'm sure they do all have interesting origins.

I quite like Baroque architecture. You'll be more of a bauhaus girl i imagine i don't know i like i think baroque is has its moments particularly when you're looking at the art i think of the 17th and 18th century this is incredibly ornate and then you've got baroque composers haven't you like vivaldi and handel um and Rubens the Baroque artist so no I think it's got a lot to going for it really but I have to tell you about the etymology because I just love it and I have to say I didn't know this until I researched it for this podcast should I tell you please okay so a Baroque was originally the name of a pearl that was irregularly shaped. And its shape was reminiscent

of the kind of really elaborate, unusual detail of the architectural style. So that then informed the name of the movement in architecture and, as I say, in music and art as well. Isn't that incredible? So it was all about Pearl originally. Wonderful. Well, let's not go through them all,

though I did mention Bauhaus there because that's 1920s, isn't it? German. Yes, let's not go through them all, though I did mention Bauhaus there, because that's 1920s, isn't it, German? Yes, German. It just means, because it's functional, really, it's a functional approach to architecture and industrial design. And it goes back to the German Bau, meaning building, and Haus, meaning house. So that's as functional as you could get, really. Okay. Architecture. Let's start with, well, actually, we mentioned cloisters. We probably have covered that before, actually we mentioned cloisters we probably have covered that before have we cloisters um i think we probably have it has lots of uh siblings in english but i have to say when you're talking about cloisters my absolute favorite cloisters

ever anywhere are those in the frick museum in york which is currently closed i think it's it's um relocated for a while but absolutely beautiful ones ones there. But it goes back to the Latin for closing, claudere, which actually gave us close itself. Because it's an enclosed area. Exactly. A cloister. Yes. Let's look at a building and what you first see is the facade. And I suppose that's the face, is it? Facade? Yes, simply French for face. It's the exterior that looks out onto you, onto a street, etc. And the frontal, that's the frontal elevation as well. Exactly. Visible to the eye. Elevate is based on levis, light in Latin, that you also find in alleviate, which is to lighten and levity. also the leaven that's made used in bread making

because it lightens the loaf so leavened bread is lightened bread so there we go into the building we look up because we should always look up i i do remember when i was speaking of new college oxford i do remember the warden in his opening address to us the first evening he said whatever you do while you're in oxford look up because you're probably never going to live in a city as beautiful as this again so look up at all the buildings and look up now we all he made us all look up and we looked up at this extraordinary vaulted ceiling now ceiling where does that word ceiling and then we'll come to vaulted where does ceiling come from so ceiling the, the ing ending, which you normally associate with action, explains the etymology of ceiling because it was originally an action.

It meant to line the interior of a room with plaster. And it might also have been influenced by the Latin celare, meaning to conceal, which actually gave a cellar as well. So its description of the upper part of a room dates back to the 16th century, but before then it really was a kind of building term, really, to plaster the interior of a room. And I spoke of a vaulted ceiling. The vault also is the place up there, as well as it being something that is vaulted.

What does that actually mean, a vault? A vault is a self-supporting arched ceiling, isn't it? Usually made of bricks or stone. And etymologically, it goes back to a really productive Latin verb, volvere, which had the sense of rolling or tumbling or turning around. And if you add re in front of that, revolvere, you get the meaning of turning back or turning around. And that's the basic idea behind revolve, revolution, which is overturning, isn't it?

A government usually revolt as well. And the sense of vaulting as in leaping also comes from that idea of rolling or tumbling. So the sort of gymnastic sense is also linked to that. Oh, so the pole vault is the same leaping in the air using a pole? Yes. And the vault in the ceiling is the sort of arch that springs up, if you like. It rolls up to the eye to form a roof. But vaults, can they sometimes be below ground?

I think of a safe being a vaulted safe. Yes, they absolutely can. So it can be a large room or chamber used for storage, especially an underground one. So quite, I'm not trying to think why, I'm not quite sure how that relates really to the idea of a ceiling, but somehow we took, it definitely goes back to that Latin word, volvere. Maybe it's rolling or tumbling down instead of upwards. Well, sometimes you can have the one word meaning two totally contrary things. You can.

Cleave, for example. She cleaved to my side and I cleaved the piece of wood. Or you have a cleft in a piece of wood. Oh, it breaks it apart. Yes. It breaks it apart. But to cleave, ah. Contronyms.

Yeah. They're called contronyms. Contronyms. So in a way, a vault can be a bit of a contronym because it's definitely a vault up there above you. And also it can be a vault down in the depths. Yes. I mean, I think the whole idea of rolling away is probably informing both of them. But it's quite interesting, isn't it?

We should do something on contronyms. They're also called Janus words because Janus was the keeper of doorways in Roman mythology. And January is named after him, but also he was depicted, remember, as the god with two faces, one looking forward and one looking back. Looking in two directions at the same time. Yeah. Very useful for politicians, I've always found. While we're looking up, we're looking up into the eaves of a building, E-A-V-E-S.

What are they? And is that an interesting and old word uh yeah they're the they're the sort of edges that overhang the face of a wall and project beyond the side of a building and of course they gave us eavesdropping as well secretly listening into a conversation that's early 1600s an eavesdropper was a person who literally listened from under the eaves and it goes back to the eaves drip or the eaves drop, which was the ground onto which water drips from the eaves. And the whole concept was enshrined in ancient law because it banned building closer than two feet from the boundary of your land in case you damaged your neighbour's land by eaves drop. So either the water dripping

onto their land or by extension the fact that you could you know stand at the edge of your property and uh and tune into other people's conversation window now imagine fenêtre which gives us fenestration is the french and window therefore is that germanic it's viking actually so the word for a window before the vikings came along or at least yeah kind of coexisted with the vikings for for a while it was an eye thirl now you remember that a thirl was a hole its sound was slightly flipped so thirl became thrill so do you remember our nose thrills were our nose holes and that eventually became nostrils and to thrill someone was to pierce them, to pierce a hole in them with a sword. That was the first meaning of thrilled until we were pierced

with excitement rather than by a sword. But an eithel was the original word. And then the Vikings came along and they had the most beautiful, beautiful word. And I love this and I've mentioned it to you before, Giles. Vindalga, the eye of the wind. That's what they call the window. So Vindalga is what became our modern window. How wonderful. So the origin of window really is the eye of the wind. Yes, because they didn't have glass in those days, of course. Wow. Oh, it's fantastic. I love it when going to castles and seeing those windows that are just like slits. So you could see out, but hopefully the arrows couldn't penetrate through. You could fire your arrows out. So those were the loopholes,

the original loopholes. I remember at school learning about something called the defenestration of Prague. I can remember nothing about it except people clearly were thrown out of a window. Fenestration and defenestration, where do they come about? Yes, so the Latin, you mentioned the Latin fenestra, the window. So fenestratus in Latin meant provided with openings and, you know, to sort of make windows or doors or skylights or whatever. And that's what a fenestration is. It's any opening in the envelope of a building.

But there isn't a word like window. I mean, you fenestrate and you defenestrate, but there isn't a fenester. Oh, I see what you mean. No, I don't. Well, there was actually. I'm looking it up now in the OED. Until 1548 is the last record we have of a fenester. So that doesn't look to be nearly as popular as window. But it did coincide. I must share this with Jacob Reob reese mogg because i think he would now in the future like to refer to his windows as fenestas since it was how it was spoken of in the 15th century it's hilarious i make no comment you don't need to um let's move

on to the buttress uh i can picture a buttress inside a cathedral or mighty building. So the buttress is a structure that is either built against or projects from a wall and it supports the wall. It is a sort of strong reinforcement, if you like. And it's got nothing to do with the butt that is an end of something like a cigarette butt or even the part of a rifle that you hold. That goes back to a Dutch word meaning stumpy, which makes sense. And likewise, the buttock, that all goes back to that too. But this one, this buttress comes from a word botter in Old English, B-O-T-E-R, meaning to hit or thrust, just as we might give someone a headbutt. That is where that one comes from. And so the idea of thrusting out, for example,

is behind the buttress because it very often, as I say, projects from a wall and serves as a reinforcement. I can picture a buttress. I know something is cantilevered. Is there a cantilever, though, as well as something being cantilevered? Yes, there is a cantilever. I struggle with cantilever in terms of, I know you can get them in bridges, can't you, bridge construction,

but it can support a balcony as well. It's basically a support, isn't it? Yeah, the dictionary definition, you know, a long projecting beam anchored at only one end. That's what's extraordinary about it. What's the origin of cantilever? We have no idea. Well, you say you have no idea.

I mean, it seems a simple word to unravel. The canty part must be something, the lever part must be. We know what a lever does. We don't know what the canty bit is. You'd think it might have something to do with singing. But no, the dictionary would just tell you origin unknown, I'm afraid. We don't know. Goodness.

Yes. But of all the words in your dictionary, and you use the Oxford English Dictionary, how many words are there in all? And how many of those would be origin unknown? Oh, I don't know how many. I don't know what percentage. A frustrating number, but then it's also exciting

because it means that it, you know, the work goes on. So yes, surely lever is there in its ordinary mechanical sense. And for the first part, you can think of cant as in either, you know, the sort of language of criminals. I don't think that that fits here, but it was also sometimes used for an edge or a border.

But you'll sometimes find candilever as well. C-A-N-D-I-L-E-V-E-R is the spelling. So that makes it slightly more complicated. Sorry to disappoint you. Well, you do disappoint me. You must give me the origin of bollard. I know what a bollard is. Bollard is such a funny word to say, isn't it? Yes, you know what a bollard is. It's a kind of short place. For example, I always find it difficult to get into a Chester Cathedral, one of my favourite cathedrals, because there are bollards that have been put up where I would like to go through. And they're retractable bollards. And I say bollards to you as they go up or down. But a bollard is like a short post, isn't it? Where does it come from

as a word? It comes from another, it's another Viking origin, this one. Boll, B-O-L-L-E, meant the trunk of a tree, which explains the idea of a wooden post. And bolas originally were short posts on a ship's deck or on a quayside, and then obviously became linked to other forms of transport and other road uses. There's so many structures and buildings of different kinds, indoors and outdoors. My wife has had a fantasy for years that we should have in our garden a pergola. I say, I don't think our garden is big enough and I don't quite know what a pergola is, but I think it's a kind of outdoor structure made of wood that you would put

flowers and things would grow up on it. What actually is a pergola and why is it an architectural term? Pergolas are beautiful. They can be be very ornamental so they're kind of arched structures and yes it's a framework and usually covered with climbing or trailing plants i think you have to probably have quite a grand garden for a pergola although you can get small domestic ones it has to be said i have seen them in certain diy shops um either way they're're very beautiful. And this is an Italian word that we borrow directly without adjusting it to our tongue. And it means a projecting roof, particularly one that's used for vines, grapevines. And the Latin pergare meant to go forward. So I guess it enables the plants to sort of go forward and multiply.

Let us go forward to the break, don't you think? I do think we should go forward and multiply. Well, maybe not multiply, but at least go and get a cup of tea. By the way, if you want to hear us talking more about building and specifically the slang Susie picked up from hanging out with some burly builders, all in the name of research, then why not join the Purple Plus Club? Links can be found in the programme description of this episode. That was when you were doing research, wasn't it?

Meeting people to find out the language of different tribes. Yes, and actually I was an eavesdropper a lot of the time as well, I have to say. I would stand around just looking as if I was shooting the breeze or daydreaming and I had a little secret book in my hand, jotting it all down. Well, so alongside an episode on builder slang, you'll find bonus episodes on everything from swearing to poetry. You'll also get the normal episodes ad-free, so you won't have to listen to these. Though, as far as I'm concerned, they're fascinating. Check out. Just need a nice place to settle in? Enjoy your room upgrade.

Wherever you go, we'll go together. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. Hi, I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson, host of the podcast Dinners on Me. I take some of my favorite people out to dinner, including, yes, my Modern Family co-stars, like Ed O'Neill. I had friends in organized crime. Sofia Vergara.

Why do you want to be comfortable? Julie Bowen. I used to be the crier. And Aubrey Anderson-Emmons. I was so down bad for them at one Miranda when I was like eight. You can listen to Dinners on Me wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to Something Rhymes with Purple, where Giles and I have been talking all things architecture and, as always, learning quite a lot along the way. I'm sure there's a lot that we

haven't covered, though. So if you, the Purple people, do have other things that you would like to mention architecturally or otherwise, please do get in touch because we love hearing from you. Purple at somethingelse.com. Do we have some letters today, Giles? purple at something else dot com. Do we have some letters today, Giles? People get in touch from all across the world. Our first correspondent this week is Pauline Sandell. Hello, Susie and Giles.

I wonder if you can help. Me and my husband, or is it my husband and I, were visiting a church in Warwickshire last week when we saw a headstone laid into the floor describing the deceased as widow, two d's, of and relict of her late husband. We were intrigued by the word relict and what it can mean. Any thoughts? Thank you for your wonderful podcast, Pauline. And Pauline, thank you for your wonderful communication. Let me put you right on what I know about. I think it is my husband and I. And always when people find it difficult to know what they should say with something like my husband and I, or is it me and my husband, actually divide it up, as it were.

You wouldn't say me was visiting a church in Warwickshire, would you? So obviously it's not me and my husband. It's I was visiting a church in Warwickshire. So it's my husband and I. Or I and my husband. Or I and my husband. Indeed,, I was visiting a church in Warwickshire, so it's my husband and I. Or I and my husband. Or I and my husband. Indeed, put yourself first for a change. Pauline, say whatever you feel comfortable with. Pauline really reminded me there with her voice of Pam Ayres. There's a real touch of Pam Ayres

about you there, Pauline. We love Pam, both Giles and I. So, right, I will go right the way back to the beginning, and this is the 13th century, when a relic in the Christian church, especially the Roman Catholic church, was the physical remains, this is how we think of it today quite often, of a saint or a martyr or another deceased holy person, and they were objects of veneration and often enshrined in some ornate receptacle. So, that's how it was first used. And then, of course, also by extension became an object or artifact that was held similarly sacred by a religion or culture. And again, we still use it in that sense today. But it could also more widely mean something

kept as a souvenir or a remembrance or a memento or a historical object that related to a particular person. All of them go back to the Latin reliqui, meaning to leave behind. So I think when we're talking about relic of her late husband, as you've said here in the headstone, it's simply someone who was left behind because her husband had died. That is the simple fact there. But as I say, it's had lots and lots of different meanings, but it's always something that is either there as a memory or something that is now departed from, if you like. Very good.

Have you got plans to what's going to be put on your headstone when you depart, Susie? No, maybe I should think. I was thinking about that because my friend i call him a friend i've met him um but i admire him hugely anthony horowitz wonderful script writer and novelist he has declared that he's now got his tombstone wording planned it's simply going to say the end oh okay that's quite good what about you jazz Watch this space. I'm going to surprise people. That's brilliant. No, that's great. That's it. That's all you need. Watch this space.

I love that. That's what I'm going to make mine if you're not having it. Watch this space. We've got another communication, and this one comes from Neil Parker. Hi, Susie and Giles. The word toke is defined as a puff on a joint or marijuana cigarette. Where did this word come from? My dictionary says it may derive from the Spanish toque, meaning touch. Is it just a coincidence that toque is also the first syllable of the surname of Alice B. Toklas, whose infamous cookbook in the early 1960s included the first published recipe for hashish fudge brownies. All best from New York, Neil Parker.

Do you know, it thrills us. You may think us naive people, Susie and I, but it thrills us to think there are people in New York, New York, who are listening to this podcast. Thank you, wherever you are in the world, for tuning in. We do so appreciate it, and thank you for getting in touch. Can you answer Neil's interesting query? I can't, but I love the Alice B. Toklas and her cookbook in the early 1960s. The only thing I would say, Neil, I mean, I suppose Alice may have used the word before,

possibly previously, but if that indeed was the very first time that she'd used it, But if that indeed was the very first time that she'd used it, then the timing doesn't quite work because the first use of toke as a noun was the 1950s. So it kind of predates that first published recipe. 1960s as a verb to toke, to puff on a joint. So I love the idea it's an eponym. The OED says origin unknown so once again the detective work goes on but i'm definitely going to submit that to them because i think it's a fantastic suggestion very good um she's brilliant alice p toclis full of wise words um is she i'm oh yes oh absolutely in the menu there should be a climax and a culmination. Come to it gently. One will suffice. I think that's

a very good rule in life, you know. There was a wonderful playwright called Ronald Harwood who always said, you just need the one. Meaning you just need to write that one book, write that one play, write that one poem, have that one great recipe. And in a meal, you just need that one magic moment. That's what you need. If you want to get in touch with us or send a query, we'll do our best to come up with the answer. It's purple at somethingelse.com and something has no G. Every week, Susie, you come up with three fantastic words for us and I write them down, but I find that unless I repeat them or use them in conversation over the next 24 hours, they slip my memory all too

easily. People need a Susie Dent trio of words book. Well, the first one is actually relevant to writing things down, Giles, and also to what both of us do, which is write books and write articles, et cetera, et cetera. Sometimes we may not feel like this, but we have to do it anyway. But sometimes hopefully the muse takes us and we are scripturient, scripturient, S-C-R-I-P-T-U-R-I-E-N-T, having a strong urge to write. I love it. Do you try, Giles, for my next one, do you try and imitate your father or do you try and be very different to him or a bit of both? Oh, I don't consciously try, but I think I am very like him. My wife says to me, oh, you're turning into your father, but you're looking like your mother. She's constantly telling me that.

And I think I sound like him, but I'm not. I mean, I've done different things in my life than he did. But people do say, what about you? Yeah, likewise. I think unconsciously we probably all do. So yes, definitely in some ways, again, I'm not sure it is a deliberate thing, much as I love and admire my dad. But patrizate, P-A-T-R-I-Z-A-T-E, is to imitate one's father or forebears, really, toate so it's a really strange one um not massively useful

i suppose and there's only one reference in the oed to matrizate which is to imitate the mother unfortunately well i think it's a very interesting word and um i know you have got i don't think you've read it yet my childhood memoir odd boy out and I realise now that there's a lot of me patricating in it. Because though I don't think I particularly copy my father, I think in my life, I've been very aware of what my forebears did and influenced by that, either probably more unconsciously than consciously. But I think we are our forebear's children in many ways. So patricate is the word for that. And the third one?

And the third one, rather a fanciful one, this one. If you have a cat, you will like this one, even though it was not inspired by a cat. Catulate, C-A-T-I-L-L-A-T-E, is to lick dishes clean. Probably more likely to be a dog than a cat, but that is what catellating from the 17th century meant. Lovely. Well, I've got a rather lovely poem. And this is for, I suppose, for older listeners to the podcast. We haven't done any research to work out how old our listeners are. We know that we

have some very young people listening. And occasionally when we hear their voices, because they send in a sort of voice note with their letter, we clearly have older listeners. We've never really done anything about the... So we don't know how old you are. But this poem that I'm going to read to you is really more relevant to older people. And I came across it recently

because with the British actress Joanna Lumley, she and I hosted a lunch to mark the 75th birthday of the Duchess of Cornwall. I want to explain this to international listeners. The Duchess of Cornwall is married to the Prince of Wales. She's called Gamilla, and she turned 75 in July. And so with the Oldie magazine, which celebrates older people, people who have snap in

their celery, Joanna and I, we hosted this lunch. And the rules were that you had to be in your 70s, 80s or 90s and still to have snap in your celery to be at the lunch. And all sorts of people turned up, you know, Petula Clark, Jilly Cooper, Tom Courtney, Jasper Carrot, Jeremy Irons, all sorts of people, Trevor MacDonald, people who are still active and older, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tony Blackburn. I mean, you name it. It was a really mixed bag of human beings. Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, gave a toast. Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, gave a toast. He was also in the right age bracket.

But the poet Roger McGough read a poem that he had written especially for the occasion called The Living Proof. And it's a lovely poem. And the Duchess was 75 and Roger is in his 85th year. So he was really offering advice from the standpoint of somebody in their 85th year to somebody who is turning 75. So if you are an older person, this is a poem for you written by the great Roger McGough in his 85th year. Speaking of somebody who knows a thing or two about having been your age let me say this you have reached a watershed celebrate the fact water is good for you and everybody loves sheds yours are the days ma'am with the promise of many more ahead so carpe diem, but gently, for that way they last longer. And don't count them, just be grateful. In fact, days can be surprisingly perfect, arriving fully formed when least expected.

A chance meeting may be involved, a compliment out of the blue, you make somebody laugh. The earth need not move. No call for fanfares and fireworks. The perfect day can be as ordinary as a stroll by the river, as simple as the absence of bad news. Happy to push yourself well within your limits. Take no for an answer and suffer fools gladly. for an answer and suffer fools gladly, content at last in the knowledge that you are the living proof of yourself. Oh, that's lovely. I really relate to that. Sometimes it's the absence of bad news. Yeah, great man, great. And I do recommend, Roger always has new collections of poetry. The one I've got on my bedside at the moment is Safety in Numbers by Roger McGough. And on the cover,

Caroline Duffy describes him as the patron saint of poetry. He's marvellous. He really celebrates it. Anyway, so that's our lot, isn't it, for this week? That is our lot. If you love the show, please keep following us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify.

You know where you get your podcasts. Please do follow us and do recommend us to friends and family. We are now on social media. As we have said, we're on at Something Rhymes on Twitter and Facebook, at Something Rhymes With on Instagram. There is also the Purple Plus Club, should you wish to join for ad-free listening and exclusive episodes on words and language.

But we will always be here alongside it, free and loving it and hopefully giving us something that you love as well. And we can meet you in person because we're going to be doing some more of our live podcasts. We're doing most of them in the capital of England, which is London. Do feel free to fly in from wherever you are in the world. We're doing them on Sundays in coming months at a West End theatre, the Fortune Theatre.

But we're also doing a special one in Oxford because that's where Susie is based. Something Rhymes With Purple is a Something Else and Sony Music Entertainment production produced by Lawrence Bassett and Harriet Wells with additional production from Chris Skinner, Jen Mystery, Jay Beale and... Well, did you see? When we signed off on our podcast last week, he just literally showed

up for one second, said, bye, have a nice weekend, and then toddled off again. This working from home thing, it's got out of hand.