Something Rhymes with Purple - Mafiosa

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

Embark on a linguistic odyssey with this week's episode as Susie and Gyles unravel the hidden histories behind Mafia terminology. We explore the gripping meanings of the words that have shaped the clandestine world of the Mafia, showcasing how language itself becomes a powerful force in the shadows. We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us on our NEW 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  Enjoy Susie’s Trio for the week:  Mukbang: A video in which someone chats whilst eating food. Shabaroon: An ill-dressed, untidy fellow. Fustilugs: Female version of Shabaroon. Gyles' poem this week was 'What Don Corleone Did Next' by Brian Billston Upon retiring From the mafia, He wove aquatic mammals Out of raffia Let me tell you How I learnt this news: He made me an offer I could not refuse A Sony Music Entertainment production.   Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by card, other conditions apply. 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, we hope you are having a lovely start to the new year. And we're extremely pleased to have your company, as we always are. Welcome to Something Rhymes with Purple. And today we actually have a rather interesting, slightly curious subject. But before I continue, let me introduce, as always, the wonderful man sitting opposite me. And I can't wait to spend another year with him, albeit on screen.

Giles Brandreth. Hi, Giles. This is the best way to have me at a distance, at a safe distance. We speak to each other on a version of Zoom, and that's how we communicate. Susie Dent is usually in her study in Oxford, and I am usually in my basement book room at my house in southwest London. I love books, but I tell you something that maybe you don't know, Susie. I have lots of hardback books and I have lots of paperback books. And my wife and I do something which some people don't approve of. We don't just read books.

We devour books. This began many years ago. We were on holiday to Turkey. It was a very hot holiday and we had a sort of boat that we were on. No element of this was successful. The hotel, there was no air conditioning. The boat was the wrong boat. And when we unpacked our bags, we realized we'd only brought one book between us.

We each thought that the other was bringing the books. So the only book we had was a novel, a wonderful novel by Anthony Trollope called The Way We Are Now. Or maybe it's called The Way We Live Now. Anyway, it's a mighty book, about a thousand pages long. And we only had this one book. So because my wife reads more quickly than I do, she began the book. And when she got to the end of page one and page two, she then tore out that page.

Oh, vandalism. And handed it to me. It was a paperback. And I then read the page and then destroyed it. She then gave me the next page and the next page. And between us, we read the book together. And it was a wonderful way to read a book because when you've been married to somebody as long as we've been married to each other more than half a century, you know, occasionally you may think, what on earth is there left to say? But if you're reading a book simultaneously, there is always that book to discuss. That's a wonderful idea.

I actually thought you were going to be quite literal there and talk about book cannibalism. I was trying to think of a word for it, and I think it would be bibliophagism. So, the phagism is the kind of swallowing or eating, and the biblio would be the book. That was my effort. But I was very glad that you didn't actually put them in your mouth. So you've chosen this week's theme.

What are we going to talk about today? Well, just because of its vocabulary, I hasten to add, not for any familial links or any other connections, I thought we could talk about the Mafia and the language of the Mafia, which is a very distinct lexicon. And before we hit the red record button, actually, if you remember, I did say to you, Daz, you've met absolutely everybody in the world. Please don't tell me you've met someone from the mafia. And you immediately said, oh, yes, I have. And then because we're recording this when Henry Kissinger had died quite recently,

I said, did you meet Henry Kissinger? And you said, oh, yes. And I just still have to find somebody that when I asked that question, you haven't. Well, I've been very fortunate to meet a lot of people. And I did meet the late Dr. Henry Kissinger, controversial figure, because when he died a little before Christmas, you may recall that some people, world leaders, people ranging from Vladimir Putin to Tony Blair, saluted him as the great diplomatist. Others, because of his involvement in the prosecution of the Vietnam War and other reasons, saw him as literally a sort of warmonger and an enemy of peace.

So a controversial figure, but remarkable, and of course lived 100 years. And a few years ago, he came to London, and he was to give a talk for the Edward Heath Charitable Foundation. Edward Heath, for the people internationally, he is a former British prime minister, and he was the British prime minister at the sort of time when Henry Kissinger was the secretary of state in the United States of America. And there was a wonderful evening held at the banqueting hall in Whitehall, just opposite 10 Downing Street, where Dr. Kissinger was to be interviewed by John Major, the former British prime minister, about his life and career

and about world diplomacy. And the great and the good of the United Kingdom gathered at this venue, and it was being put on by the Edward Heath Charitable Trust, and it was to raise money for that trust. And because I'm involved in that trust, because one of its principal roles is to preserve the former home of Edward Heath in Salisbury, in Salisbury Close, a beautiful house well worth visiting if you're in Salisbury. I was one of the people who said a few words at this occasion. And after I said a few words, I went over to sit with Dr. Kissinger. And so we had a conversation. Everything I asked him, I can recall vividly. I cannot recall a word of his replies, because though he did reply in extenso, he was incomprehensible. He had this growling, guttural way of speaking, and he never lost his German accent from his childhood. But it got worse, because after we'd had our little chit-chat, he was taken up onto the stage by Sir John Major to be interviewed. And Dr. Kissinger sat down in

his chair, Sir John Major sat down in his chair, and very clearly Sir John Major began saying, well, Dr. Kissinger, thank you for coming to London, and thank you for answering these questions. The first question I'd like to ask you, please, is what do you feel is the future of relationships between the traditional West and China as it is today? And Dr. Kissinger replied. Thank you, Dr. Kissinger, said John Major. And then he went on to the second question. Oh, no. What was intriguing is that this lasted for 40 minutes. And the great and the good of the United Kingdom.

Was everybody looking at each other? No, we didn't know what to do. We sat on the edge of our seats, straining. And it was the combination of the microphone, except we could hear John Major. But it was basically that this, he was by then very ancient, but his mind apparently was still alert. But his accent was so thick, and he simply growled at you. So it was hilarious to see literally the British government and the senior civil servants, members of parliament of both houses, I mean, you know, judges, the whole of the British

establishment there on the edge of their seats straining to hear dr kissinger listening to him for literally 40 minutes going that's that's my my night with henry kissinger well thank you i can ask you about the uh the mafioso that you met a little bit later, actually, because I think we should kick off, shall we, with the language. Let's get into some comprehensible language, please. Give me the word Mafio for a start. Why do we call these people the Mafio?

Well, the Mafioso or the Mafio itself means swagger, roughly translated. But I think in a more positive light, it's probably interpreted as boldness or courage. And in reference to a mafioso, the man, in 19th century Sicily, this was someone who was fearless, who was enterprising, and who was proud. And interestingly, when it was applied to a woman in the form of mafiosa, or mafiosa. It meant beautiful or attractive. Yeah. So the mafioso, I think now, is less an individual and more that kind of secret society, really.

Now, does all this, you mentioned Sardinia already, or Sicily, forgive me, you mentioned Sicily already. Is the mafia the people who come from Sicily? Is that the essence of it? Yes. And there's a sort of different branches of the mafia, Obviously, there's the mafia in the US, for example, that emerged in immigrant neighborhoods, Italian immigrant neighborhoods in East Harlem, or Italian Harlem, as it was called, and the Lower East Side, and then Brooklyn. And that was following waves of Italian immigration from Sicily

and a few other regions of Southern Italy. So there are lots of different branches, but yes, Sicily is where it really came from. And I'm going to actually kick off. I mean, you mentioned Mafia, obviously that's a really important one, but I'm going to talk about the emotion that they live or die by, which is omerta. And that is a blood oath really of allegiance and it's a fundamental ethic in them. And Omerta essentially dictates that no mafia member should ever betray information about any crime to the authorities, no matter, in fact, if it's committed by a brother or an enemy. And without exception, the penalty for breaching this Omerta, this oath, is death. And it's quite interesting because of this, for a very long time, the operations of the mafia really were very secret and they were a closed book.

But in 1963, I don't know if you remember this, it all changed when someone called Joseph Falacci, who worked for the mob boss Vito Genovese, he agreed to testify before the Senate. And so he was breaking this code. A matter itself probably emerged as a more general code, it's thought, amongst criminals or outlaws in the 19th century. And this is when historically the kingdoms of the two Sicilies was collapsing. And essentially mercenaries, Italian mercenaries, were beginning to form these private armies. And it's really from those organized clans that the mafia emerged. And

again, the principle amongst these uomini danore, these men of honor, was that any crossing of the line between the police and the criminal was the absolute betrayal. And it may come actually from a Spanish word, hombredad, meaning manliness. So yeah, so it's just absolutely central to what we're understanding in the lexicon of the Mafia. That's very intriguing, the omerta. And these words that we're using, are they used universally? I mean, would they count them now as English words, American words, or are they essentially still Italian words? Yeah, essentially still Italian, but I think I will check in the Oxford dictionary, the current dictionary. I would have thought that it would be in there. While I'm looking,

do you want to tell us your story about who you met? Well, over the years, I've met quite a few people in the criminal underworld. I'm not quite sure how. And the people I got to know best were through, and these are not Mafia people, but they are. I mean, I've spent time in Sicily where I did meet retired Mafia people, or rather they didn't say they were Mafia people, people at the other tables or the waiters said, oh, did you see he was Mafia? He was Mafia to make us excited. And so obviously I went over and introduced myself in case it was going to be Don Corleone himself, but it wasn't. Interestingly, have you ever been on holiday to Sicily? No. Oh, you must go.

I went to, I think probably the closest I went was, I went to Pompeii a little while ago and so travelled through Italy a little bit. Went to Naples. But no, I have never been to Sicily. Doesn't count at all. It was miles away. I know. My Italian geography is clearly very dodgy.

It really is hopeless. But tell me, Sicily is very far south, isn't it? Sicily is right. It is absolutely the heel. It's the bottom of Italy. It's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful. So I met some retired Mafia people there.

And when I was traveling around America, I met definitely some Mafia people. around America, I met definitely some Mafia people. When I encountered Frank Sinatra, there were said to be Mafia people in his entourage. He denied it always. His explanation was that some of the clubs where he performed may well have been used to launder Mafia money, but he maintained to the last that he had no direct mafia connections. Okay. In this country, I was lucky enough to be a friend of Barbara Windsor.

Yes. And Barbara Windsor, when she was young, she dated one of the Cray family. And the Crays are notorious British gangsters. Yes. And they could be nasty people.

But I do remember traveling back with Barbara Windsor from East Anglia. We must have been recording a television program in Norwich. We were driving back to London and we passed the pub in the East End, called something like the Blind Beggar, where English mafia, English gangsters used to hang out. And she told me, oh, yeah, we used to go there. I went there with Ronnie and Reggie. And I said, well, these were not good people. Oh, she said, yeah, they were bad boys.

But, you know, they only ever killed their own, Giles. They only ever killed their own. They're like you. And indeed, when I met one or other of them, I can't remember which it was, he seemed quite personable. So I have no bad experience of the... Gangsters. Of gangsters.

I'm saying that. I'm saying that to hedge my bets, to be honest with you. I can tell you. Well, first of all, Sicily is not in the heel. It's in the kind of toe or the bit in front of the toe. I had to check how far Naples was away. 706 kilometers. You're absolutely right.

And secondly, Omerta is in the english dictionary in the oxford sort of you know current dictionary of english um and interestingly it gives its origin as possibly coming from the italian dialect meaning humility so quite different from manliness so obviously they're two different theories that yeah did you go through cosinostra with us no we didn't talk about cosinostra what are the cosinostra um so the cos Nostra with us? No, we didn't talk about Cosa Nostra. What are the Cosa Nostra? So the Cosa Nostra, I don't think this will be in the, it is in the English dictionary actually, I didn't think it would be. So this is, we're going to North America,

so this is the US criminal organisation that is related to the Mafia and it resembles it, but it's not the heart of the Mafia itself. And it simply means our house, meaning our thing, our affair, if you like. And we have capo. So a capo is essentially the boss, the big boss. And the capo regime, I'm not quite sure how to pronounce this, maybe in US English, if this is the US mafia capo regime, I'm not sure, but this is the captain or the skipper in charge of a branch of the mafia. And capo here is from the Latin caput, which means head. And that actually gave us so many different words in English.

It gave us capitals in capital city, capital letter. It gave us ultimately the word chef, meaning head, which gives, of course, the chef that's a cook. And it gave us achieve, to bring to head which gives of course the chef that's a cook and it gave us achieve to bring to a head so many different words they're part of a very very big family but yes so the capo is in charge of the crew which contains 10 to 20 soldiers as they're called appointed by the boss gives a percentage of their earnings to the boss etc and sometimes apparently if a capo becomes powerful enough they can become like they'll wield more power than their superiors so they kind of almost bypass the normal mafia structure you know certainly when the the boss

passes away sometimes they kind of take over without following that sort of strict hierarchy really so this is this is very much the American, I don't know if you'd call it an arm, or the relative, I suppose. Can I ask you something that is only tangential to this? Yes. The word capo. Yes. Is it, in French, a capo, I think, is a condom.

Ah, do you know that? I have never asked for a capo in French, so let me see. The reason I think it is, is because of the famous story of the Englishman who went to the south of France with his wife on holiday. And unexpectedly, she died. And the cost of bringing her remains back to the UK for a funeral was exorbitant. So he decided to have her buried in the south of France. But of course, he only had his bathing costume, his summer holiday clothes didn't feel like it would be appropriate for the funeral. So he tried to get the kit. And so he

asked what he should get. And he was told, what's the French for? He wanted a black suit and a black hat to wear. And he had these things written down for him. And he went to the shop to buy a black coat, which he bought. And then he asked for, and he didn't know how to pronounce the word chapeau. And so he pronounced it capo. And the man in the clothes shop was disgusted and sent him out. And eventually he ended up at the local chemist's shop, and he was totally confused. He went into the chemist's shop and went up to the counter and said, je veux un capot.

And they gave him a packet. Well, the man said, oh, yes, well, of course, bien sûr. And then he went on to explain. He said, je veux un capot parce que ma femme est morte. And the chemist said, oh, monsieur, un capot noir. Oh, monsieur, quelle délicatesse. Oh, my goodness. Yes, I think here you're mixing capo, C-A-P-O, with C-A-P-O-T-E, capote, maybe? Oh, capote.

I think, which is like a sort of cloak with a hood or a hooded hood. So it's like a hood. Yeah. That's the idea. I mean, I think préservatif is also a condom in French. I'm just looking here. I've not actually asked for one, but that's what it says. Thank you for sharing.

I'm looking forward to my next dirty weekend in Paris when the Eurostar is up and running. Just don't say my family more, please. But this condom itself, this is a digression in a half. Didn't it come from France? And it was named after a physician who invented it was the idea. Oh, that's why it's called the French letter. No, we discussed that the other day.

That's just being abusive of the French, isn't it? Yes, I think so, probably. The French letter certainly is, yeah. But is the condom then invented by a French person? I think we don't know where it came from. I'm sure someone made up an etymology that it was from a place name. So I'm just looking it up here. Here we are. Of unknown origin, often said to be named after a physician who invented it, but no such person has ever been

traced. There you go. Well, anyway, so don't go into the chemist asking for un capot noir. No. Just take the standard one as offered. I'm just going to finish with one more before we take a break. And that is the consigliere. Ah, yes. And if you think of the Godfather novels, Maria Puzo, and the subsequent films, you will know the consigliere. It's essentially a high-ranking advisor to the boss. So the boss is right-hand

man and is usually a man. So it's a representative, it's often a mediator, and deeply entrenched in the inner workings of the organization. So a real trusted member of the crew, if you like. Should we take a break? I think we need to take a break. Yes. Before somebody shoots us. Let's do that and we will come back with some of your wonderful correspondence. Bumble knows it's hard to start conversations.

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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. Hello, I'm Elizabeth Day. You might know me as the creator and host of the How to Fail podcast, but I want to tell you about a new podcast I've made. How to Write a Book is for anyone who wants to get their story out there. Fronted by a best-selling author, a super agent, and a

powerhouse publisher, this 12-week masterclass will take you right through from developing an idea to nailing the plot. If you want to get all episodes at once and completely ad-free, subscribe now. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. We're so lucky. We want to begin the year really by telling you how grateful we are to the Purple People for writing to us and for asking your questions because it takes us down such interesting byways and occasionally lands us on highways as well. Should I read the first letter we've had this week? Please do. It's from two people, really, Charlotte and Billy.

It goes like this. Dear Susie and Giles, thank you so much for such a wonderful podcast. It keeps me hugely entertained on many late night journey home from work. I also thought it worth mentioning that my partner recently bought Susie's, oh, fabulous book for her, Interesting Stories About Cur's, oh, fabulous book for her. Interesting stories about curious words. It was bought for her birthday. That's lovely.

And we spent a lovely few evenings delving into it. Thank you. Well done, Susie. Is the next paragraph maybe saying that she also, she bought for her partner my book? Oh, oh, there seems to be no mention of my book about the late queen, Elizabeth, an intimate portrait, which I think, Charlotte, given you're named after a former British queen, it would be quite fun to have got him. Anyway, it's still available. Next Christmas. Be sensible.

Let's go on with the letter. We were chatting this evening and my partner made up a word that was definitely not in the dictionary. I then jokingly said, Susie Dent would have your guts for garters. And that got us thinking, guts for garters. And that got us thinking, guts for garters. Where does that originate? Well, where does it originate, Susie? Yes. Okay. Well, I will tell you a little bit of a story here. So first of all, guts are related to gout, believe it or not, because it actually comes back to a word gut meaning a drop. It's from a very old verb meaning to pour. It also gave us gutter actually. And the reason is that we had a notion or ancient

medicine had a notion that the intestines, your guts were the seat of the emotions. And we continue that idea today when we talk about, I have a gut feeling, or they have a gut reaction. And so guts were really seen as one of the receptacles for the humors, which were these bodily fluids, if you remember, which were said to determine someone's disposition and also their overall health. And so this idea of a channel was the idea that they were a channel for some of these humours. And depending where you stood, your guts were either a repository for very good emotions or for bad. So guts for garters appears in Robert Green's The Scottish History of James IV. This is around 1592.

I'll make garters of thy guts, thou villain. Now, in the Middle Ages, obviously, disembowelment was a frequent method of torture. It wasn't if it was frequent, actually. Hopefully, it wasn't, but it was used in the UK for torture and execution. So, it could well have been a literal threat that they were going to disembowel this person metaphorically or literally indeed, and then take their guts and use them for garters, which you can wear. Animals' intestines are used for all sorts of things, violins and tennis rackets and that kind of thing. So whether or not that was a literal threat and people did actually make garters of the guts of their enemies is open to question. There isn't any evidence of such a practice, but it is definitely plausible. But nowadays, we just simply use it in much more, in much lighter terms. You know, I don't want to tell

you I've done that because you'll have my guts for garters. But yeah, quite possibly a grisly beginning. Is garters the same in British English and American English? I know suspenders isn't. No, so suspenders are what we would call in British English braces in America. But for us, suspenders are what holds up stockings, for example, or indeed socks. And garters, I think, bands worn around the leg to keep a stocking or sock up and in north american english again a suspender for a sock or a stocking so yes you'll find that kind of a similar distinction really and also i think garters unless i'm just completely losing

it are also part of female underwear sometimes too or at least you've got that you know you've got that sort of same idea of holding up stockings. So yeah, a bit of a distinction. But anyway, guts for garters obviously is pleasingly alliterative, so that probably helped things along as well. Very good. Well, there's a second letter here. Do you want to read it to us? Yes, I will read it to you. And this one comes from Ellis Holt in Devon. Hi, Susie and Giles. I've never missed an episode. It's just too many words to remember, but I do try and use some in my everyday life if I can, in order to try and commit them to memory.

My favorite, Ellis says, will always be scurry funge. Well, thank you for that. Of course, people love that. Our favorites as well. And we've all had our fair share of that over Christmas. In case there is a single purple person out there who hasn't heard me talk about this word, discarifunge is to madly dash back the house in an attempt to tidy up just before guests arrive. So, Alice continues, in your episode entitled Sproggs, Giles started with an anecdote about his card getting declined. And that got me thinking about decline, incline, and then the root, cline. I was wondering if this used to be, or maybe still is, a word in its own right, or if we only have the prefixed versions in English. We all know about

getting a card declined, but I wonder why we use the word accepted rather than just the word clined, if payment is taken. I'd love to know where it's gone, if it ever existed at all, and how being inclined to do something is related to incline meaning to go up. So, Ellis is from Devon, and it is an extremely good question, as you would expect from any Devonian. Is there an extremely convincing answer? Well, climb is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary. Now obsolete, I'm sad to say to Ellis, but it's all from the Latin clinare meaning to bend, which essentially gives you every sense that we have

here. So it can mean to slant, to bend, or to tilt, to stoop, or to bow, to submit, or to yield, to have a tendency towards, to be disposed towards. So you get where it's coming really. So if you are inclined to something, you are leaning towards it, you are bending, turning towards it. And so you are favorably disposed or you are influencing in some way. So that gives you the incline. Decline is simply away from, so you were bending away from it or someone else's. In other words, it is an act of refusal. So you're going backwards rather than forwards. And could we just say inclined if payment is taken? No more. But then that doesn't

mean, as we always say, that we can't resurrect these words. And it is quite pithy. There is also Klein in one of my favorite words, which is klinomania. And klinomania is the overwhelming desire to lie down. Oh, I love that. Klinomania. Spelled C-L-I-N-O-mania. Yes. Oh, I do know that feeling. Well, thank you, Ellis Holt. Thank you, Charlotte and Billy. Thank you all for writing. Please, we want special people to feature in our 250th episode.

It's coming up and it'll be entirely devoted to your questions and queries, comments, and congratulations. Purple people at somethingrhymes.com is what you write to if you want to communicate with us. And what you listen to now is a trio of words from Susie Dent. What have you got for us this week? Well, Jaz, do you remember during lockdown when everybody had to grapple with Zoom, you used to have Zoom meals with your family? Oh, yes. Where you would get your children together and their families,

and you would all sit down and eat your food in situ whilst watching everyone else eat on screen and chatting, etc. Well, have you heard of a mukbang? A mukbang? Yes. Don't think too hard about this one. No, I'm not going to. It's actually from Korean, but it is being used in English to mean a video

in which someone chats while eating lots of food. So it's from the Korean, I don't know quite how to pronounce this, M-E-O-K, muk, muk, meaning to eat,

and bangsong, meaning to broadcast. So you are eating and broadcasting at the same time. Well, I would find that a very irritating form of broadcasting because, as you know... Well, you weren't. We talked about ASMR in the last episode. The, I would find that a very irritating form of broadcasting. Because as you know- Well, you weren't.

We talked about ASMR in the last episode. The other day, I just can't stand people eating while talking, particularly on the telephone. But then that's what you were doing with your family. Were you all being silent? No, we weren't. But because it, ah, isn't that interesting? Because it was mealtime, we had permission.

Ah, okay. And because we were all doing it, it's been much more acceptable. I see. I see. I've got that. And I can't stand people eating with their mouth open. No. Fortunately, none of my grandchildren does that. So how do we spell that word? Mukbang, M-U-K-B-A-N-G.

M-U-K-B-A-N-G. Well, it won't be something I'll be taking part in because I don't like watching other people eat. Well, there you go. The second word is chabaroon, which you are definitely not. And that is an ill-dressed, untidy fellow, which leads me to my third word, because the female equivalent of that is a fusty lugs. Not very nice, but they are actually quite on a matter of pick. So there you go. Three slightly weird words. People, I think if you're just starting the year with us, I suggest you keep a diary and every week make a note of Susie's three words and then try and slip them into your conversation.

That is the only way to remember a word, I think, is to use it. Yes. Well, that's what Ellis said, wasn't it, with Scurry Fund? Do you have a poem for us, Giles, because that's another key feature? Yes, I've chosen a very short poem this week because it seemed appropriate. It's by an amusing poet who crops up quite a lot on social media. This is where I found his poems. This is where I found this one as well. It's a mafia poem. It's called What Don Corleone Did Next. It's by Brian Bilston. What Don Corleone Did Next. What Don Corleone did next.

Upon retiring from the mafia, he wove aquatic mammals out of raffia. Let me tell you how I learned this news. He made me an offer I couldn't refuse. Brian Bilston, I recommend to anyone. He's on Twitter and he does his poems on there, but he's just very, very clever. He plays with words, which is what we love doing. He does. He absolutely does. Right. Well, thank you so much for your company today. It was a little bit of a whiffle stop tour, but it's always a starting point for us, the subject, isn't it, Giles? It just gets us talking about language in all its wonderful, you know, wonderful guises and tributaries,

et cetera. And we're really grateful to you for following us wherever you get your podcasts. and all its wonderful, you know, wonderful guises and tributaries, etc. And we're really grateful to you for following us. Wherever you get your podcasts, please subscribe. If you haven't already, you can find us on social media. And there is also the Purple Class Club to consider should you be interested in ad-free listening and exclusive bonus episodes on words and language. Something Rhymes with Purple is a Sony Music Entertainment production.

There is no Mafia involvement. It was produced by Nayadeo with additional production from Anna Newton, Harriet Wells, Chris Skinner, Poppy Thompson, and...

Ed Gill. Sorry, Ed. I don't know why I give you a surname. It's this very punchy name, Ed Gill, and he's also wearing a very nice hat. It's also a measurement,

isn't it, a gill? I think a gill is, yes. Well, let's drink to that.