Something Rhymes with Purple - Lovely Jubbly

Episode Date: March 5, 2024

'A moo point is like a cows opinion, it doesn't matter, it's moo'. This week Gyles and Susie have fun looking at the influence that television has had on language.  Gyles gets nostalgic with some of his and his children's favourite UK and American TV programmes.  And Susie explores the words that were popularised by these household TV shows.  We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us on our email address here: [e-mail] Want even more purple, people? Join the Purple Plus Club by clicking the banner in Apple podcasts or head to purpleplusclub.com to listen on other platforms' Don’t forget that you can join us in person at our upcoming tour, tap the link to find tickets: www.somethingrhymeswithpurple.com  Why not work one of Susie's trio's into a sentence this week?   Crumpsy: Cranky and irritable from old dialect.  Braggadocio: An idle or empty boaster, all mouth and no trousers.  Apostasise: To abandon a once firmly held promise or principal.  Gyles' poem comes from our listener Chris McAuley and is titled 'Father'  If you find yourself forgetting the small things like keys,  Moments which we spent together feeding the ducks or playing in the park,  I shall remember them for you,  And in those memories be still guided by your hand  As we walk through the town on that cold rainy day.  Someday, I will forget those times. They will be cast to the wind,  Scattered like leaves caught in the maelstrom of time.  But today, I sit with my cup of tea and think about the small moments  Of those precious days, and how much they mean to me. A 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

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Hello, Giles here. And knowing that we have a family audience, and the Purple people often include some very young people, just to say that today's episode does include some language that some people may find uncomfortable or offensive. Hello and welcome to Something Rhymes with Purple. And do you know what? I'm not going to linger very much in this introduction because we have so much to cover today. We've chosen a subject that is just packed full and I think probably is worthy of about four or five episodes. So without further ado, Giles, is there anything you'd like to say before we kick off on the language?

I'd like to say I've got a terrible cough and a cold and i'm feeling guilty because after we finish this recording i'm going to take you if you don't mind into the purple plus club because uh people may not know about this we we have a an extra episode that we called it's a short episode it's fun we disappear into another room and we chat about really anything we like at the moment we're doing kind of A to Z of wit and wisdom. And it's more about words and language and I'm afraid more name dropping anecdotes from me. Anyway, it's fun. Not so many, actually.

In case anybody wanted to escape them, there aren't very many name dropping episodes. Oh, thank you. Excursions in the... No, you're right. In fact, every episode, in a sense, is name dropping because often in recent episodes, we've been talking about remarkable writers. Yeah. You writers, kind of A to Z of wit and wisdom. Recently, we did an episode on Thomas Mann, your great hero. And I was fascinated to talk more recently still about E. Nesbitt, Edith Nesbitt, the children's writer, whose own life was pretty complicated, but whose stories, whose children's stories, I wanted to rediscover because I think they would make good, though they were intended for young people, I think they'd make good comfort reading for an old fellow like me. Anyway, if you're interested in joining the Purple Plus Club, you just have to become a subscriber, and you get these, all the main

episodes, then ad-free. It's only 2.99 a month, which is, you know, the price of a coffee when you're out and about. So stay in, and make your own coffee and join us in the Purple Plus Club. Now, you're keen to get on with whatever we're going to talk about, and you've chosen this subject. And why? Why have you chosen this subject? Well, because there's a bit of a truism to say that language is defined very much these days by popular culture and social media particularly. And so I thought we've never actually really dedicated a good chunk of time to television and how that has influenced language.

And, you know, particularly the programmes that have really imprinted themselves upon English and whose mark remains pretty indelible, actually, you know, even 30, 40, 50 years on. So I thought it might be a fun subject and also might shine a light on how language does evolve and how things that are close to us, things that we watch collectively can have such a big impact. Well, give me a, let's do, because television, of course, is global. Let's sort of jump between British and, say, American. Can we begin with a British show that's introduced words into our language? Can you give me an example? Okay. Well, if I was to say to you, lovely jubbly, Giles. Oh. So, quintessentially British, isn't it? I would think of David Jason, Del Boy, in Only Fools and Horses. Yes.

Would you think, though, of an advertising slogan for an orange drink that was sold in a pyramid-shaped paper carton? No. Is that where it comes from? Yeah. I think from the 40s and 50s, Lovely Jabbily was an orange drink. And people do remember it, so I think it must have uh it must have endured for quite a long time and been quite popular for a long time but basically john sullivan who wrote only fools and horses this incredible and incredibly successful um british comedy series

he heard that um advertising slogan or remembered it and thought it would be a brilliant expression for delboy to use and it has caught on and stayed with us ever since. Wonderful. Do you know Sir David Jason? No, I've never met him. Oh, well, you're going to meet him because he's coming to a party that I've invited you to where we're celebrating Shakespeare. Oh, yes. He's a wonderful, wonderful actor and a delightful person.

So I shall have pleasure in introducing you to the great David Jason. Excellent. Plonker is another word that I think he's made popular. Is that right? Yes. That must be older. That must be... Plonker.

Yes. So this was one, actually, where I think John Sullivan, as I say, the writer, thought it might not get through the BBC censors because, like so many insults, even the playful ones, it meant the penis essentially. So to pull one's plonker, you can imagine what that meant in the 1920s, that was to masturbate. And then from there on, it kind of came to mean the same as pulling someone's leg to deceive them in a sort of slightly playful way. But in the 50s, it became a byword for a sort of a fool, someone who was kind of inept or clumsy or whatever. And of course, that's how David Jason

uses it. And what about kushti? Yes, kushti. Well, this, as you will imagine, is from Romani and ultimately goes back to a Hindi word meaning pleasure. So kushti simply means good, fine and dandy and is first recorded in 1929. And of course, there's another person who says it. He's very much associated or very much a bit of a national treasure in Britain. And that's Jamie Oliver uses kushti all the time. He's a very celebrated cook. Let's cross the Atlantic now. When my children were younger, they were hooked on Friends.

I mean, Only Fools and Horses is my kind of thing. Friends I came to simply because my daughters in particular just loved it. And you're telling me that that introduced words and phrases into our language, that show? Well, definitely sort of catchphrases, you know, things like friend zone. I don't think it actually created or coined friend zone, but it definitely pushed it into the language. That's, you know, a situation which is platonic between two people, but one person of the two would like it to be romantic. And there's also a lobster, which is in an episode called The One With The Prom Video.

And Phoebe refers to Rachel as being Ross's lobster because lobsters fall in love and mate for life. I'm not sure that's completely true, but still. Maybe that phrase, the one with, which they used in the title of each episode, I've seen that phrase used in other contexts. That's true, too. And that might have been made popular by that.

Forgive me, what were you saying? That's very true. And BFF, Best Friend Forever, used by Phoebe. She didn't invent it, been around for a while. But, you know, that certainly was popularised. Then you have silly things like a Frenescence, quality time with a close friend, a moo point. That is from Joey, who, as always, is a little bit hapless, misunderstands the phrase a moo

point. And so he calls it a moo point. That is the one where Chandler doesn't like dogs. And he tells Rachel, a moo point is like a cow's opinion. It doesn't matter. It's moo, which is great so yes definitely it did how you doing um i mean just lots of phrases that are either inextricably linked friends these days or which have just kind of you know been filtered into the mainstream

there's a phrase that apparently gained currency from the 90s because it was used by joey played by matt leblanc of course um going commando yeah clearly when i was young going commando did not mean which i think it means now not wearing any underwear yes when when did this originate i mean when i was a child going commando meant you were doing brave and dangerous things probably in the desert as a commando. But going commando now seems to mean... Well, it means going without your underpants. And it's in, I think, the episode, the one where no one's ready, is what it's called. And there's this all kind of shenanigans about getting dressed

and Chandler pinches Joey's underwear. So he has to go commando in a rented tuxedo, et cetera. So no, I'm pretty sure um that it wasn't originated it didn't originate there as i say it was more popularized like um many of the other things i'm just looking up in the ox jinglish history 1974 university of north carolina at chapel hill it was slang there in 1974 and it, the origin of this use is obscure. The allusion appears to be to the commando's reputation for action, toughness, or resourcefulness rather than to any specific practice. So, they haven't gone out on a limb and said,

yeah, they frequently go without their underwear. And tell me about this confusion between unagi as a type of sushi, especially a roll with the freshwater eel inside it, and Ross's interpretation of the word unagi. Yes. Ross uses it for being entirely conscious and aware of everything around you. And only if you have unagi can you be ready for any danger that might befall you. So you are constantly on the lookout. So I think he then, because he's misunderstood it a bit like a moot point, he's invested it with this meaning and then you get the sort of the come down, the bathos of the others, Rachel and Tonda and Phoebe telling him

that it's actually a type of sushi. Very good. Yeah. You were brought up maybe on The Simpsons. I was brought up much earlier on things like Popeye. That was my... I loved Popeye the Sailor. Popeye the Sailor, man.

I loved those. And I loved a cartoon... I love Popeye. Olive oil. Do you remember somebody called Mr Magoo? He was a cartoon character who couldn't see very well. Mr. Magoo? No, Mr. Magoo.

I do. Was he in Popeye? No, he wasn't. I'm just thinking of the American cartoons of my childhood. My children were into The Simpsons, which still goes on. I don't know where it began. And then I think Doe, for example. That's a Homer Simpson expression, isn isn't it that really has come into

the language uh yeah was that invented by the writers of um so that was around from the 1940s actually so frustration that things have turned out not quite as you planned but hugely popularized um and also meh you know indifference lack of enthusiasm again that did come before the simpsons but was greatly greatly pushed forward by them which is brilliant um and of course they did have that brilliant um episode where they talk about. So, to embiggens is essentially an invented word, or so we think, in The Simpsons, where Jebediah Springfield says, a noble spirit embiggens the smallest man. And then a member of the audience, Mrs. Crabapple, says, embiggens? I've never heard that word before I moved to Springfield.

And she is then told, It's brilliant. And Biggins actually was in the dictionary from 1884 to make bigger or greater. Do you remember when Donald Trump supposedly called Bigley, Bigley, Bigley, and everybody, including I, scoffed and said, Bigley, what are you doing? Actually, if he did use that, some people think he said Big League. If he did say Bigley, I'm afraid that was already in the OED, so we can't scoff too much.

Don't underestimate him. You use the word they're cromulent. Is that an old word or what does it mean? No, that is entirely from The Simpsons to me. Wow, they invented that word. Acceptable or adequate, they absolutely did. Wow. It's a perfectly cromulent word, says Mrs. Hoover.

And what does that mean? Is there now a definition for cromulent? Yeah, acceptable, adequate, satisfactory. Do you watch Seinfeld? I never watched Seinfeld, but much like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, again, it was hugely influential, I think, upon the language. Did you watch it? Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I certainly did.

But Seinfeld I've occasionally seen on aeroplane journeys, and I love it. I love it because the absurd situations, the gags, I mean, it's fantastic. And also, it's clever. I don't watch it in the UK because my wife has reservations about some of these American shows that she thinks involve embarrassment and tension. And she can't take it. But is it a show that's given us words and language? Well, I thought possibly the most famous is Yadda Yadda Yadda.

Ah, I'm familiar with that. As in on and on and on and on, yeah, and so on, blah, blah, blah. And to Yadda Yadda Yadda is to kind of skip over the facts, really, and gloss over the important details of an anecdote. And I also remember it because it popularised, I don't think it gave us, but it popularised the word re-gift or re-gifting, which is to receive a present and then give it away later to someone else, which I think is pretty much what a lot of people do every Christmas, as a way of, it's freeganism, isn't it?

Re-gifting is totally acceptable. As long as you make a list and know exactly who gave you what so you don't then regift to the person who gave you the gift in the first place which is always a danger. I mean people very generously you know give me bottles of wine not perhaps knowing I don't drink and I'm regularly regifting them so I go to somebody else's party and I say I'm regifting this and it seems that people don't regard that just as people don't any longer sell thank you letters. That just doesn't happen. So you can forget that.

But re-gifting is quite acceptable. Funny old world, isn't it? It is a funny old world. Let's take a break and then I want to see who's been in touch with us. Whether it's the weekend, the beginning of summer, or the end of the school year, Celebration Cookies. Celebrate good times. Wherever you're going, you better believe American Express will be right there with you. Heading for adventure? We'll help you breeze through security.

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Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. This is Something Rhymes with Purple. We've been talking about TV shows that have added words to the language. If you have a particularly favorite television program, particularly if it's not one from our heritage, we know all about the British shows on British television, and we know quite a lot about American shows because they're shown on British television. But if you're listening to this in Australia or South Africa or India or Canada, I know we have large audiences in each of those territories. Do write to us about the TV shows you think have given cultural

influence through language to all of us. Absolutely. We didn't talk about Neighbours, which I know when I was first talking about TV language, was always blamed for giving us up talk, which is where you go up at the end of sentences. Always we blamed neighbours for this. But we were right to blame them. My children watch Neighbours and they did end every sentence by going up. They did. They definitely did.

It changed the way they spoke. Well, again, I think it possibly popularised, but I think that really originated with what they call Valley girl speak in california but i'm doing it now you see and yeah they did dirty neighbors and i mean inevitably there is a kind of collective it's infectiousness isn't there and that's part of the joy of watching tv and what's quite interesting these days is how there are very few programs that really get us watching everything together. But when we do, you know, that's when language can really take off. And, you know, there's series like The Traitors, for example, here in the UK, or Strictly Come Dancing, etc., where there is a kind of collective viewing, isn't there?

And people are commenting all the time on social media. And that's when a new word or a phrase or whatever really has a chance to take off. Yada, yada, yada. That's enough of that. I want to hear who's been in touch with us this week. Have we had, as usual, some interesting letters? We have. And I'm going to read the first one because I'm going to try and save your voice because I know you're suffering. Thank you. This is from Tim Goss, who says, Hello, Susie and Giles. Growing up, when someone used the expression a shed load, referring to a lot of i always imagined a shed or a garage full of tvs radios etc i have since wondered if it actually refers to a shed load of goods that has literally fallen off the back of a lorry i.e being shed by it loads now

also meaning lots of series of surplus he says i.e i came across a shed load of cabbages if you want any. So yes, I think that's probably quite peculiarly British. And Tim, I did look this up and the Oxford Institution is quite clear that it is a shed load as in the capacity of a shed if you wanted it to be. But they also say that they think it is a riff on the earlier version,load oh yes so that was

the unexpected twist well there you are you you tell it how it is yes to raise the tone can i ask you this question who was it who described a cauliflower as a cabbage with a college education was it woody allen no earlier mark twain oh that's very good it's good all right with a college education. Was it Woody Allen? No, earlier, Mark Twain. Oh, that's very good. It's good, isn't it? Very good indeed. All right. Here's one from someone in Spain.

I was talking about our international listeners. I'm fascinated to know on Spanish television what the big comedy shows are that may have influenced the Spanish language. Anyway, Ashley says, I'm learning Spanish currently. One thing recently got me thinking. In Spanish, left is izquierda and right is dereca.

All normal. However, human rights is derechos humanos, which got me thinking rights, as in that which is consonant with justice, must have derived from right, as in to turn right. So was the derivation of rights some ancient event where people on the right, perhaps nobility, had rights and plebs and serfs, had lefts? Or since Spanish is a Roman language, something to do with a direction the nobility travelled, Iron Man times.

Well, what an intriguing idea. This is the notion that rights, as in one's human rights, has got something to do with actually the left hand or the right hand. Is there anything in this? Well, it is all linked. And there is so much, so many threads that are bound up in this notion that the left is somehow awkward or clumsy or the wrong direction, informing many words in English, as we know. And that the right was everything that was upstanding, correct, and straight. And therefore, straightness implied moral rectitude, and it also

implied a yardstick against which human behavior could be measured. So, your human rights are your rights according to what is correct and straight and principled. And you'll find this echoed in every language, not just Spanish. So in French, you have mes droits, my rights, and you have droit, a droit, meaning on the right, a gauche, meaning on the left. And of course, a droit gave us adroit, meaning you are skillful and adept, whereas gauche means clumsy and a little bit naive, etc. depth, whereas gauche means clumsy and a little bit naive, etc. And you can see that played out throughout certainly European languages. And, you know, as we often say, the Latin sinister meant left and then came to mean things that were both unlucky, getting out of bed, getting off out of the wrong side of the bed, setting off on the wrong foot. All the adjectives that we have, the left-handedness

that are to do with being clumsy or cack-handed. The cack means left. Awkward, awk is from a Viking word meaning the wrong way round and that was probably the left as well. So you can see how this fundamental belief that the right of us was correct and strong and principled and the left of us was anything but. It's just permeated so many beliefs and so much vocabulary. It's quite extraordinary. Excellent. Well, there, a touch of, well, from Spain, good question asked and very full answer given. Thank you, Ashley. Well done, you. Incidentally, Susie, do you know what Spanish people call call white coffee no cafe ole really no ole cafe ole oh my god i forgot to say woman put yourself together you should have said cafe ole i should

have done i should have done that yes you're quite right my apologies now raise the tone from my children's joke to your quality grown-up uh trio of interesting words well i will forgive you because you have got a bit of a cough, but you got a bit crumpsy there, Giles. Oh, what's that mean? When I fail to meet your joke, it means cranky and irritable. Oh, sorry. From old dialect, crumpsy.

C-R-U-M-P-S-Y. Is that one of your words? Yes, I like it. Well, you like it again. I'm going to say yada, yada, yada. Crumpsy. Goodness. Crumpsy.

Now, you are not one of these. This is my second word, and I think a lot of purple people recognise that. Bragadocio. And a bragadocio is simply an idle or empty boaster, somebody who's full of words and not much else, all mouth and no trousers. And I think this goes back a long way.

I have a feeling that in one of Shakespeare's plays, there's a character who's referred to as being a bragadocio. Is that possible? Could it go back that far? I think absolutely. I think even possibly. 16th century, 1594, a swaggerer. Doesn't give a Shakespearean quotation here, but I'm sure there were lots of them. Thomas Carlyle. But yeah, many, many of them. But it just sounds good and it almost explains what it means by that sound. And my third word is, there's a lot of it about apostatise. To apostatise is an old word meaning to abandon a once firmly held promise or principle. That might have been useful for you in politics, actually, because almost

every politician, it seems, or a political party does this, almost everyone on both sides. And it is from the 17th century, and it comes from apostasy, which is, as I say, all about standing off or deserting one's faith originally. Three good words. Thank you very much for sharing them with us. Do you have a poem for us today, Giles? I do. And it's a poem that has been sent to me by a correspondent, somebody who'd been reading my anthology of poems to learn by heart, Dancing by the Light of the Moon, said he loved it, and then kindly sent me some of his poems. And I've enjoyed them enormously. The author of the

poem I'm going to read you is Chris McCauley. And this is just one of many poems that he's written. I don't know if they're published, but they sort of ring true to me. This poem is called Father. If you find yourself forgetting the small things like keys, moments which we spent together feeding the ducks or playing in the park, I shall remember them for you. And in those memories be still guided by your hand, as we walk through the town on that cold rainy day. Someday I will forget those

times. They will be cast to the wind, scattered like leaves caught in the maelstrom of time. But today I sit with my cup of tea and think about the small moments of those precious days and how much they mean to me. Oh, that is just exquisite. Beautiful. It's charming and it's evocative and I think it will ring bells with lots of people who have family members who are more forgetful than they used to be.

Yeah, I love that. That's absolutely beautiful. Well, we hope you loved it too. We hope you loved the whole show. There's so much more to say, as always, but I hope that means it was a sign of a good subject and we may return to the language of TV for sure. Please keep following us if you did enjoy it.

And as Giles mentioned, there is also the Purple Plus Club where you can get some exclusive episodes should you like to. Something Round to the Purple is a Sonya Music Entertainment production. It was produced by Naaya Dio with additional production from Gem Mystery, Charlie Murrell, Ollie Wilson and the brilliant Richie. Oh, he's the best.