Something Rhymes with Purple - Beatification

Episode Date: November 3, 2020

This week we’re counting our blessings and saying our prayers as we take a look at the tales behind some of the patron saints and their language. From martyrs to miracles and from sanctity to sanctuary we unpick the blessed language of those who have been canonised. But if all that sounds a bit holier-than-thou, don’t worry because there’s still plenty of time to enjoy idio-repulsive belfies, tuck into a cannon of beef, and find out why you might not want to find yourself needing to pray to St Julian the Hospitaller. A Somethin’ Else production. Susie’s trio: Drachenfutter - a gift given to a partner in order to appease them Poronkusema - an old Finnish measurement based on the distance a reindeer can travel before needing a comfort break Lagom - (Swedish) just the right amount If you want to get in touch with us please do: [e-mail]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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With opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches. Then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Something else. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Hello, welcome to Something Rhymes with Purple, the podcast all about words and language and general witterings, I would say, about our wonderful vocabulary. With me, Susie Dent, and my Zoom partner, Giles. I didn't forget your name there, Giles. I was just looking at the array of books behind you. How many books do you reckon you have in your house?

Oh, I don't know. Many, many thousands, most of them unread. But I just like possessing a book. Books do furnish a room. And we are both in our Zoom studios. This week, I've come into the basement, the basement bunker. I felt the news in the outside world is getting so grim that I thought I'm going to retreat. And this basement room actually contains books that I have written or published. All of those? All of those behind you? All of those behind me. Over the years, I have written too many books, not all of them good, but they are all kept down here. And I published a lot of books, too. In the 1970s and 1980s, I had the idea, I was one of the pioneers of what I call celebrity publishing. And I was a friend of Kenneth Williams. And I suggested to Kenneth Williams, people listening internationally may not know him, he was a most entertaining actor, raconteur, a delightful human being, famous in this country for appearing over many years in the carry-on films, before that on television and things like Hancock's Half Hour, and very much a radio voice as well, particularly in a programme that I've been doing

for many years called Just a Minute. Delightful human being. Anyway, I said to him, you should do a book, Kenneth. And he said, what shall I do? And I came up with the title Acid Drops because he loved telling stories that had a little twist in the tale. And we did a book and it became a number one bestseller. And that led me on to doing a lot of celebrity books with a wide range of people. Michael Caine did a book with him called Not A Lot Of People Know That. Oh, goodness, Dudley Moore, him called, not a lot of people know that. Oh goodness, Dudley Moore, every kind of entertainer we did books with, and it was huge fun. How amazing. I've never ever had a number one bestseller apart from, I'm pleased to report, in two categories on Amazon. My current book is number one in historical, no, comparative linguistics. I think that's fine. Cat and dog humour.

And actually, this one's relevant to today. Christian theology. I'm number one in Christian theology. I have absolutely no idea why. Although I do mention two saints. And actually, that's our topic for today, isn't it? Because you have told me, Adder, that you sleep with a book of saints beside you. I do.

Well, on your bedside table. My wife thinks it's a good idea that I have the a book of saints beside you? I do. Well, on your bedside table. My wife thinks it's a good idea that I have the right kind of dreams. She gave me this book years and years ago. I've got it in my hand now. I can show it to you via Zoom, but the listeners will just have to picture it. It's the Penguin Dictionary of Saints.

And I've had it for, oh my goodness, 40 years. And I do keep it at my bedside because I like dipping into a book at bedtime because otherwise, if I try to read a novel, I fall asleep and the next night I've got to go back and sort of read the pages that I fell asleep over again. Whereas with a little dictionary of saints, I can dip in and I can discover a story, often an intriguing story, about somebody who somebody must have thought once upon a time was good. And I like to go to sleep. In fact, I always go to sleep counting my blessings. When I turn out the light and I've said goodnight to my wife, I then lie there and I count my blessings. And I

always begin with my wife for reasons of insurance and good policy since we're sharing a bed. But then I actually count the blessings of the day and, you know, it's family and it's friends and it's food and it's odd things. So that always gets me to sleep. It's supposed to be a big thing of mindfulness, isn't it? Gratitude and sort of giving thanks is a really key element of calming the mind, apparently. I didn't know that. But I have to tell you, it certainly works. And it means that you end up going to sleep with a smile on your face. And curiously, I read some research somewhere that if you can visualize something for about two minutes, quite a long time before you go to sleep, it can affect your dreams.

So that's one of the reasons, too, I read about saints, because I think, well, am I going to spend the night with anybody? Spend the night with somebody good. But then for a while, I had a rather unhealthy Joan of Arc fixation, but we can come on to that later. I was going to say, because the stories are not exactly benign, are they? Quite often they are incredibly grisly and bloody. This conversation began because of us talking about St. Susan. Yes.

And you didn't seem to know there was a St. Susan. No. But lots of people have emailed us about this, including Sue Pinfold, Sue Sabin, Susan Eklund. And to prove it's not just Susan's, Rich Rosenfeld got in touch to say there is a St. Susan and her feast day is the 11th of August. Okay. According to my little Dictionary of Saints, the original St. Susan, and her feast day is the 11th of August. According to my little Dictionary of Saints, the original St. Susan was a Roman martyr, possibly known as Susanna or Susan, buried near

the baths of Diocletian, though probably her story is legendary. She was the beautiful niece of the Bishop of Rome, St. Caius, and she was tragically beheaded for rejecting the hand of Diocletian's partner, Maximian. Her father and two other uncles were put to death for supporting her. So, as you say, it's a pretty grim story, but she was a good girl. There have been other St. Susans, of whom not much is known. Susannik was the Armenian wife of a Georgian prince. She was martyred apparently by the Persians. The oldest existing work of Georgian literature is an account of her long sufferings. So you make the good point, actually, that I am going to be thinking about these people. I think

about the bright side, not about the grim ends. Tell me about the word saint. Where does that come from? Well, saint goes back to the latin sanctus meaning holy so it pretty much does what it says on the on the tin and of course that gave us um sanctimonious which is you know somebody who pretends to be incredibly uh virtuous etc and other things and ultimately it is from a verb meaning to consecrate what else did did it give us? Sanctity. Oh, and sanctuary as well. And also sanction, because the first sanction was a church on ecclesiastical decree. Yeah, so lots and lots of words in the same family. Is there a St. Giles? There is a St. Giles. There's certainly, and his feast day is the 1st of September.

Okay. When I was a little boy, I often went on holiday to France. My parents, I've worked out, didn't really like me. That's why they sent me to boarding school during term time and abroad during the holidays. I think they thought I talked too much. Oh, goodness. Anyway, they sent me away. And so every summer, for the whole of the summer holidays, I was in France. And France then was a very, very much a Catholic country. And Saints' Days were terribly important. And so the 1st of September, the Feast of St. Giles, in French, Gilles, it can be spelt with an I, it is normally, or with a Y. As we know,

spellings were not sort of defined really. Were they until about the 18th century, sort of locked down? I was all incredibly fluid. Yes. I mean, Caxton helped, so a little bit before then, but you're right, not fully standardised for a while. So never mind how you spell it. He is the patron saint of crippled people. He's also strongly associated with childhood and indeed with fallen women. So I've always felt he was a good guy. And on the 1st of September in France, as a little boy, you had a special cake on your saint's day. Always made me sick. It was a hugely creamy cake and I hadn't developed my sweet tooth at that stage. I felt obliged to eat it. And invariably, I associated my Saints Day with throwing up. So there we are. Now let's explore, before we go back to individual saints, can we

explore some of the words to do with this whole world? Because you're right, many of these saints become saints, not only because they had holy lives or early Christians, but because they were martyred. Where does martyrdom come from? Martyr, it goes back to a Greek word meaning to witness. So you could interpret that in lots of different ways. I'm assuming it means to maybe witness the power of God. But yeah, it's a slightly strange beginning. I have to say most of these words began with ancient Greek. Miracle is slightly different. Miracle goes back to the

Latin mirare, which meant to wonder or to stare at in wonder. And a miraculum was an object of wonder. But it always makes me smile that actually the mirror that we look at in the morning, when most of us might find ourselves idio-repulsive, in other words, we don't like the look of ourselves. Is that what it means, idio-repulsive? Idio-repulsive, yes. And that actually goes back to the same idea, to stare in wonder. So it always makes me laugh because personally, I don't look in the mirror and stare in wonder at the reflection. But yeah, so that's where that one comes from.

Do you think there are people who do do that? Yes. All the selfie takers. I was taking part in a television programme the other day with a couple of chums of mine, one of whom was the great Gemma Collins from The Only Way Is Essex, the great GC. And post-show, she was happily, I think it's called shaking her booty, waving her bottom at people's cameras so that they could put them on Instagram. I thought this is curious.

But obviously some people are quite happy with that. That's a belfy, a butt selfie, I reckon. Oh, it's called a butt selfie. What's the word for that? Belfy. A belfy, butt selfie. And our friend, our mutual friend, Carol Vorderman, also was taking part. It was a brace of butts being waved at the camera. Yes, I think Carol's won the rear of the year or some slightly dubious prize quite often, actually. I'm not sure she celebrates that, but I think she has won it.

Well, I think she does celebrate it because there she was shaking the booty. It's a, what's it called? A belfy. Possibly. How we got there from the world of St. Susan and St. Joan, I don't quite know. I know, it's a long way away. I'm blaming you for this one. Let's get back to beatification. When you become a saint, the process of becoming a saint is, I think, there has to be a miracle associated with you. Miracle we've established is, say it again, what is it? Wonder? From the Latin, yes, to wonder. An object of wonder, miraculous. So you've been martyred or you've had a wonderful life and a miracle has occurred, I think, and then you are beatified. Beatification, what's the origin of that?

That goes back to a word meaning blessed. And do you remember we talked about blessing and the etymology of that, which again is quite dark. In fact, I think we covered it in our grisly words quite recently. To bless was to consecrate with blood. So quite often it would involve an animal or occasionally a human sacrifice. So it goes back to the same thing. And I suppose, as you say, quite often with martyrdom, blood is associated. So perhaps it is, in fact, quite appropriate.

You have the devil's advocate, of course, as well, don't you? When you're being put up for becoming a saint, yes, the argument takes place as to whether you're justified. And somebody, as it were, puts the counter argument, they are the devil's advocate. What's the origin of that expression? Well, historically, that is all about the Roman Catholic Church. And it was a person appointed to challenge a proposed beatification or canonization of a saint or the verification of a miracle. And then it's sort of, of course, diluted in meaning to mean somebody who expresses a different opinion, disagrees in order to test the strength of the opposing argument. So you'll say, I'm only playing devil's advocate. In other words, I'm just testing the veracity of what you say. So yes, that's one that we've

definitely taken from the world of saints. What about the final sort of once the devil's advocate has had his say or her say, you then do become a saint by being canonised. That's not being fired from a canon. Is it canon law? Is it a book? What is the canon? Canon with one N. This goes back to the Greek meaning a rule. That's the most general sense of it. So it was a general rule or very specifically, it was a church decree. And from there, a canon came to mean a collection of sacred books accepted as being genuine, which is why we talk about a canon of literature. So it's kind of had quite a journey, that word, but definitely canon with one N from the Greek rule. Anything to do with a canon of beef? What's a canon of beef? I think a canon of beef is a

particular chunk of beef. Okay. Well, canon, the piece of artillery, goes back to the Latin for a sort of cane or a reed, a large tube. So it's the idea of a tube. And that gives you cannell all the answers. But occasionally when she doesn't, she's honest about it. I'd bluff. I'd invent something, but no. Susie actually checks it out in the Oxford English Dictionary, the largest and we think the best dictionary in the world, though Webster has a lot going for it. She's trying to keep on side with the Americans. Yes, Merriam-Webster is great. I can't find anything about a cannon and beef. Okay, you're going to have to leave that one with me. We'll come back to the cannon and beef. Can I say, Susie, you're an angel?

What's the origin of angel? Thank you. Well, that's beautiful. That goes back to Greek again. Angelos meaning messenger, a messenger from God. Angel is a beautiful word and it's always remained beautiful. Our words ebb and flow and sometimes they take a turn for the worse, but this one has definitely not. An angel was also the name given to an old English gold coin that was called the Angel

Noble. And that was during the reign of Charles I. And it was stamped with the image of the archangel Michael, who slayed a dragon. And then you've got the plant Angelica. Hold on. St. Michael slayed the dragon? What? I thought it was St. George who slayed a dragon. And then you've got the plant Angelica. Hold on, St. Michael slayed the dragon? What, I thought it was St. George that slayed the dragon? Well, I think there was the Archangel Michael as well. So I think this is not the same dragon. Oh, it's a different dragon. A different dragon.

But yes, so the plant Angelica was the angelic herb because it was believed to be an antidote to poison and disease. And to be on the side of the angels. Do you remember that? That was Disraeli, wasn't it? Who was referring to the controversy about Charles Darwin's book on the origin of species. And he said, I am on the side of the angels.

Is man an ape or an angel? I am on the side of the angels. What a piece of work is man. I've dipped into my dictionary of saints, and there is Michael the Archangel, feast day the 29 of the angels. What a piece of work is man. I've dipped into my dictionary of saints and there is Michael the Archangel, feast day the 29th of September. He's obviously a very big dude. I'm just checking whether there is this story about the... Physically? No, no, no. I mean, a very big dude in the canonised world of great saints. The well-known passage in the Apocalypse is where he appears about the war in heaven contributed to his being honoured in the West as the captain of the

heavenly host and protector of Christians in general and of soldiers in particular. Wow. I'm just glancing down this to see mention of this dragon because I don't know that I'd heard about the dragon. If you know which came first, St. George's dragon or the dragon that the Archangel Michael, according to Susie Dent, dealt with, please let us know. It's just purple at somethingelse.com, something without a G. I wonder who invented the dragon and where that word comes from. Shall we discover that after the break? Yes. And I have to tell you about St. Ethel Raider as well. I've got to tell you about loads of saints that wrote their way into English words.

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Sometimes to really tragic levels for me where I've really not felt able to cope with it. Yeah. Zoe Sugg and Nadia Hussain. I think the thing with women, firstly, is that women sometimes don't always like to see other women succeed. I think that's right, yeah. And I think there's a lot of that. And I think that's why just,

it's really hard sometimes because in the last four years, I've changed so much. Listen now in Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all good podcast apps. We're back, Giles. I can tell you about the cannon of beef. Tell me. Actually, I owe this to my producer, who I think might have eaten one.

It looks like a cannon, apparently. So it is double N, nothing to do with canonising. It's the shape of the cut of meat yes very good and the second bit of my homework was michael and slaying a dragon we'd love to hear what um people know about this but apparently the standard iconography that developed of archangel michael was as a warrior saint slaying a dragon and there was there's been some beautiful art depicting just that and how long have dragons been around? Or at least how long has the word dragon been around?

Well, dragon goes back to us. There's so much Greek today, isn't there? Dragon goes back to the Greek for a serpent. So it was one of the first senses in English, in fact, in the Middle Ages. So in the early texts, it's really difficult to know whether they're talking about a python or the mythical fire-breathing monster. But yes, it came into Middle English, so we're not talking about Anglo-Saxon times. And the word simply means serpent. It's a Greek word for serpent.

It means serpent for the Greek dracon serpent, yes. There is a saint called Saint Drogo, you know. I don't think he's related to the dragon, who is, believe it or not, the patron saint of the ugly. Oh. Also the patron saint of coffee. I don't know why that. Maybe Drogo, I don't know, and once cooked on coffee. That's interesting.

St. Jude. Can you tell me about St. Jude, by the way? Because Nick, you at Countdown mentioned him the other day. St. Jude is the patron saint of lost causes. Lost causes, yes. I'm going to look him up. Here we are. First century apostle. An apocryphal document alleges that Jude the Apostle preached the gospel and was martyred

in Persia with his fellow apostle, Simon. St. Jude enjoys great popularity as a powerful intercessor for those in desperate straits. The students of the publicity column of The Times, our newspaper, are aware. This is because this book I'm using was published many years ago. And in the old days, The Times used to have advertisements on the front page. And people would give thanks to St. Jude for his intercessions in little advertisements on the front page of the Times. So, he's the patron saint of lost causes. If you are desperate, turn to St. Jude. If you are ugly, turn to St. Drogo. If you're desperate for coffee,

turn to St. Drogo. Can I tell you about two saints that found their way into English? Because you would never guess it, I think. Now, in our episode, I think a long way back about our favourite etymologies, I may have mentioned the word tawdry. Do you remember this? I do. I don't remember what you said, though. tawdry do you remember this i do i don't remember what you said though okay so on february the third it's the feast day of blaze and he was a sixth century physician and the patron saint of wool combers because he was martyred apparently by being attacked with iron-toothed combs more grisliness um but also all those afflicted with complaints of the throat and there was a blessing administered to sufferers of any problem

with the throat through the touch of two candles held as a cross against their throat. The reason this is relevant to Tordry is because afflictions of the throat are behind the story of another saint, Ethel Dreda, who was the daughter of King Anna of East Anglia. And she fled from a really unhappy marriage and she founded an abbey in Ely, now the site of the city's cathedral. But when she died, she died from a tumour of the throat and she herself said this was divine retribution for the vanity of wearing necklaces as a youth. She became the patron saint of Ely under her popular name of Saint Audrey. And the city had an annual fair in commemoration of her and her devotion, etc. And they would sell Saint Audrey lace. So there was neckbands of lace and ribbons and the name was corrupted to

Tordry lace. And as the quality diminished, as it often does at these fairs, Tordry came to describe anything cheap and shoddy, which is such a long way away from the wonderful St. Audrey. But that's extraordinary. What a journey the language sometimes takes. I know. And my other favourite one, just to finish off my two favourite saint stories in terms of etymologies, is St. Martin.

And again, apologies to regular purple people if we talked about this, but this is quite extraordinary. So St. Martin's Day is November the 11th and that commemorates the funeral of St. Martin of Tours, who was a fourth century Roman soldier. But he has got the most wonderful story of charity and benevolence attached to him because as a soldier in Gaul, he's said to have encountered a shivering beggar on the streets and he couldn't walk on, he couldn't pass by and he took off his cloak, split it in two and gave one half to the man to warm him up. That night he said he dreamt of Christ wearing the half cloak he'd given away and saying to the angels, here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is now baptised, he has clothed

me. And on his death, half of that cloak was kept as a holy relic in a sanctuary that became known as the Capella. And Capella means little cape. And that, of course, became chapel. The Capella became chapel. Acapella means church music written for unaccompanied voices in a chapel. So again, what an amazing story from St. Martin of Tor to the word chapel. It's brilliant. This is why I love Something Rhymes with Purple. We go on these extraordinary journeys. And if you want Susie to help you navigate a linguistic journey, do please get in touch with us. Also put us right on certain things. You mentioned King Anna, the King of the East Angles. He had another daughter called Scythrid or Sethrid. And my daughter is named after that saint, Saint Scythrid.

And what is she known for? What is Saint Scythrid known for? Her beauty and her integrity. Oh, lovely. Which is quite nice. Though King Anna wasn't a happily married man and should perhaps have turned to St. Gumarus, G-U-M-A-R-U-S, who is the patron saint of difficult... Gummy bears. Sorry, I had to say that. I love them. Well, he's actually the patron saint of difficult marriages. So if your marriage is in,

pray to St. Gumarus and may be able to sort it out. There's some unusual saints. St. Julian the Hospitaller, who sounds like a good egg, but he, as well as hospitality, of course, he's also the patron saint of murderers. Believe it or not, he killed his own parents. Apparently he had good reason. Anyway, he's a saint. And if you are up on a charge of murder, it's either St. Jude or St. Julian the Hospitaller for those. Or maybe St. Rita. St. Rita is the patron saint of the impossible. Oh, wow. So if you're wishing for the impossible, something that seems so elusive, it could never happen. You go to St. Rita. That's what a miracle is all about. Dream the impossible dream. So I love this world.

I love the idea of saints and angels and all of that and dragons, don't you? Yeah. I wish we were taught this at school because when I went to a convent and I did confession and we were given a penance afterwards and I'd get 3HB or something, which would be, no, 3H, not 3HB, those are pencils, 3HB or something, which would be, no, 3H, not 3HB, those are pencils, which was three Hail Marys or, you know, whatever. I never, never, I don't know if I was taught about the saints and I never had to say prayers to the saints. My guardian angel, I remember that prayer, but no specific saint. Well, I'm going to give you a quick quiz and then we're going to get onto your three words of the week. Okay. Patron saint of, because this comes from the British Isles, we know we've got all over the world. And please do let us know where you come from,

what your local saint might be if you have them or if you don't have them. If you're a devil worshipper, this is an ecumenical podcast. We celebrate all faiths and none. So feel free to get in touch on whatever score you want to.

Susie Dent, patron saint of England. George. What date? No idea. 23rd of April. You know that. Traditionally Shakespeare's birthday as well, and also the day on which he died. We know that he died on the 23rd of April. We can check that he was born then. Oh, come on. 23rd of April, St George, Scotland. Andrew? Well done. What's the date? Autumn. November? The 30th of November. The cross of St Andrew, by tradition,

prevents witches from flying down your chimney and causing mischief. So if you've got a cross of St Andrew, place it by your chimney. Wales. Patron Saint of Wales, please. St David's Day. That's on the 1st of March, isn't it? Correct. St David's, of St. Andrew, place it by your chimney. Wales, patron saint of Wales, please. St. David's Day. That's on the 1st of March, isn't it? Correct. St. David's, of course, very useful for us quiz people. Smallest city in the UK. Is it? I didn't know that. When you next take part in Celebrity Pointless, it's the one dimension when they say, you know,

small cities. Nobody ever thinks of St. David's. Finally, Ireland. Ireland to St. Patrick. I just, I'm going to March again, but I can't, this is terrible. I can't remember exactly which day. It's the 17th of March. He, St. Patrick, is credited with banishing all the snakes from Ireland. Oh. I don't think he was as effective as people think,

because I remember going on a tramping holiday in County Cork, and there definitely was the odd grass snake in the heather. I love grass snakes. They're beautiful. Yeah. We must come back to this topic because we haven't explored St. Joan, and I'm completely fascinated by her, always have been. But we've had so many letters, communications, and thank you very much for being in touch. There's one here. I mentioned the patron saint of toffee. Oh, no, it was coffee, wasn't it? This says, hi, Giles and Susie. It's from Barry Hill in Halifax. I think it may be Halifax, England, or it could be Halifax, Nova Scotia. Thank you for a very entertaining show.

I have a seasonal question for you. Why is bonfire toffee called Tom Trot? I wonder if it was some rhyming slang to do with plot. This is because in this country, on the 5th of November, traditionally we have Bonfire Night, marking the arrest of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators who attempted to blow up Parliament at the beginning of the 17th century. Yeah. And we talked about bonfire being an abbreviation of bonfire, didn't we? We did. Yes. Tom Trot is a real mystery. I'd not heard of this before. It says in the OED that it's candy made of treacle, the same as taffy. It says it's a type of treacle

coffee, toffee. I'm not doing the same as you. But it doesn't tell us why. No one seems to know. Would it make you trot to the loo? I have no idea. I doubt it. But it goes back to the 1829 is the first record we have in the glossary. But yeah, nobody seems to know. So if anybody out there does know, I would love to hear it. Great. Jim Jams. Hi, Giles and Susie, a big fan. Oh, thank you. Often listen while doing the washing up. Actually, I do the washing up. That's okay. I like washing up. We've got a washing machine, but I like washing up. I find got a washing machine, but I like washing up. I find it very satisfying.

Anyway, I'm pleased to finally have a reason to get in touch as I stumbled upon a phrase that I couldn't get my head around. I was reading a collection of Victorian short horror stories and came across the line, let's get out of this accursed place as fast as we can. I shall have the Jim Jams if I stay here. So Jim Jams that aren't pyjamas, exactly. Well, says Sam Campbell of Colchester,

what did the horrified protagonist mean when he warned of having the Jim Jams? And how is it that we now use it to describe pyjamas? The story was from 1897, if that's any help. Yes, it is of help. It's the lovely range of meanings for Jim Jams in the OED. And because this particular entry hasn't yet been updated, it doesn't actually mention pyjamas. It mentions everything but.

So gym jam is what we call a reduplicated term or a duplicated compound. So you'll have, you know, willy nilly, shilly shally, helter skelter, etc. And both elements in this case are unexplained. Normally you can understand one of them, but these ones seem to be entirely whimsical, like flimflam, trimtram, whimwam, et cetera. So it first meant in the 16th century, a knickknack. There's another one, a fanciful or trivial article. Then it moved on to mean peculiarities or fantastic ways.

Then it meant the DTs in the 19th century, but also in the 19th century. And this is where I think this one comes on. It can mean jitteriness, the fidgets or a fit of depression. So it's really almost been a word that can be put to any use you want it to be because it sounds, I mean, I think it does sound like you've got the jitters, isn't it? The jim jams. But it went the way of pyjamas simply because the jams reminded people of pajama yeah it's journey doesn't seem to be over yet thank you for that now in a recent episode all about schools and education we discussed different terms for playing truant is it skiving

or bunking playing hooky lots of people got in touch with phrases for this sneaky act. From Brisbane in Australia, Nathan Scott Thomas tells us it's called wagging school there. Yeah, I think that's possibly goes back to the idea of a wag being a mischievous child. And that gave us the wag that is the comedian. Do you remember? Because it's short for wag halter, somebody who hangs in the noose. So it's like they're fit to hang. Sounds grisly, but I think it was applied if it can be, semi-jokingly. But I think that's where wagging school comes back, the idea of mischief. A waghalter, you hung from a waghalter? Yes. So a waghalter was somebody who, yes, would basically be hanging from the halter around their neck. So it's pretty grim, but it seems to have always been used playfully,

if that's possible, for a mischievous child or someone who gets up to no good. Gosh. On the word skiving, which I think means bunking off school, skiving or not doing proper work, Neil Hartwell gets in touch to say, when I was growing up in Northampton,

it was perfectly normal to see job advertisements for skivers. Is it a term from boot and shoe manufacturer for someone with a sharp knife who slims down the edge of leather pieces before stitching? That's what he thinks it is, a skiver. Yeah, absolutely right. So a skiver, I'm just looking it up because I didn't know this. It was somebody who pairs or splits leather. So it was used for book binding, lining hats and other things. So very good. And that goes back to a very different route because to skive off school is esquive, which means to dodge in French. This is what we think. But to skive in this sense of leather is a Viking word and it's related to shive. And a shive is like a slice. Gerard Manley Hopkins talks about shive light as the light that shines through the canopy of trees. So they're all linked.

Beautiful, beautifully put. Finally, Chris Morton emails to say, I grew up in South Lanarkshire, just outside Glasgow city limits. And many parents who've moved into the area, or substitute teachers, have a shock moment when kids say they've been dogging, to mean skiving from school. I know other areas say dog it, but both my parents, myself, I'm 25, and kids currently in school use dogging as the standalone word. Wow. I can't. I'm treading carefully. We must promise people, I want us to have another Dirty episode. It's a while since we actually got down and dirty. Charles, you sound slightly too excited at this point. Well, no, I'm just feeling that, you know, we've got to give people something to live for.

These are grim, dark times and nobody actually wants, I mean, nobody I know wants to go dogging, but people quite are amused to hear about the origins of the word. Oh, look, look, look, look, I found it. Sorry, as you were talking excitedly about doing a dirty episode, I found it. 1905, it can mean originally in the US to act lazily or half-heartedly, to slack or idle, or to shirk, avoid a duty. So this is given as American rather than, did you say it was Australian?

No, I said it was from Glasgow, South Lanarkshire. Oh, from Glasgow. Oh, sorry. Okay. But I think it's once again the bad reputation that dogs seem to have. And we always just describe any kind of evil to them, which is extremely unfair.

Yeah, very good. Just to say, we will, when we do do our dogging episode, we will warn you, there will be a health warning first. So if you don't want to hear about it, please don't. Yeah, very good. Just to say, when we do do our dogging episode, we will warn you there will be a health warning first. So if you don't want to hear about it, please don't. Meanwhile, have you got a trio? Okay, I'll look forward to that, Giles. Have you got a trio of words, new, inspiring, uplifting words? I've got some things written down, but because you mentioned dragons,

I'm going to give you a German word to start with, which is Drachenfutter. Who? Drachenfutter, which is D-R-A-C-c-h-e-n drachen which means dragon and then futter f-u-t-t-e-r which means food it's a bit sexist this one drachenfutter is a gift that a man will give to his girlfriend or partner of any description in order to appease them for coming home late or having done something wrong. Drachenfutter. It's dragon food. It's a bit sexist, isn't it? Oh, it is, isn't it? Yes. Yes. Yes. Anyway, just was reminded of that one. This one I love. We're going to stay with foreign languages. It's something I learned this week and it's Finnish and I've no idea

how to pronounce it, but I'll give it a go.onkusema which is p-o-r-o-n k-u-s-e-m-a and it's an old Finnish measurement of around seven and a half kilometers and it's calculated by how far reindeer can travel before it needs to pee so I think it literally means reindeer wee so I love that it just, they actually have a measurement for according to how long a reindeer can go. And do you know what, Giles, I'm going to stick with foreign languages. Why not? We're going to have a foreign language trio. The third one is lagom, which is Swedish, and it is the golden quantity, really. Not too much, not too little, just spot on, lagom. Well, look, we've been to the world of saints.

You've given us beautiful language. One of my grandchildren has given me a limerick to share, saying, Grandpa, are you still doing those poems at the end of your podcast? I said, yes, and they gave me this limerick. I'm papering walls in the loo, and quite frankly, I haven't a clue for the pattern's all wrong or the paper's too long

and I'm stuck to the toilet with glue. This is the only podcast in which we'll go from dogging to a limerick from a grandson. Don't get him to listen to that one. That's our lot, isn't it, for this week? It is our lot, yes. Something Rhymes with Purple is a Something Else production produced by Lawrence Passett with additional production from Harriet Wells, Steve Ackerman, Ella McLeod, Jay Beale and Gully. Where is he?

He's out dogging.