Something Rhymes with Purple - Mounties

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Starting point is 00:01:04 Something else. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Welcome to Something Rhymes with Purple. And today we're in a state of high excitement because we're feeling the global magic. The purple people phenomenon. There's a fan-run Facebook page and new social media for purple. Twitter, Instagram, maybe soon TikTok, who knows? Purple genuinely has gone global. So we're starting a new series where once a month, we're going to go global and travel to a different place around the globe. And today, Susie Dent, we are off to Canada and specifically Ottawa, the capital of Canada. Now, Susie, you're in Oxford, England at the moment. Have you ever been to Canada? I have. I went when I was about 13. I had just done my exams and we went to visit some relatives that we had over there near Toronto and you know I just remember the nature Giles I just remember the woods we went um for a little while we went and

Starting point is 00:02:14 camped on this beautiful little island that was one of many I mean it literally was just across the water I don't even remember what it was called. I don't think it was even a landmark, but it was this beautiful, tiny little island. We took out canoes and tires that people would, in speedboats, would pull along the water. But it was just the quiet and the trees. And you know how much of a tree lover I am and how the Japanese call this shinrin yokoku, forest bathing. I did that aplenty. Toronto, of course, very different. I mean, very cosmopolitan, great vibe. At 13, I probably wasn't quite old enough to appreciate it, but I would so love to go back and I haven't yet. How about you? I dress up, you know, as a pine tree in the hope that you will hug me, but it's never really worked. I know Canada extremely well. There's almost everybody in Britain has Canadian relations.

Starting point is 00:03:07 The late Queen, I think Canada was the part of the world she had visited more often than any other part of the world. And I feel I've spent so much of my life in Canada that I almost feel Canadian and I could almost be Canadian. I didn't know this. My grandmother, in the 1880s, my grandmother, her parents died, and she was sent by the relatives that she was left with. They couldn't cope with her as a little girl. So she was sent, and thousands of others were, to Canada as a child to find a new life. And she arrived in Canada, and at the docks, there were people who came who were wanting to adopt children. And so my grandmother went and was picked up by a family. And her name was Mary Leach.

Starting point is 00:03:53 But the family was called Bishop. And they wanted to call her Mamie Bishop. And she was only 12 or 13. And she didn't like them changing her name to Mamie Bishop. She was the youngest girl in the house. There was an older brother who was called Billy Bishop. He's one of the great heroes of Canada. One of the airports in Toronto is called the Billy Bishop Airport. He became a First World War air ace, the most decorated Canadian, I think, probably in history. He won the Victoria Cross. And movies have been made about him. And my grandmother was his adopted sister. And she didn't like him. She didn't like the bishop family. And so eventually, they fell out and she left the bishops and went back to the adoption agency. And she was reallocated to a new family who were a family of missionaries. allocated for a new family who were a family of missionaries. And they were very into the church, and she trained as a missionary at the Toronto Bible College, and then went out to India as a missionary, where she lived for many years. And then when our children were born, my uncle Jack and my mother, and then when they were teenagers, the whole family moved back to Canada.

Starting point is 00:05:10 My mother went to Toronto University. My uncle Jack joined the Bank of Nova Scotia and eventually became the manager of the Toronto branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia. How brief. I had no idea about any of this. I am virtually Canadian. So you have Canadian blood. I have Canadian blood. And not only that, I have a grandson. My daughter, Scythrid, I've read Canadian blood, and not only that, I have a grandson. My daughter, Scytherid, married a Canadian. My grandson, who is called Rory McConnachie, he has both British and Canadian citizenship. But we're really here to talk about language, aren't we? So I will now shut up. I will later drop names galore. You may think I boast about having met every British prime minister. Canadian prime ministers, I go back to Mr. Diefenbaker. May mean nothing to you. I don't know Mr. Diefenbaker. He was a very distinguished Canadian prime minister in the 1950s and 1960s.

Starting point is 00:05:54 I met him. But I will now zip my Canadian lips and listen to you telling us, well, giving us maybe a brief history of Canadian English. Because is it different from British English? Yes, and there is such a thing as Canadian English. Certainly amongst North Americans, there's a bit of a stereotype that Canadians are just the same as Americans,

Starting point is 00:06:13 except they say a lot at the end of their sentences. But then many Canadians will tell you that Canadian English is a bit more like British English. They call the letter Z, Z instead of Z. They spell colour and centre and rumour and honour the same as we do. But it does exist as a separate variety of English. And it's interesting because it straddles in some ways, British and American English. And a sort of Canadian history will explain that a bit. Because in the beginning, obviously, just as in North America, there were the indigenous peoples. They had a just astonishing linguistic variety.

Starting point is 00:06:53 And they are still there, but not, I think, privileged as much as they should be. Then we had the French in the 17th century who kind of colonized the region of the St. Lawrence River. in the 17th century who kind of colonised the region of the St. Lawrence River. And then in the mid 1700s, England was at war with France. And then there was the Treaty of Paris in the 1760s. And that ceded what was called New France to England. And the English or the British allowed any French people and French speakers to stay as long as they obeyed the king and as long as they became subjects of the king, really. Then we had the American Revolution and we had a lot of people going over from North America who were loyalists. They wanted to flee American independence and they were then given land in Canada, which explained the American

Starting point is 00:07:43 influence because a lot of its speakers had come from the American colonies, but then they were sort of joining, if you like, a sort of British English community, if you like. So that explains the sort of varieties that you will find within Canadian English. And it is very distinct. And it is deliberately distinct because just as the North Americans after the War of Independence wanted to have their own linguistic identity, the British wanted theirs, the Canadians wanted theirs too. So huge amounts of influx and influence on Canadian English, just as there is on any important variety of English, really, including ours.

Starting point is 00:08:19 Why is the country called Canada? Where does the word Canada come from? So Canada itself, I mentioned the indigenous languages, that probably has its root in the language of one of them, which was the Huron Iroquois tribes. And it's said to come from Kanata, which means village, you know, showing just how small, you know, the early settlement was and it grew from there. So that's where we think it came from. And Canadians are known as Canucks quite often, but that is quite derogatory. It can be used as a bit of an insult. Canuck apparently comes from that first syllable of Canada.

Starting point is 00:08:52 But as far as I can tell, please be careful how you use it. But obviously our wonderful purple Canadian listeners can tell us whether that's the case. I'd be interested to know because, I mean, as I say, I really know Canada well and I've never heard anyone use the word canook. I'll just tell you one of them, which is relevant to North America and possibly Canada, and it only ever comes up on Countdown.

Starting point is 00:09:12 And I've never heard it used anywhere. And again, purple people, please let me know if this is used in your neck of the woods. Awaitron, which is supposed to be the gender neutral term for a waiter or waitress. Awaitron. Has anybody ever used that word? No. No. I don't think so either. We may be- Clear the air on that if you're in Canada. Hey, because you've got some of the cleanest air in the world. Well done. And your friendly people, they've got these gorgeous lakes, delicious maple syrup. Oh, and we're going to come on to the- I love maple syrup. And the mousse. Oh, I love the mousse. Well, let's begin with some

Starting point is 00:09:44 specific Canadian words, can we? Actually, words that have a kind of Canadian origin. Are there any? Yes and no. There are ones, obviously, that are particular to Canadian English, but quite often, as is frequently the case, their etymology has taken them through several different languages and several different branches of English until it came there. So you mentioned poutine that obviously came from French. That is delicious. I'm guessing you like it, do you? I can't imagine you eating poutine. It seems too junky to me, but I love it. No, I did quite like it. I mean, when I was there as a teenager,

Starting point is 00:10:20 I always stayed with my Uncle Jack and Aunt Ede. And to be honest, they preferred Canadian whiskey to almost anything else. So I can't remember much more than that. Go on. Oh, OK. So this is not like poutine. This is not like the illicit potato-based liquor or alcohol. This is poutine, which is very different. This is chips topped with cheese and gravy.

Starting point is 00:10:43 Yeah, very, very different. And this is Canadian French. I think it comes either from the French pouding, pudding, or directly from pudding itself. But it doesn't taste like any sweet pudding. It's definitely the savoury kind. So it's chips and gravy, essentially, with a kind of cheesy, curdy sauce on top.

Starting point is 00:10:59 Well, that's interesting. I've spent a lot of time in Montreal, which, you know, is French Canada, and I've never been offered a poutine. I can't wait. Yeah, no, you've got lot of time in Montreal, which, you know, is French Canada, and I've never been offered a poutine. I can't wait. Yeah, no, you've got lots of places in Britain that will offer you poutine. It's lovely. Give us some more Canadian words with a Canadian flavour.

Starting point is 00:11:14 Okay, so there is a toque, which you will find everywhere. Do you know what that is? Well, I know what a toque is. It was a hat worn by people like Queen Mary. I say toque. Obviously, everyone else says toque. Yes, a winter hat. Harriet, our producer here, has told us it's pronounced toque.

Starting point is 00:11:30 So what do we know? No, it's pronounced toque. Is it toque? Okay. Certainly Queen Mary, who made toques famous, would refer to it as a toque. But maybe in Canada they call it something else. So that's the go-to word for a hat there. We have bunny hug, which I like. And a bunny hug is a sort of hoodie. It's a hooded sweater. And I love that. And also staying with fashion,

Starting point is 00:11:52 what about the Canadian tuxedo? Now, I do know about this because I remember I had three cousins, Uncle Jack and Aunt Ed's children. And I went to some of their weddings. And I remember hearing about the Canadian tuxedo, which isn't a tuxedo at all. It's not a dinner suit. It's a term for a sort of informal outfit, isn't it? It's double denim. It's denim on denim. So apparently the story behind it is that Bing Crosby, the singer and the actor, wanted to enter a hotel. We're talking about the 1950s here. But he wasn't allowed in because he was wearing jeans and a denim jacket. This obviously made the papers. And so Levi Strauss and company, who obviously are behind the jeans, Levi's,

Starting point is 00:12:37 they designed him a tuxedo made entirely of denim. Isn't that brilliant? That is brilliant. Do you know the story of, I think it's Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole, who are out promoting one of their films, Beckett, I think they both starred in that, in Edinburgh. And they were turned away from the grand restaurant in the hotel they were staying, which is now called the Balmoral Hotel, was then called, I think, the North British. And they were turned away because they were not wearing a tie. Neither

Starting point is 00:13:10 one was wearing a tie. And they said, I don't know who we are. And the hotel manager said, we know exactly, the metronome, know exactly who you are. And we're thrilled to have you here. But I'm afraid old fashioned restaurant, there's a house rule, you've got to wear a tie in the restaurant. He said, it's not a problem. I've got two ties here in the drawer I can give you. So Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole took the ties, went off to the cloakroom and returned a few minutes later and walked into the dining room at the North British Hotel wearing their ties and nothing else. Seriously? Seriously. True story. told to me by somebody who was working as a bellhop at the time at the hotel. That's brilliant. What a story. Douglas Ray told me that, film producer.

Starting point is 00:13:51 This feels like a time for a Canadian name drop. We haven't had one yet. Well, I mean, forgive me, I've given you John Diefenbaker. And I'm interested that you haven't really heard of him. He was a giant. When I first went to Canada, he was a giant. He was the prime minister, late 60s to 70s. That was his time. He was the person, I think, who famously said when he became a member of parliament in Canada, in Ottawa, when he arrived there in his opening speech, he said, you know, when I was a boy, I didn't believe that anybody could get into the Canadian Parliament. And now I'm here, I realise that anybody can. He was, I haven't got that quote quite right. But so I met him when he was quite an old man. And I met, of course, Monsieur Trudeau, the father of the present Canadian Prime Minister, who was considered a very glamorous and attractive figure. But my encounters with Céline Dion, I shall tell you

Starting point is 00:14:51 about in part two. Yeah, exactly. There's not a Canadian that I haven't known. Shall I just give you a couple more? Well, famously, there's also the Canadian dollar note, which is called? Well, I think you're going to say it's called the uh the canadian dollar note which is called well i think you're going to say it's called the loony i don't think anybody calls it a loony or do people call the two dollar bill the toonie i don't know i like the idea of the loony that's from the picture of a solitary loon the bird on the reverse side of the coin it's a large water bird isn't it and it gets its name from its distinctive cry um apparently but a loon can also be a silly person. And some people think that it is from the bird's actions when escaping from danger. In other words, it's not

Starting point is 00:15:31 very good at escaping danger. And it might have been, it's a bit like the booby bird, if you remember that, the booby bird easily caught by sailors, hence the booby prize. But also it might just have a touch of lunatic about it, which comes from the Latin luna, moon. Loony, as you say, may not be used anymore. Twoonie is the $2 coin, just simply because it rhymes with loony and it was a bit of wordplay. Why not? And I love loony tunes, but that's a different thing altogether. What I do want to know about, because this Uncle Jack and Aunt Ede, they sat in separate rooms. And Uncle Jack was glued to the ice hockey on television. In Canada, certainly in those days, ice hockey was on from daybreak to midnight.

Starting point is 00:16:13 And Uncle Jack would sit there in his kimono with his whiskey. And occasionally, if Aunt Ede was talking too loudly in the kitchen to her friends, she'd say, shut it, woman. And he'd carry on watching. Ice hockey was everything. So I bet there are wonderful ice hockey terms. Can you give me some of those? Deke.

Starting point is 00:16:31 Deke is in there as well. Now, I don't really understand the ins and outs of ice hockey. I know it's incredibly fast, dramatic game. Deke is short for a decoy. So it's one of the sort of in-game strategies. Have you ever played ice hockey? I'd actually really fancy it if only I could glide across the ice. It is so fast.

Starting point is 00:16:49 It is so furious. And you really do need to be, absolutely. My son-in-law, Jason McConnachie, father of my grandson, is quite a demon on the ice hockey field pitch, ice. And it's quite frightening to see, actually. If I was going to be trained up in any sport, ice hockey would be the one. The one downside about Canada, and it's the reason actually my daughter Scythrid came back from Canada, being there with her husband and son, was the winter. The coldness of that winter, the amount of snow. And there's only so much tobogganing you can do, but it really

Starting point is 00:17:26 is cold, cold, cold in winter. Is toboggan a Canadian word? Yes. Again, we have to look back to the indigenous languages that were there before any of us to understand the origin of toboggan. It's from the Canadian French tabaggan, but that in turn came from a language called Micmac and their word for a sled, very, very old word. And as you say, very necessary given the weather. Again, that sort of, for me, it inspires a sense of kind of real coziness, but you know how niche I am and I'm not sure I'd survive the Canadian winter. Well, look, why don't we take a quick break and then we can warm up with some lovely Canadian fare.

Starting point is 00:18:06 But actually, before we take the break, we need to remind people that we're back on stage with our live show. We've done three so far, two at London's Fortune Theatre, one in Oxford. And our next show is going to be on Sunday, the 20th of November in London at the Fortune Theatre. And each show is proving to be quite different, isn't it? Yes. And if you do fancy it, and we would love to see you there, you can get tickets and info at somethingrhymeswithpurple.com, or you can follow us on social media at Something Rhymes on Twitter and Facebook, or at Something Rhymes With on Instagram. And when we come back, remind me to tell you about some of my most wonderful theatrical

Starting point is 00:18:41 experiences, which have happened in Canada, in Stratford. They have it their own Stratford, Ontario, where, believe it or not, I remember seeing in the 1960s the great Maggie Smith. She left Britain for several years and went to Canada and did some of her most exciting and best work there. We all adore Canada. So more of that and the Jigs dinner after the break. Wherever you're going, you better believe American Express will be right there with you.

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Starting point is 00:19:37 You know that feeling when you're like, why isn't there more of this? This show is so good. That was how I felt when I started to get really hooked on Black Butler that I think is just incredible. That was how I felt when I started to get really hooked on Black Butler that I think is just incredible. Oh, we, yeah, it's coming back. It's coming back.

Starting point is 00:19:52 He's like, I'm on top of it. I got it. I got the first girl after like a 10-year hiatus. And this is The Anime Effect, the show that allows celebrities to nerd out over their favorite anime, manga, or pop culture.

Starting point is 00:20:04 The Akatsuki theme song, you know what it is. I listen to that one all day. That thing go crazy. That thing kill me. Be in the gym going and they're like, what is he listening to? Oh, it's not even in the gym. I be on the field.

Starting point is 00:20:19 I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray. And I'm Leah President. Find out which live action anime adaptations David Dostmalchian is praying he'll get to star in. Or how Jamal Williams uses the mindset of Naruto for his NFL career. Listen to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect every Friday, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to Something Rhymes with Purple. And we've begun our North American tour in the most northern part of that continent, in the amazing, huge country that is Canada.

Starting point is 00:20:49 And I mentioned Jig's Dinner, which I think is a Canadian dish. Do you know what it is and why it's so called? I know this was a new one for me, but apparently this is a bit like our Sunday roast, I reckon. They're equivalent. It's a traditional meal that's cooked and eaten on Sundays in Newfoundland. And apparently corned beef and cabbage sounds a little bit like the German Lapskaus. That was the favourite meal of Jiggs. And Jiggs was the main character in a really popular long running comic strip called Bringing Up Father.

Starting point is 00:21:22 So apparently that was his dinner. So that's what some Canadians, particularly in Newfoundland, apparently call their Sunday. I'm not sure it is a roast, but they're equivalent. Speaking of Newfoundland, have you seen the show called Come From Away? No. It's the most successful Canadian show I think ever created. It's a musical about 9-11. Why should it be a Canadian show? It's a Canadian show because what happens is, as a result of 9-11, you will remember American airspace was closed down. When those airplanes were hitting the tower in Manhattan and attacking Washington, D.C., all the American airspace was closed down.

Starting point is 00:22:02 And therefore, planes had to be diverted. And they were diverted, many of them were diverted, to the town of Gander in Newfoundland, because it had been, during the war, an air force base, and there was places where they could land there. So the show is about an unexpected landing in Gander, which leaves about 7,000 passengers stranded in Canada in the wake of 9-11. And what the show is about is how the Newfoundland community invites these come-from-aways, as they're called, from all over the world into their lives. And at first, of course, some of them are welcoming, some of them are uneasy about it.

Starting point is 00:22:42 some of them are welcoming, some of them are uneasy about it. And it just is, for my money, perhaps the most amazing, magical, musical evening I have ever had. I saw it at the Phoenix Theatre in the West End. I don't know if it's still running there, but I'm sure it's playing around the world. It is just, well, I mean, it had the most amazing five-star reviews. It's incredible. You should see this piece of theatre. It sounds like it should be a film as well as a play. I wonder if they have actually... I'm sure it will be eventually. I mean, it's developed over the years. It began in Canada,

Starting point is 00:23:12 of course, I think in a school. I think it was one of those sort of school productions that then grew and ended up in New York, won all these tourneys, came to London, has gone around the world. But it is extraordinary. Come from away. Okay. I shall remember that. I do recommend it. Anyway, you're mentioning New. Okay, I shall remember that. I do recommend it. Anyway, you're mentioning Newfoundland made me think of that. Any more food things you want to share this with? If you have a double-double with your coffee, it's two creams and two sugars.

Starting point is 00:23:35 Apparently, you can ask for this in the very popular coffee chain, Tim Hortons. And also in Tim Hortons, you can ask for Tim Bits, which sound delicious. They're kind of small doughnuts, little ball-shaped doughnuts. So that's going to be straight on my list. You know, it's funny, that's one thing I do remember from my trip as a 13-year-old was that A at the end of sentences. And it's obviously, you know, very much a kind of linguistic habit, but it seems to have endured. So do you still notice that when you go to Canada? Don't wish to be perverse, but I don't think I do. But maybe that's because I'm not listening, because I'm so familiar with Canada, I am not listening.

Starting point is 00:24:07 Yes, maybe it's just not on your radar. It definitely was when I was there. But it'd be really, really interesting to hear from the purple people because, you know, so often with these things, we sort of end up charting language from 5, 10, even 15 years ago because we're always struggling to catch up. We are, as Samuel Johnson said, chasing the sun. And also, you've got to bear in mind that my Canada, as it were, has been changing over the years. I mean, I first went there when I was a boy. I've kept going back

Starting point is 00:24:34 because of family connections. The one thing that's been consistent throughout have been the Mounties, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. They're called Mounties because they're obviously mounted on horseback. And of course, we had the Royal Canadian, they came to the Queen's funeral recently. And in fact, the Queen's most famous horse, the one that she rode for many years for Trooping of the Colour, was a gift from Canada. Gosh, there's a nice one here, which I like, which is, you know, how beer brands often spark expressions in our language. So, for example, we've got gone for a Burton, which, if you remember, Giles, is probably a reference to Burton's Ale, which is a very famous ale. It was in wartime and it meant that you had gone for a drink. And of course, if you ended up in the drink as a fighter pilot, you had gone for a Burton, you had you had crashed. drink as a fighter pilot, you had gone for a butt and you had crashed. So a little bit dark, but beer in Canada has given us the Molson Muscle, which I quite like. Molson being a popular Canadian beer brand. And it simply means if you've got a lot of Molson Muscle, can you guess what that means? No, I hate to think. It's a beer belly, is it?

Starting point is 00:25:39 Exactly. It's a beer belly. That is very good. I've got a quiz question for you. Okay. I mentioned the horse that the Queen used to ride on for Trooping of the Colour. She rode on several horses, but the one she rode for 18 consecutive years from 1969 to 1986 was the one given to her by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It was a black horse. Can you remember its name? Some people think if it's going to be a statue of the Queen and a equestrian statue, it should be her on this horse. And I like the idea because it gives us that Anglo-Canadian connection. Can you remember the name of the horse? When I tell

Starting point is 00:26:16 it to you, you'll kick yourself and say, yes, I knew that. Yeah, no, I can't. Purple people across the globe all saying at the same time. Who are shouting at us. Burmese. Actually, do you know what? That was not on my radar. I don't think I know about Burmese. Well, it's before your time. Most of the things I say are before your time.

Starting point is 00:26:36 Don't think I don't know that. Now I need to know about Celine Dion because I've definitely heard of Celine Dion. Come on, spill. I can't tell you too much because what happens in the green room stays in the green room. And rather embarrassingly, it was in London that I met Celine Dion. And she is, of course, beautiful. And she's one of the Canadians that we know, love and admire. Yeah. The other Canadian that I was brought up with. That's it? Well, yeah. I'm not going to hear anything else. Well, we were close, but not that close.

Starting point is 00:27:02 What more can I say? I think when you next meet her, ask her about me, see what she says. If she's ready to spill the beans, I'll be ready to spill the beans. Have you heard of Stephen Leacock? No, fail. I can't bear it. Oh, I can't bear it. You've not heard of Stephen Leacock. I mean, you know, Celine Dion is marvellous and she's beautiful and she's a great singer and she is Canadian. Well, that's fantastic. And I a great singer and she is Canadian. Well, that's fantastic. And I enjoyed meeting her and we got on very well. But I have to tell you, she has heard of Stephen Leacock.

Starting point is 00:27:36 Indeed, she said to me that Stephen Leacock was her father's favourite. Does that give you a clue? He's Canadian? He is certainly Canadian. No, her father's favourite. Was he the Canadian equivalent of Val Dunican? Almost, actually. He was basically an entertainer. He was a comedian. He was a writer. He was a comic writer. But he did do sort of one-man shows. And he was full of witty sayings. The Lord said, let there be wheat. And Saskatchewan was born. He's the man who first said,

Starting point is 00:28:04 let there be wheat, and Saskatchewan was born. He's the man who first said, I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. Anyway, there we are. What my favourite of his is, I detest life insurance agents. They always argue that I shall someday die, which is not so. So amazingly, when I met Celine Dion, I suppose it was because I was a generation older than her, we talked about Stephen Leacock, our father's great hero. Shall I give you my favourite quote about luck, by the way? You mentioned his there, which is, luck, like a Russian car, only works when you push it. Oh, that's terribly good.

Starting point is 00:28:37 It's good, isn't it? We promised people that we were going to talk a little bit about Ottawa. And Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. I mean, I'm saying this because I'm the self proclaimed Canada expert here, but we'll have real people from Ottawa getting in touch to say the man doesn't know what he's talking about, but they're an idiot. But Ottawa is a very different city, I think, from any other Canadian city. It is the capital. There's a quietness about it, a dignity, an old fashioned charm. Are there words, though,

Starting point is 00:29:07 that come from Ottawa? Well, you mentioned the capital city. Apparently, Cap City is what Ottawa is also known of, which is making fun of the fact that no one outside of Ottawa knows that it is the capital of Canada, which I like. There's Miskeen. I'm sure pronouncing these probably a bit oddly, but that is, it means, oh, that's a bit sad. That's a bit sort of pathetic. And it actually is from Arabic originally. I told you about all the sort of huge number of influences upon all branches of English, really. And it's also behind a Spanish word, mesquina,

Starting point is 00:29:39 which means stingy or petty. So you can just see this morgues board of languages that come into play here, can't you? Very much so. It's a delicious language. I'm sorry we haven't got more time to spend in Canada, but maybe we'll come back to Canada and we would certainly like Canadians who listen to Something Rhymes with Purple to get in touch, particularly, I think, to debate the irritation they must feel when they are sometimes confused with being Americans to explain to us what the nuances are, the differences that they feel in their use of language and Americans' use of language. So if you are Canadian and you want to put us right on anything we've talked about, particularly

Starting point is 00:30:17 things like getting the Jigs dinner wrong and not knowing enough about ice hockey, do get in touch. It's purple at something else.com i've just remembered a hockey metaphor as well we were talking about ice hockey i was talking about deking and deking someone out there stick handling a problem apparently and to stick handle an ice hockey is to control the puck with your stick but then i think it also means to kind of carefully manipulate a project or an issue if you're stick handling it. So yeah, that's permeated through into slang as well. So I love the way that languages

Starting point is 00:30:49 just show people's major preoccupations, particularly slang. You know, the thing that preoccupies us most then gets reflected in the language inevitably. Well, people write to us with what preoccupies them. Who have we heard from this week? Well, thank you to the purple people who wrote after listening to our recent episode on bread it was called cobbler do you remember we asked

Starting point is 00:31:08 them to tell us their names for bread and anna karen sega from stockholm in sweden said rolls are called frala or franska meaning french or sma franska meaning small french apologies anna karen if i'm not pronouncing these correctly and the French stick is sometimes called the pain riche and that is because the baguette was only for the rich whilst the other poorer members of society tended to eat rye or knickerbrot and then we've had two Irish purple people writing to tell us about the blah now I remember Colin Murray telling me about this, actually. It's a small, soft, white roll that's particularly associated with Waterford, and that's in the

Starting point is 00:31:49 southeast of Ireland, not Northern Ireland, where Colin comes from. And there's also the barmbrach, which is from the Irish borine, which means a loaf, and brach means speckled, so it's a kind of speckled loaf, or added sultanas and raisins in it and is associated with Halloween. So thank you for everybody writing in. That was from Phoebe and Colm Costello, so please keep them coming. But we have just also had a message from the purple person, Olivia, and her daughter on this very topic. Dear Giles and Susie and Gully,

Starting point is 00:32:24 I love your podcast and often tell my kids about the words and meanings I've learned from your episodes, mainly in the vain hope that by repeating some, it'll help me to remember them. My younger daughter, Leah, who has learning disabilities, asked me to contact you about the word bread bin. We're not throwing the bread away, as in rubbish bin. I'm so thrilled Leia is taking an interest in language. It's demonstrating such progress for her and I'm really proud. Thank you for your fabulous podcast. With best wishes, Olivia. Well, we too are really happy that Leia is taking such an interest in language and it's the sort of question I don't ask myself often enough, Giles. So to Leah and to Olivia and I can tell you that bin goes all

Starting point is 00:33:11 the way back to old English when it was spelt b-i-double-n-e it's one of the few words of Celtic origin and in fact there's a Welsh word ben meaning cart and that gives you a clue because the original meaning of bin was a receptacle just in a general sense. So it could be receptacle for horses, food, or a container for grain or bread or other foodstuffs. And it didn't come to mean specifically a receptacle for rubbish until the mid 19th century. But it's that general sense of something in which you store food particularly hence the bread bin which dates back to that time good we've got time for one more uh we have and i think this one comes from rob green and he is in ontario canada yay hi susie and giles i was listening

Starting point is 00:33:59 to a podcast this week and one of the presenters used the phrase coming down the pike which hit my radar because i always thought the phrase was coming down the pipe do you happen to know if one is right or wrong love the show as always have you considered taking it on the road or rather to the skies and coming over to canada for a live show we'd love to see you both in person rob green fergus ontario canada oh shall we i've never been to Fergus, Ontario. I would love to go to Fergus, Ontario. And take purple on the road. Wouldn't that be amazing? Can we please put that on our bucket list? What's the answer to his question? Because he may not want us to come if he can't give you the answer to this. So thank you, Rob, for that. The answer is it is traditionally coming down the pike not the pipe and it is a reference to turnpike essentially and

Starting point is 00:34:49 roads in the olden days had turnpikes which were literal spiked barriers fixed across the road as a defense against sudden attack especially mounted attack and so if you were coming down the pike you were coming it's coming down the road but i like liked the idea of a pipe. And as we know, that's how English works, is that we kind of substitute words that don't quite make sense. And obviously no one talks about turnpikes anymore. And a pipe, just if you think about water coming down, a pipe makes absolute sense. And it reminded me of the phrase to pipe down, which actually was born on board submarines, where essentially sailors would be told and submariners would be told to get to sleep now. And that message would be delivered down one of the pipes that sort of went from above board right down to below board. So I love that too.

Starting point is 00:35:38 But it is definitely coming down the pike, but I do suspect that it might become pipe at some point in its future. Well, keep coming with your inquiries, please. It's purple at somethingelse.com. And Susie, keep coming at me with your three special words each week. Have any of these got a Canadian connections? They don't. No, they don't. Because I thought we've been talking about Canadian vocabulary a lot. But one that I did did think of because you were talking about the Canadian winters is obviously we're deep in autumn now and there is a chill in the air and it's always bothered me that there's never actually a word for the smell of autumn in the air just as there

Starting point is 00:36:15 is for the smell of rain if you remember after a hot dry spell such as petrichor but it got me thinking about fires and two words one of them from uh from English in the 13th century and one from Manx. And it's to warm yourself by the fire. And these two words are cloffin, which believe it or not, is a verb, C-L-O-F-F-I-N. I'm cloffining by the fire. And the brabag, B-R-A-B-B-A-G, which is specifically to warm the back of your legs in front of a fire. Oh, that's a very useful word. Yeah, I like it. Love those. Then I liked the idea, just because I came across it the other day, I didn't realise, an ex-lex, who is not a former lexicographer, but an outlaw, someone who is outside the law,

Starting point is 00:37:00 an ex-lex. I just quite like that. So if somebody is sort of, you know, if you come across a plumber who charges, you know, the world and then actually doesn't fix your boiler, you can call them an exlex. And finally, somebody who has no curiosity at all in anything, not the best dinner party guest. They are a fissy funkus. Very strange looking word. And I'm not sure I can even decode it for you, but it's F-Y-S-I, Fissy Funkus, F-U-N-K-U-S. So I just like the idea of dismissing someone and saying, oh, that's such a Fissy Funkus. It's a good one. Actually, that's one worth memorising and using. I agree. What about a poem for us, Charles, today? Well, I wanted, of course, to read a poem by a Canadian poet. And there's so many wonderful Canadian poets. I first of all thought read a poem by a Canadian poet. And there are so many wonderful Canadian poets.

Starting point is 00:37:46 I first of all thought of a poem by Robert Service. And I decided against that. I've gone, let's cut to the chase. Who do you think is the most famous Canadian writer now? I would say it's probably Margaret Atwood. Yes. And here is the opening of a poem of hers called Variations on the Word Love. And there could hardly be a more universal English word than love.

Starting point is 00:38:11 But as you'll see from the way this poem opens, there's so much you can do with the word love. And I'm just giving you a flavour of it with the opening of the poem. This is a word we use to plug holes with. It's the right size for those warm blanks in speech, for those red-heart-shaped vacancies on the page that look nothing like real hearts. Add lace and you can sell it. We insert it also in the one empty space on the printed form that comes with no instructions. There are whole magazines with not much in them but the word love. You can rub it all over your body and you

Starting point is 00:38:53 can cook with it too. How do we know it isn't what goes on at the cool debaucheries of slugs under damp pieces of cardboard? As for the weed seedlings nosing their tough snouts up among the lettuces, they shout it, love, love, sing the soldiers, raising their glittering knives in salute. Then there's the two of us. This word is far too short for us. It is only four letters, too sparse to fill those deep, bare vacuums between the stars that press on us with their deafness. It's not love we don't wish to fall into, but that fear. This word is not enough, but it will have to do. This word is not enough, but it will have to do. It's a single vowel in this metallic silence,

Starting point is 00:39:49 a mouth that says, oh, again and again, in wonder and pain, a breath, a finger, grip on a cliffside. You can hold on or let go. Well, I was only going to read the beginning of the poem, but then I thought actually the payoff is in the end. So I went the whole hog. Forgive me for taking up too much time. No, no, it's gorgeous. We've talked before about how love is, it seems so inadequate. And yes, it's so powerful at the same time. We have not sucked Canada dry. Oh, do you remember those advertisements saying drink Canada dry?

Starting point is 00:40:24 It was very sophisticated, wasn't it? And we realised that we have just touched the surface of Canadian English because obviously it is not something we immersed in every day. So please, if you have things to tell us and things to share, please do let us know. It is purple at something else dot com. And if you love the show, please follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. And please do recommend us

Starting point is 00:40:49 to friends and family. You can find us on social media at Something Rhymes on Twitter and Facebook or at Something Rhymes With on Instagram. And for more Purple, there is also the Purple Plus Club

Starting point is 00:41:01 where you can listen ad-free and get bonus episodes on words and language. Something Rhymes with Purple is a Something Else and Sony Music Entertainment production. It was produced by Harriet Wells, with additional production from Chris Skinner, Jen Mystery, Jay Beale, Teddy Riley,

Starting point is 00:41:17 and where is he? Where is he? It's the ex-Lex himself. Golly.

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