Something Rhymes with Purple - Brabble

Episode Date: August 20, 2019

Mouse and Muscle. Négligé and Negligent. Rectum and Rectitude. This week we’re talking about words of a feather: unlikely linguistic double acts or siblings. A Somethin’ Else Production. 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

losses and real talk with special guests from the Athletes Village and around the world you'll never have a fear of missing any Olympic action from Paris. Listen to Olympic FOMO wherever you get your podcasts. Make your nights unforgettable

with American Express. Unmissable show coming up? Good news. We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main We'll see you next time. Annex. Benefits vary by car and other conditions apply. Susie, I couldn't wait to see you. I've just come from a meeting in a building where I went to the loo and there was a notice on the door that said, toilet out of order, please use floor below.

Anyway, I just wanted to share that with you. I am Giles Brandreth, you are Susie Dent. This is Something Rhymes With Purple. It's our weekly podcast all about the wonder of the world of words. And we try to give ourselves a loose theme for each show to think about before we get here. And words of a feather is the phrase you came up with this week. I remember birds of a feather. I loved that sitcom. Did you? What are words of a feather? Words of a feather, well, obviously, as you say, it's a riff on birds of a feather. That's a proverb that's about 500 years

old now. Oh, you mean birds of a feather flock together? Together, exactly. So it was just lots of proverbs that riff on a similar theme. But this is not about birds today. It's about double acts. Do you think that we have worked together long enough to be called a double act? I hope so. I would like that. Someone's bringing us tea,

which shows you that we are recognised as a double act. Somebody actually comes into the room and brings us tea. Come on, that's it. Who's it going to be bringing us tea today? Oh, it's a young person. Hello. I'm Giles. This is Susie.

Hi, Giles and Susie. Who are you? Thank you. I'm Grace. Hello, Grace. Hello. Now, Grace is a little girl who didn't wash her face in another old poem. Really?

Which child is full of grace? Sunday's child is full of... Tuesday. Tuesday. I was born on a Tuesday. There you are. Is that why you were called Grace full of... Tuesday. Tuesday. I was born on a Tuesday. There you are. Is that why you were called Grace? I hope so.

Tuesday's child is full of grace. How's the rest of the poem going? Wednesday's child is full of woe. Thursday's child has far to go. Friday's child is... Oh, God. Bonnie and Blythe. Sunday's child is meek and mild.

But Sunday's child has furthest to go. Sunday's Child is good. I think that's great. We're going to have to look that up. Anyway, Grace, thank you so much for bringing us our lovely cups of tea. This is because we're actually, sometimes we record the podcast at Susie's home in her lovely kitchen with her nice garden and her cat. But today we've come to the Something Else Studios, which is basically the podcast capital of the world, because Something Else are the people who create all the world's best podcasts. And that was Grace, who's clearly

one of the team here. I'm sorry, but I cannot finish this without going through that poem. Monday's child is fair of face. Tuesday's child is full of grace. Wednesday's child is full of woe. Thursday's child has far to go. That's me. I never knew how to take that. Friday's child is fair of face. Tuesday's child is full of grace. Wednesday's child is full of woe. Thursday's child has far to go. That's me. I never knew how to take that. Friday's child is loving and giving. Saturday's child works hard for a living. But the child who is born on the Sabbath day is bonny and blithe, merry and gay.

There you go. There we are. That was going to really bug me if I didn't get this one. Sorry, I've just hit my microphone by fist pumping you, Giles. Double acts. Double acts. Double acts. Now, since you mentioned situation comedy and double acts, one of my few claims to fame is that many years ago,

I wrote the scripts for the sitcom of a double act. The double act were two guys who performed as women. They were called Hinge and Bracket. Hinge and Bracket. Right, I knew you were going to say this. You wrote their first sketch. Well, not their first sketch. No, I wrote the TV series. It was called Dear Ladies. And they created a world, Patrick Fyfe really created the world, of Stackton Trestle, this village where they lived. And it was them chatting away,

being reminiscent. And it was great fun writing for a double act. How amazing. So I think we are the hinge and bracket of linguistics. We are the verbal hinge and bracket. Well, funny you should say that, because obviously we're here to talk about words and language. And so I thought a nice theme for one of our podcasts would be words that are siblings in language,

but that you would never really think of putting together. Give me an example. So I'll give you an example. A mortuary and a mortgage. I mean, some people might think paying off your mortgage might put you in a mortuary. Mortuary and mortgage. There's a connection. Is the correction the M-O-R-T? Yes. Which means death in Latin and in French. Yes.

Mort. Yes. So we know that the mortuary is the place where you end up on the slab before they put you in the coffin, before they put you in the ground or the furnace. The mortgage, the gauge part is a kind of debt or a pledge. A pledge. Like a bet. I mean, gage in French is to place a bet. So that's your bet until you die is your mortgage.

Gosh, have you paid off yours yet? God, no. What a long way to go. They go on forever. They go on forever. And then you have to remortgage to help your children get their houses. Do you? Yeah.

Lovely. And then, you know, eventually. And then you have to sell your own property, mortgage it again, in order to pay for your old folks' home. Yeah. Or your care when you're so, you know,, we are in hock, which is another word. What's the origin of hock? Hock, that's, I think, related to hawk.

I think it goes back to pawn shops, P-A-W-N, I should say, quickly, which brings us back to the pledge bit. I'll go back to mortgage. Yeah, give us mortgage and we'll go back to hock in a minute. Okay, so it's a death pledge essentially not because it pays you it kills you to pay it off but because if the borrower doesn't honor the pledge and pay what's due the property will be dead to its owner in other words it will be forfeited so a bit sinister isn't it it's very interesting the way in this country we are hooked on mortgages and hooked on home ownership. In other countries, people rent in a much more relaxed way. In Germany, for example, renting is quite normal.

Oh, absolutely. And with cars nowadays... And in New York and, yep, wherever. Young people rent their cars. They don't buy them. People of my generation are the only people that buy cars. Young people lease cars. People of my generation, we were brought up to buy. You had to buy your home. You had to own your own home. And that, of course, was very much encouraged by Mrs. Thatcher and her conservative government in the 1980s.

We've all got to own our own homes. I think the nation is still obsessed with owning their own home. And for some people, it was a big boon because in the days of high inflation, if you owned your own home, inflation pushed the value of your home up. But in fact, what you had to repay didn't necessarily go up, except it may have done if it wasn't a fixed interest rate. So maybe we're just over-mortgaged and over-obsessed with mortgage. I mean, you have a mortgage. We need to deleverage. I do have a mortgage. But your eldest daughter, who's almost old enough to leave home now, is she going to uni? She's going to uni. And will she get a flat there? Will she rent a flat? I don't know. I think she'll be in student accommodation. Digs, student digs.

Was that digging in, I suppose? No, it goes back to old gold digging sites. So in the Gold Rush of California, for example, digs would be, first of all, the accommodation that literally dug out of the ground and then eventually encompassed all the various facilities that kind of, you know, were created around them. So it's literal digging in unpopulated land that surrounded gold fields or gold mines. If you are in hock to somebody, what is the origin of that? Actually, just looking it up in the wonderful Oxford English dictionary, it's not very clear, actually. It goes back to a French hock, so maybe nothing to do with hawking and pawn shops, which was my guess,

but we don't really know, to be honest. It was the name of an old card game in which certain privileged cards given to the person who... It's all very complicated. I don't think you want me to read that very long definition, but it was an old card game played in the 18th century. So it's something to do with maybe gambling?

Yes. In hock? Yes. I'm indebted to you. It's the same sort of idea of a pledge. Yeah. Yeah. So you're saying that mortuary and mortgage,

two unlikely words, but they're related. Yes. How about mouse and muscle? Mouse and muscle. Mouse. Now, flex your biceps. Show me your biceps. Which are my biceps?

These are my... Oh, these. Giles is really casual for Giles. This is not really what I would expect. He's wearing a very loose-fitting Czech shirt. I associate it with suits and ties. I got into this when I was doing that thing a few weeks ago, months ago. You're still flexing your biceps.

Okay. Since I can, I will. I did this celebrity goggle box with my friend. Oh, months ago. You're still flexing your biceps. Okay, since I can, I will. I did this celebrity goggle box with my friend. Oh my goodness, you're working out your biceps in case you need to be on the celebrity version. Yes. Of naked attraction. Well, no, I wasn't going to say that.

I was saying we sometimes watched in our gym jams and kimonos. Yes. So that's when I got into the idea of wearing something more loose fitting. Ah because it's summer i thought i'd wear a loose fitting shirt but i've got my biceps they are like little ripples i am rippling them you can't see anything because nothing's happening it's heartbreaking okay just do i'm doing it relax and relax and have a look in what shape can you see under your arm look Look, look at that movement. There is a beautiful movement there. What's happening?

Okay, well, does it possibly look like a little rodent scuttling under your skin? Oh, you mean like a little mouse running up my arm in my muscles? To some ancient anatomist, that kind of rippling bit of flesh there must have looked like a scurrying little mouse because the Latin for a little mouse is musculus. And that eventually is where we got muscle from. Oh, that's amazing. It's cool, isn't it? So the word muscle, as in your muscles, is big and muscular. I thought it was a little mouse.

Is a little mouse. Yes. That puts us in perspective, doesn't it? Talked about kimonos. What about negliges? Negliges. That might be linked to negligent. That puts us in perspective, doesn't it? Talk about kimonos. What about negligés? Negligé. That's a French word. That might be linked to negligent.

Negligé is a French word for meaning almost nothing. Yes. She's wearing a negligé. It's almost nothing. It's negligible. It's virtually nothing. It's a little flimsy je ne sais quoi. I picture it usually in black, but virtually see-through.

I imagine you picture it quite a lot. OK. Speaking of which, I would if you have a negligee. No, I have a similar kind of cami that sounds a bit like that, but not a whole negligee. People used to talk about cami and cami knickers. What is a cami and what are cami knickers? It's a camisole.

Cami knickers are... Why are they called cami? Because I have cami knickers. I actually do not know. People are going to be screaming into their radios or devices they're using. Well, people are of a certain vintage because I don't think these sound like costumes worn by people in the 1920s. The original cami knickers I do not wear. An undergarment which combines a cami sole and knickers back in 1908.

And in the Daily Mail of 1923, people were writing about cami petticoats of heavy artificial silk stockinette. That's definitely not what I wear. Maybe I'm not wearing cami knickers. I think I wear, why are we talking about my knickers? Let's move on or back to negliges. Negliges. Explain to me what a negligee is. Well, a negligee is, I'm going to give you, I'm not going to get into this territory with what I wear

so I'm just going to explain the definition of a negligee. It's like a slip or an undergarment. It's quite revealing. It's a revealing, oh she was in a nothing but a negligee. So it started off in the 18th century as a kind of loose gown worn by women.

But then it became something that they would wear to be casual and presumably quite sensual. So we know what a negligee is. What was the other word? So the idea negligent is just, it simply goes back to the idea that a woman donning such a casual outfit was ignoring the kind of quite elaborate conventions of the day. Yeah. That's really where that one comes from. Yeah. That's really where that one comes from. Pupil and puppet.

Pupil and puppet are connected in some way. Pupil, this meaning a person who is a child at school rather than a pupil of your eye. Yes, we'll come back to that. Yes. And a puppet. Well, we know what a puppet is. I'm very into puppeteering. I love.

Actually, I don't think I've ever left my childhood. I'm amazed I actually managed to turn up here in 2019, 2020, because I'm still locked in the 1950s and 1960s. The moment you say puppet, I think of Punch and Judy on the beach of Broadstairs. Oh, but it was so unsuitable. Punch and Judy, he was incredibly violent. He was, he was. Punchinello. I mean, he abused his wife. He did. He had a huge stick. And most of the show was him chasing his wife, hitting poor Judy over the head.

They called the police. The police were useless. They accepted sausages as sort of bribes. Bags of mystery. You know, in fact, Punch and Judy kiosks are coming back. This is how I know Punch and Judy, because you will find some in traditional seaside towns. Anyway, I'll give you the connection if anybody's still with us. A puppet is sort of a little doll.

And the pupilla in Latin meant a little doll. Do you remember this? Because I think I've mentioned it before. Because in relation, you've mentioned it in relation to butterflies. Oh. Is that possible? I think I've mentioned it in relation to the pupil of the eye, which I'll come back to. But pupils going to school, little children, they were seen as, they were sort of diminutive beings, if you like.

And so the pupils that go to school are then related to the puppets, which were little dolls. And the pupilla, the pupil of your eye, one of my favourite, favourite etymologies, which I'm sure I've not bored you with, hopefully entranced you with before, because I think it's so beautiful. It gives me goosebumps. The pupil of the eye is so named because when you look into the eyes of someone else, you see a tiny little doll-like reflection of yourself. So that's pupilla little doll. Isn't that beautiful? I love that. Anyway, that's the link there.

Little doll. Isn't that beautiful? I love that. Anyway, that's the link there. Where do I, have I been distracted by thinking there's something to do with when a butterfly is born? Before, it's a butterfly. It's a chrysalis. Yes.

And there is some pupillary word involved. A pupate. Pupate. That's pupating. Is that anything to do with it? The pupa. That's a really, really good question. The pupa and pupating, they are sort of slightly distant cousins, I would say. I'll give you the pupating definition in the OED.

The change into a pupa or chrysalis. In German, it's verpuppen, which is lovely. Because puppen is a doll in German isn't it as well? it is definitely linked and it goes back to the idea of a little being if you like so something that's in its embryonic stage hence it's linked to the kind of girl or doll

idea it's interesting that also looking into one another's eyes and seeing the miniature version of yourself the pupil and of yourself, the pupil in another. And of course, that is what the beginning of a love affair always involves. Two people coming together and that conversation. You know, you think I'm me. I think I'm you.

They're all looking into each other's eyes. And your pupils dilate. And your pupils dilate. But can I tell you as an older person here, don't think that that will necessarily last. It can last. Limerence is the name for that. Oh, what that oh what not lasting no it's an infatuation sudden infatuation with somebody the limerence is the feeling the exhilaration of falling in love with the sort of slight hint that it may not last yeah and honeymoon also we need to do something on love and that yet oh we must honeymoon is the most cynical thing of the love i'll save that let's do honeymoon let's go to rectum now thank you

let's move straight to the rectum do you have any idea what rectitude and rectum have in common well rect means right and maybe as in right as an upright as well straight straight rectum and what was the other one rectitude so somebody who has rectitude is somebody who is very upright and very proper yeah and somebody who has um you know something up the rectum is also suddenly upright and proper the one that is because the rectum is part of your bottom yes isn't it so unlike the curvaceous bit of your intestines the small intestines the rectum is the straight part of your bowel so it's not the cul-de-sac which is near there the original cul-de-sac was a part

of the intestines that kind of literally is looped um so it's kind of like a dead end if you like um so it's not that the rectum is the straight part so it all goes back to the idea of being straight which reminds me of another thing and forgive me for repeating all of my favourite things in this podcast, but it reminds me of the name for intestines in Anglo-Saxon times and a little bit after Anglo-Saxon times, the arse ropes. Remember those? Oh, I love the arse ropes. They are. The intestines in Anglo-Saxon time. But sticking with rectum and rectitude, is recta, as in the new vicar, a recta?

Yes. Is that the same connection? Yes. Sorry, I was just looking up cul-de-sac. French for sack bottom or bag bottom. So it's the blind gut. That's what it's defined as. Cul-de-sac.

The cul-de-sac. And that's near the rectum, but the rectum is the straight part of your bowel system. Straight part, exactly. So, yes, it is to do with, I'm looking at rector here. It is all linked, but it's also linked to regent. Oh.

So here we go. I have rector here. I think there is an ancient link there with rectitude and rectum, although most rectors won't be pleased to hear that. But actually, its most direct

ancestor is the Latin regere meaning to rule, which gave us regent as well, or regere, depending on how you pronounce it. Ah, so there may be a loose connection, but really, rector is to do with being, as it were, in charge. Like the regent, the person who's ruling. Exactly, the superior. The superior person

running the church is the rector, but we hope he has rectitude, and we hope he has no problems with his rectum. Nothing's got stuck in the cul-de-sac on its way to the rectum. Oh, I've got one other I have to give you. OK, give us one more, then we must take a break. Yes. Or should we do it after the break? OK, let's get excited.

It's worth staying tuned after the break because she's got something that is, well, those goosebumps. I can see the goosebumps. On my biceps. On her biceps beneath her negligee. Bumble knows it's hard to start conversations. Hey. No, too basic. Hi there.

Still no. What about hello, handsome? Who knew you could give yourself the ick? That's why Bumble is changing how you start conversations. You can now make the first move or not. 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.

Go back to school with Rogers and get Canada's fastest and most reliable internet. Perfect for streaming lectures all day or binging TV shows all night. Save up to $20 per month on Rogers Internet. Visit rogers.com for details. We got you. Rogers. We're talking double acts today on Something Rhymes with Purple.

Do you have a favorite show business double act? One for my dad has to be Morkum and Wise. Of course. He used to just copy Eric Morkum so many, so many different ways, particularly the sort of whole glasses, you know, the way he used to move his glasses up and down his head. And do you remember that wonderful scene which my dad used to replay all the time and tell us about where they're making breakfast and to the music and they catch the toast to the beat. It's brilliant. So, but in my time, I would say probably French and Saunders. I think they are utterly brilliant.

Yeah. Totally good. How about you? Well, I'm going to choose my friends Hinge and Brackett. Why not? But I mean, I loved, of course, Walkman Wise. I loved the two Ronnies. I love French and Saunders.

I love a double act. It's a very interesting phenomenon. And what is always fascinating to me about a double act is that it only works if both of them work. You know, people used to think that Ernie Wise was just the feed. But in fact, if you see them together, he's indispensable. And it was the same with Inge and Brackett. They occasionally did work separately. And together, they were greater than the sum of their parts. Same as Laurel and Hardy. I mean, there are so many, aren't there? Though, isn't it interesting? They were brilliant. They were clearly brilliant.

But clearly their act was brilliant. Did you see the film last year or the year before? Oh, I have yet to see that, but I've heard it was astonishing. Really good. Yeah. Really good with Alan Partridge playing. I called him Alan Partridge. You know what I mean.

Must be awful to be known by the character you play by your real name. I don't think he would necessarily love that. Anyway. Do you know? What's he called? Yeah, exactly. The mind has gone blank. Steve Coogan.

Steve Coogan. Steve Coogan. Steve Coogan. Well, we're talking about double acts in English, aren't we? Yeah. And just surprising siblings. So things that you wouldn't necessarily share a past of some kind. There are just so many.

Senate and senile because the senate goes back to senix meaning old man. There's one I must ask you about before we get on to the listeners questions. Yoga and conjugal. Yoga and conjugal. Because it's such an unlikely combination. Yoga we know about. We do. Though I'm not quite sure what the origin of yoga is. It's a kind of meditation exercise isn't it? Yes. And conjugal is to do with being a couple. joining giblets as they used to call it joining giblets is that the expression i'll save that for the loved one too okay i have to do love soon um okay so it's sanskrit yoga meaning the act of yoking so joining um and in indian philosophy

it was the idea of joining uh with the divine so it was a spiritual union so that's why yoga is linked to the act of conjugal, which is, of course, coming together and uniting in that way. Can you give me just one more? Okay. Virago and werewolf. Virago, I'll give you two more very quick couplets. Virago and werewolf.

Well, werewolf goes back to V-I-R, ultimately, the Latin for a man, which gave us virile and also virtue, because virtue was originally associated with masculine qualities rather than female ones. And a virago is a bad-tempered, vicious woman with very aggressive male-like qualities. So man is the link there.

Sardine and sardonic. Sardonic, first... Sorry, what's the connection with the werewolf? Sorry, the werewolf. So VIR became were, meaning man in Anglo-Saxon time. So a werewolf is a man-wolf. Half man, half wolf. Sorry, hurrying along too much.

Rago and werewolf. Yeah. Sardine and sardonic. Sardines were originally fish that came from the island of Sardinia. Sardonic, that kind of grim, grimacing humour, if you like, was first applied to the facial convulsions that were produced by eating a bitter plant grown on the island of Sardinia. Oh, the sardonic look. Yes. Susie, I want you to dip into our postbag now. But before you do, I wrote down on my way here from the underground, I passed the local health food shop.

We're in N1 here. It's ablaze with health food shops. And amusingly, it was the health food shop. And there was a notice in the window saying closed due to illness. Made me laugh anyway. It was the health food shop. Closed due to illness. That is good.

What are the queries? They're not good. The queries are, well, do you remember, quite recently, we talked about the filler, like really getting on people's nerves to the extent that one school

put it in a word jail. And I said I wasn't that keen. I wasn't that fond with the idea of a word jail. But it turns out our listeners feel exactly the opposite because they've come up with so many nominations for things that need to go into word prison.

One of which, or one of whom, is Timothy Ledger, who's written in to say, I have one word that needs putting in there, get. I always remember my English teacher saying, this is a word which must never be used, although she gave no explanation. I suspect she just felt it was a pretty poor word. How do you stand on get, Giles?

Oh, I find it very irritating. We go to the pizza parlor and I say, oh, I'd love to have, or may I have, or I'd like to have the quattro formaggi. And my children and grandchildren are saying, oh, I'll get the Four Seasons. I'll get the this. I'll get that. What, oh, I'll get the Four Seasons. I'll get the this. I'll get that. What do you mean I'll get it? Well, if you want to get up and get it, you can. But the question is, I will have it.

I will get. Yeah, I think it's funny. I find it quite strange that people get very worked up at this because it's been with us, you know, almost forever, almost since the beginning of language. But I think the objection is that we use it too much instead of more precise verbs. I think that's the idea. It irritates beginning of language. But I think the objection is that we use it too much instead of more precise verbs. I think that's the idea.

It irritates people. Yeah. The only thing I would say is that some Shakespearean experts say that, and I wouldn't be able to give you a quote for this. I need to find one. But that Shakespeare wasn't averse to using formulations similar to, can I get a coffee? Although obviously he wasn't asking for a cappuccino. But he used get in that way. So I don't have a problem with get,

unless I suppose it is used in a very, very lazy way. I certainly don't have a problem with gotten, which is another thing that people hate and associate it very much with American English. And what about sat? But it's not, I would just say. King James' Bible, Shakespeare, they used gotten. And for me, I really like it because it implies a process.

So he had gotten angry. To me, it implies that he had steadily reached the point of real anger. He had gotten angry. Rather than he'd got angry. Because once you start saying it in a Shakespearean voice, it becomes more acceptable. He had gotten angry. Sat, you mentioned. Sat.

Oh, he was sat there all that time. I know. He was sitting there. I'm always quoting my poor youngest. She loves language, actually. And for her, she will simply say he was sat there. Well, isn't it more correct to say he was sitting there? Well, correct.

He was sitting there. Yes, it's been a regional variant for centuries and centuries and centuries. He was sat there. So unless you're going to knock dialect and say that dialect isn't a legitimate English, I think you can say he was sat there. It's still non-standard, certainly for formal context. I wouldn't write it on an exam paper or to your bank manager if you still write to your bank manager. But it's not, it is an acceptable variant.

You should be so lucky as to have a bank manager. I mean, for goodness sake, does anybody know the name of their bank manager, writing to their bank manager? I do. I know the name of mine, but that's probably bad, isn't it, if you know the name of your bank manager? No, it's good because it shows us how much money you must have. Oh, my goodness. No, I'm sorry. They only take interest in people who are known now as high net worth individuals. That's not me.

The rest of us, I'm afraid, well, there may be other reasons, but the point is it isn't like it used to be. In the old days, and then this rant will stop, but I'm just speaking up for the people who belong to the generation that don't like sat, don't like get, like the language to be traditional and precise. And we loved it when there was a proper bank manager.

Like in the Mary Poppins days. You could go and see this person, him or her. They would get to know you. They'd get to understand your circumstances. When my wife and I first bought our first flat, he actually, the bank manager, came in his little car to see that it was there before we got the money.

And if somebody knows and understands your finances, then they can give you a loan. And you don't get into problems like 2008 if people know what they're doing. So I am speaking up for the traditional bank manager. There we are. I've had my rant. And now I would like to hear your trio. Three interesting words for us to put into our minds and keep.

Well, if I was ungenerous, I might just accuse you of having brabbled. Brabbled? Brabble, an old dialect word. I think it's born purely for its sound. To argue noisily about things that don't really matter. To brabble. I have to say, the bank manager issue does matter. Oh, OK.

I'm blaming that crisis. I'm not saying bank bank manager issue does matter. Oh, okay. I'm blaming that crisis. I'm not saying bank managers themselves don't matter. I was just thinking we're getting slightly over irate, if I may say so. As a noun, it is also a petty quibble, a captious objection or dispute. It goes back to the 1500s. Well, it's a very good word. I have to say, I won't argue with that. I think brabbling is a good word.

And I am a bit of a brabbler because you're right. It doesn't really matter. Can I get, may I have to say, I won't argue with that. I think brabbling is a good word. And I am a bit of a brabbler. Because you're right, it doesn't really matter. Can I get, may I have? It doesn't really matter, because you're still communicating clearly. And when you brabble, you might be making yourself feel atrobilious. Now, I've heard of this word. Atrobilious. Bilious means bilious, as in not feeling very pleasant. What's the of bile. What's the atra bile? It means... A-T-R-A, is it? Yes.

It's from the Latin, as you might expect. And it means full of black bile. So the definition is to be sullen, bad-tempered, or a bit melancholy. Yeah. It's not worth it. It isn't worth it. And you know, the black bile was this, originally an imaginary fluid that was thick, black and acrid, and it was thought to be the cause of melancholy. And in fact, the mella in melancholy is linked to melanoma and other things to do with black. It's all to

do with blackness. And melancholy was thought to be produced by this surfeit of black bile. Atrobilious. Suffering from black bile. Don't be atrobilious. Be happy. No, be bibulous. Now, this doesn't apply to you at all. Now, this is drinking.

Isn't it your teetotal? Yes, to be bibulous is to be fond of alcoholic beverages. I can brattle without being bibulous. You can brabble. Brattle without being bibulous. Bibulous brabbling is the worst. What is the origin of bibulous? Bibulous, the last in bibber,

aiming to drink. So, bibulous... So, that's enough bibulous braddling. Oh, gosh, I can't even say it. That's enough bibulous braddling from us today. Don't be atrabilious. Be happy, as the Dalai Lama says.

Be happy. It's easier that way. This has been Something Rhymes with Purple. Do get in touch with us if you'd like to. It's purple at somethingelsewithouttheg.com and

this production, well, production I use the language loosely, almost as loosely as my friend Susie Dent does. It was produced by Paul Smith with additional production from Lawrence Bassett, Steve Ackerman, and... Gully! Yay!

Is he a puppet or is he a pupil? I must say, you look really good in that negligee.