Something Rhymes with Purple - Mundungus

Episode Date: April 30, 2024

This week, Susie and Gyles explore fragrances and scents. Join us as we inhale the sweet aromas of people and places... 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  Enjoy Susie’s Trio for the week:  Acang: To act foolishly, lose self-control. Anythingarian: One who professes no creed in particular; an indifferentist. Coleworts: Old news. Literally, a cabbage-like plant. From the proverb for “old news,” “coleworts twice sodden’. Gyles' poem this week was 'Home Thoughts, From Abroad' by Richard Browning Oh, to be in England Now that April's there, And whoever wakes in England Sees, some morning, unaware, That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England—now! And after April, when May follows, And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows! Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge Leans to the field and scatters on the clover Blossoms and dewdrops—at the bent spray's edge— That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over, Lest you should think he never could recapture The first fine careless rapture! And though the fields look rough with hoary dew, All will be gay when noontide wakes anew The buttercups, the little children's dower —Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!  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 and welcome to Something Rhymes with Purple. Hopefully, I don't need to tell you by this point that this is a program about words and language and much more besides. But welcome if you are new to us. We are extremely thrilled to have your company. And for all the regular Purple people and loyal listeners, Thank you so much for joining us. We have a subject that is close to my heart today, Giles, because I think I have an extremely strong sense of it. Oh, is this going to be a sense of smell? Yes. Blessing and a curse, but I've always had a very, very strong sense of smell. How about you?

I don't think I have had, but I've been thinking about it this week, because have you heard of a British television personality called Jonathan Ross? Of course. I've met Jonathan Ross. You've met Jonathan Ross. He's been on the comedy version of Countdown very often. Good. Well, he's an amusing guy, a nice guy, and I've met him too. But I was very shocked when he revealed that he doesn't feel he needs to shower on a daily basis. In fact, he says if he hasn't taken any exercise, he can go for a whole week

without taking a shower. Now, I have to say, I've always found him perfectly fragrant when I've been close to him. I've not been aware of that. But I like the idea that cleanliness is next to godliness. I like to feel that people I meet are fresh, clean. In fact, the people I like most probably are the odourless ones. Oh, okay. I like a bit of aftershave and perfume. Oh, really? Yeah, very much. I'm a bit of a sucker for scents, actually, but the right kind. But I'm just going to look up cleanliness is next to godliness because it's actually really unfair um and also just misinformed i would think i mean who who says you have to be clean to be you know godly what about those who haven't got enough water or who can't shower or whatever i think what they i think the origin of cleanliness is godliness

meaning a clean mind, clean thoughts. I think it would be purity in that sense. I suspect the origin of the phrase, but I may be wrong. But no, actually, I'm also in favour. Most people are able. Most people can wash on a regular basis. Not if you're homeless, obviously. Well, of course not.

But I'm saying most people can wash on a regular basis. And I think smelling, not smelling at all, isn't good. You may think smelling nice is nicer, but I'm not so sure about that because one man's fragrance is another man's poison. You don't wear anything, do you? I mean, obviously, in terms of scent. I don't. Scent-wise, I don't no i don't i

mean i i come from the generation where there was something when i was young called old spice oh yes that was an inexpensive were they were they great ads yeah old spice ads were brilliant well anyway so no i i don't um but do you think i should well I just think it's really nice but I love I love perfumes as well so I'm always trying out new perfumes but there's one that I have which is I love and I was worn by a woman that I used to see at school she was a fellow parent and I literally ran after her one day and said I have to ask you where did your perfume come from and she told me that it was a perfume that interacts with the pheromones of each individual. So it smells different on different people. Anyway, I saved up, bought myself some and love it at the first spritz,

but then I cannot smell it on myself at all. And I think one of the main purposes of perfume for me is being able to enjoy it myself. It's not so much about, I mean, it's really nice if other people like your smell, but I just love being able to, but it just somehow doesn't happen. Smells are evocative. I remember being told by, first name drop of the day, I remember being told by the great Dame Judi Dench, how she recalled meeting the great Sir Noel Coward, playwright, wit, et cetera, on the stairs backstage at a theatre. She didn't speak to him, but he passed her.

And as he passed her, the fragrance was so delightful coming from him that to this day, she thinks of him in terms of that delightful fragrance. Well, there you go. I mean, incredibly evocative. Exactly. And in fact, that would be true to me. If I smell, I mean, I love the smell ofative. So that, exactly. And in fact, that would be true to me of if I smell, I mean, I love the smell of new mown grass. Me too.

That takes me back to my childhood. Yes. I love fresh bread, the smell. In part, the bakers, particularly in France, where the bread has been newly baked. That is a wonderful smell, isn't it? Fresh basil. I'm not so sure about basil.

I love basil. I love basil. I love basil. But that's it. Each to their own. But obviously with COVID, you know, there was a very distinct concentration on smell because some people lost their sense of smell entirely. Anosmia, it's called. What's it called?

Losing a smell? Anosmia. A-N-O-S-M-I-A. The ah meaning without. And, you know, some people haven't got it back. So I consider myself very lucky that I do still have my sense of smell, but I thought it would be a really good subject because in some instances, I get quite frustrated that English doesn't have a distinct word for certain smells. And I'll give you an example. The smell of autumn. Every single time you go outside, you sort of sniff the air and there's a very, very distinct

earthy smell that is the herald of autumn. But we have no word for it. And I can't actually find one in another language. Obviously, if any of the purple people know one, I would love to hear it. You say that as though there is a word for the smell of winter and spring and summer, is there? Well, I don't think you smell it quite so much. Spring, possibly. Spring. Spring is in the air. You do. Well, it's the spring.

It's flowers, isn't it, you feel? It's flowers. It's blossom. Well, you're right. Autumn, it's those leaves, isn't it, that have been sort of mulched. There is a distinct, there's the sense of a dampness. There's a definite smell about autumn. There is.

And, you know, the most famous smell that has really taken social media by storm in recent years is the smell of rain after a long, hot, dry spell. Do you remember what that's called? Tell me. Petrichor. Oh, yes. Yes, yes. So petrichor, we have a word for that. We do not have a word for the scent of autumn. I think smells can have quite an emotional quality and it's got a slightly melancholy, wistful air to it, I think. Can I come up with an idea? Keats. I say Keats because John Keats, the poet, wrote a wonderful poem, which you will know, called To Autumn, which begins, season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, close bosom friend of maturing sun. Anyway, it evokes autumn brilliantly.

And so what about Keats as a word? I sound like that. Yeah, it would be a lovely eponym. Oh, yes. It's sort of damp and musty. It's got cedar and maple and apples and mushrooms. It's quite a heady mix, isn't it? It's beautiful.

And I don't know you probably are more uh well not now but when you did enjoy wine um you probably knew a little bit of the wine lexicon where you know they talk about they use various adjectives i found it so irritating and they talked about notes oh yeah very interesting notes there are some lovely autumnal notes there what else do they mean well exactly the same as scent makers they talk about notes notes and bass notes they talk about tonality and they have incredibly exotic ingredients so go to any perfume counter and you will see oud which is a nice, a really nice smell. Black Oud is quite a famous perfume component at the moment. You have, what else do you have? Chypre from Cyprus, you have Ambray. And then

they describe scents in really exotic terms. So I saw one description of a scent being gourmand, like, you know, a lover of food would love this sort of scent as a sense of greed about it as though a scent is kind of good enough to eat so there's a little bit of pretension there as well um which you won't find in words that we do have in the dictionary for distinctive smells so if i said to you mundungus uh, which you will not find it on any perfume counter, any idea what that means? Mundungus. You certainly wouldn't have found it on a perfume counter because who's going to buy a bottle of Mundungus? And they're usually about 80 pounds a bottle anyway, whatever it is. No. What is it? Okay, so Mundungus I absolutely love as a word.

It's from the 17th century and it means foul-smelling tobacco. Oh. Mundungus. Well, that actually is a good word because it does conjure up something a bit foul, doesn't it? It does. And I'm going to stay with the foul because there is, thankfully it's quite rare, but there's the word neuterosity in one dictionary. And I do apologise for anybody who is eating a biscuit, sipping a cup of tea or even a glass of wine while they're listening to this. Because niderosity is defined as belching with the smell of undigested meat.

Horrible. So there's that. There's aliasious, smelling like garlic or onions. Not something that you would particularly want someone to be. And hirsine, which is interesting, H-I-Rr-c-i-n-e which means having a distinctly goatee smell oh yeah so goat's cheese possibly it can mean lusty so be careful with that one um and there is stinkibus which i love from the 18th century and i was a bit disappointed because i thought it described i thought it meant somebody who reeks of cheap alcohol but actually it describes the alcohol itself stinkiness very

good he was stinkiness yeah and then there is some beauties as well um that come from other languages or that uh people have even made up so do you remember charles me telling you about the dictionary of obscure sorrows of course by john Koenig. And he came up with the word velikor, which is the smell and the aura of old bookshops. And we so needed that word. It's just beautiful. And then there are some nomadic hunter-gatherers in the mountain rainforest of Malaysia. And they have a vast lexicon for different smells. So they have a smell for ripe fruit, itpit. What's that again?

Say it again. Itpit. I-T-P-I-T. And I can't begin to pronounce this one. C-N-E-S. The smell of bat droppings in bat caves. So they have a word for that too, which is wonderful. Kness.

Kness, maybe. I'm not sure. Or tchness. We've got many gaps in our language. We're quite good with taste. We're not so good with smells. But there are words that are to do with smells rather than the smells themselves because we have perfume and we have fragrance and we have smell itself.

Should we go into some of those? what should i start with we'll start with smell itself start with smell okay well that's the tricky one because no one knows where it came from there's no related word in any other language that we know of and uh it's could you say that it's expressive smell i mean the sm almost SM almost suggests a blocked nose, so I think not, but we just don't know is the answer. We have several idioms. Do you forgive me for interrupting? I know I'm very juvenile. But do you remember when we were children, there were telephone books? Maybe you are much younger than me. Maybe they weren't in your day. But when I was a child, there were telephone directories.

Yes, I remember. And because we lived in, my parents lived in London, there were four big telephone directories. And I'm afraid we did look up the names of people. Oh, yes, smelly. People called smelly. Yes. And we genuinely would phone people up and simply say, are you smelly? You're smelly.

Oh, dear. Oh, dear. Yes. And you actually probably had to actually put a coin in, did you, to do that? Well, you did if you did it from a public phone box. Oh, okay. But if at home, though my father was quite careful to ensure that the children didn't spend too much money, he didn't install as famously.

Who was the millionaire, billionaire, J. Paul Getty, who had at his house, he he had for guests to use he did have a pay phone because otherwise people did take advantage of him oh wow anyway wow okay so that smell uh the honest answer is we don't know um several expressions come up smelling of roses we have wake up and smell the coffee um etc but no one knows quite where that comes from, which is, I think, quite interesting. Fragrance is actually related to fragrant, obviously, but also flair, as in you've got a real flair for something. They go back to the French word flairer, meaning to smell, which in turn is based on a Latin word, fragrare, meaning to smell sweet. And if you have a flair for something, it means that you can detect the essence of something, its scent, and then react according to it. So you have that kind of aptitude, which I think is quite lovely. Scent is quite an interesting one because before it came to

mean perfume, and I'll come to perfume in a minute, it was a hunting term. And scent was a hound's sense of smell. And then it was the odor picked up by a hound, and scent was a hound's sense of smell. And then it was the odor picked up by a hound, and then it became a pleasant smell. But you wouldn't really have guessed that one, nor perhaps. You're right, because in Sherlock Holmes, I feel they're constantly on the scent. Yes. And you can picture bloodhounds sniffing as they move forward. Absolutely.

hounds. Exactly. Sniffing as they move forward. Absolutely. And in fact, the first meaning of sluice was a bloodhound. I'm speaking of Sherlock Holmes. It was a sluice hound, one that would track its prey. When you go to buy one of these fragrances in a shop, do you call it perfume, fragrance, scent? What would you call it when you actually went up to the counter? Perfume. Fun. Yes. So even if it was eau de toilette, I would call it perfume. So the toilet water.

And just a reminder that toilet at that point had nothing to do with the toilet that we use today. Making one's toilette. Exactly. Exactly. And it was a euphemism essentially um it kind of shifted to mean something that we couldn't describe but yes you would do your toilet you would well actually it was first of all it was a shawl i think that you would wear around you and then it came to beautify oneself um and then you know went quite a long way from

there but perfume is interesting because it's linked to fumigate. And both of those go back to the Latin fumus, meaning smoke. And it is probably all related to the really lovely smell of incense, which is gorgeous. I love incense. And frank incense, if you remember, the frank there means superior, because the Franks thought themselves a superior race. As in frankincense and myrrh, that was incense that came from the Frankish people. Yes, it was considered superior or high quality. Yes.

I'm intrigued that you like the smell of incense. Do you not? Well, I do, in context. As I'm sure I've mentioned before, when I was a very little boy, I was a server at a high Anglican church in London, in Gloucester Road, a church called St. Stephen's. And there I was the boat boy. And the boat boy carried a little silver dish that was shaped like a boat, in which there was the incense, the dry incense. And the boat boy walked alongside the priest who was carrying the thurible. The priest was known as a thurifer.

He carried the thurible, which is the bowl in which the incense is burnt, and it hangs from a chain. And he would take a little spoon from the boat that the boat boy was howling, put it into the incense burner, and then would clank the furible and sort of spread the fumes. And I loved the incense, the smell of it then. But in the context of being at church, I love it. But to come across it anywhere else, I'd find a bit odd. Ah, okay. Yes, I suppose I associate it with mass and churches as well.

But you can get all different kinds of incense now, can't you? And it's become quite a sort of popular thing to burn at home. Oh, you're right. I'm absolutely right. And in fact, you sometimes can go to yoga and they will have a little bowl of incense there, giving off the sort of promise, Eastern promise that the yoga come. Speaking of incense, and I feel I haven't

done enough name dropping this week. Have I told you my story about the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and the incense? No. I don't know if I remember. This is the late Queen, Elizabeth II. Her husband was the Duke of Edinburgh. And I was the chairman of a charity that he had been president of for 60 years. And the idea was to have a celebration. And we asked the Queen, who was the patron of the charity, he was the president, what she felt would be appropriate. And she said, well, we're giving thanks, aren't we, for 60 years of service. And I had in mind a lovely party, you know, a ball or a dinner or, you know, at least drinks. And the Queen said, oh, no, well, it's 60 years of service, we should have a church service. So, of course, we had to

go along with it. And I chose a church which I had not visited, and this was a mistake, which was just located just between the headquarters of the charity and Buckingham Palace, just off Sloane Square in London and Chelsea. And the day came for this church service and in walked the Queen, followed by the Duke of Edinburgh. But I hadn't realized this church was high Anglican. So as the royal couple arrived at the church, it was awash with incense. The smell of incense was everywhere. The smoke was everywhere. And the Duke of Edinburgh turned to me and said, I thought this was supposed to be a celebration. It's turning into a cremation, all this burning stuff.

He did not approve, but I think the Queen rather liked it. And in church, I do like it. Yes, well, me too. Can I ask you one more question? Is the origin of scent, not just to smell sweet, but was it to camouflage unpleasant smells? Sure, nosegays, for example. Yeah, exactly. Yes, and actually camouflage is quite an interesting one.

In some ways it's to do with smell, because we think it goes back to a French word, camoufler, which was a puff of smoke. And the idea is if you're camouflaging something or disguising it, it's like you're blowing smoke into someone's eyes. But yes, they absolutely were and i'd have to ask my friend greg jenner the historian who will know far more about this than me because he's done the history of washing and soap and that kind of thing but um it is said isn't it that people didn't wash particularly often and so um you know back in elizabethan times for, for example, people would have nosegay sweet-smelling

flowers, particularly the monarchs, to disguise any odours. And it was the odours of other people. It was the same reason I watch a programme called Bargain Hunt, where they're selling usually vintage items, occasionally antiques, and they talk about a vinaigrette, which seemed a little a little like a little snuff box or smaller in which you put vinegar or or something perhaps sweeter smelling inside on a damp cloth and so if you were in the streets and there were particularly pungent and unpleasant smells coming through the window of your chaise um you could put this to your nose like smelling salts to smell something sweet rather than awful that makes total sense and probably we could do with it um these days as well um i'm

going to finish with one more before we take a break did you know that funky is also to do with funk which meant a musty smell and like like camouflage, it may come from a French word meaning to blow smoke on, which ultimately would take it back to that same fumus in Latin, smoke that gave us fumigate and perfume. So funk then came to mean worthless or bad, because it wasn't a particularly nice smell. But in the way that slang does, it flipped it, as we do with wicked or sick or whatever, to mean something good, which is why funk and funky musical context came to mean something that was good. And being in a blue funk, was that because the air was filled with blue smoke?

Well, funk began to mean also, as well as something worthless, it came to mean a state of anxiety. So if you're in a blue funk, it was definitely part of Oxford University slang in the mid-18th century. It came to mean in a not particularly good state. Or maybe there's one theory that it goes back to a Flemish word meaning disturbance or agitation. So I'm not completely sure about the blue funk. I'm really sorry. After the break, we're going to have some correspondence. I'm really sorry we don't have a facility for inviting our listeners at this moment to press a button, because I would like them to vote. And I'd like them to vote on whether, as a rule, they prefer somebody to have a pleasant fragrance, perfume around them,

or whether they prefer the natural smell of the real body and i think i prefer when it comes to you susie did i've not been caught i didn't realize you were awash with fragrance i've always thought you just smell lovely oh well thank you i don't i think i don't overdo it but you don't know it's just important to me smell it's very very subtle the way well thank you it's mixing with my pheromones clearly and i can't smell it which is very annoying um but back after the break to talk about some other things thanks to you the purple people who the way you do it. Well, thank you. It's mixing with my pheromones clearly and I can't smell it, which is very annoying. But back after the break to talk about some other things. Thanks to the purple people

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It's on email, purplepeopleatsomethingrhymes.com. Who is the first person we have heard from? I think they come from California. Yes, and he's called David Profumo. And in fact, he has a question about that too. Dear Susie and Charles, hello from the States. I've been listening to you for a couple of years, ever since Jimmy mentioned the podcast on Cats Does Countdown, which I watch on YouTube when I can. So much fun, you and Rachel and the boys. My word origin question is,

what led to the switch in meaning between certain words from British English to American English, or the other way around, which I've learned from this show happens on occasion. Where I'm from, if I were to knock on someone's door and they said they were in their pants, I would walk in not expecting any fun or scandal or what have you. That's a little different where you guys are. Also, I do remember back in the 90s telling a Welsh friend I just needed to grab my fanny pack, and him almost falling over laughing. And then there's chips and biscuits, and I'm sure many others.

Was this just Noah Webster deciding to shake words up and not just the spelling? Oh, hey, also, has Giles met my namesake or his father? My parents had such an interesting time hitchhiking through Europe in the late 60s. So much snickering whenever they'd say their last name. I'm assuming we're all related, but you'd have to go back several generations to find a common ancestor. Thank you for all your time. Keep on with the brilliant work. David Profumo, Burbank, California. Now the more substantial question for you, Susie.

Yes. Well, I would say to David that there is a brilliant book where you can see the entire history of British versus American English, and it's called The Prodigal Tongue by Lynn Murphy, which I heartily recommend. And you will find in that just descriptions of how standardized spelling for all that the advent of the printing press did a huge amount to solidify spelling across different regions. It really got going in the 17th century, just as the sort of, you know, Mayflower was setting sail and people were establishing what was called the

New World. And this really created the opportunity when it comes to American and British English for different varieties to emerge, because what went out was a very mixed bag of English, a wonderfully eclectic mix of different dialects, different spellings, and different words, which then fell out of use in Britain, but stayed in the US. So that accounts for some of the differences. Then you have Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language in 1755, which solidified a lot of English spelling. And just 20 years after that, we have the US declaring its political independence and also its independence when it came to language. Because as I've often said on here, the idea was that rejecting the king's English was tantamount

to rejecting the king. So it was a way of saying we are going to have our own national language. And Webster, yes, definitely was involved. He's often credited for taking the U out of words like colour and honour. Actually, those had been around for some time, but what he did was he really popularised them. But what Webster really tried to do was to simplify spelling even more. And most of his spellings didn't actually catch on, but some of them did. but some of them did. So it was really the desire for linguistic independence that kind of caused both languages to separate even more than they would have done already, thanks to the different states at which English went over there. And of course, you have, we mustn't forget, the indigenous languages that those settlers often plundered from, as well as land,

they often plundered their lexicon as well when they came to having to identify new things and new phenomena. So they borrowed from those as well, and we didn't have the same influence over here. So there are many reasons at work, essentially, for those differences. But the one thing I would say, David, is remember that they're not as different as you think, and things that the British tend to dismiss as pesky Americanisms actually were ours to begin with. So it's a long and complicated history, but I really recommend that Prodigal Tongue book by Lynn Murphy. It's amazing. Good. Another letter now. Hi, Susie and Giles. I've been thinking about this question for the past week and my friends and family think it's ridiculous. They think it's just one of those things. I won't try to help answer it. The question is this. Why is chicken meat called chicken, but cow meat is beef, pig meat is pork, and sheep

meat is mutton? Any help in answering this question would be greatly appreciated, says Lana. Of course, chicken meat is really hen meat that's called chicken. But I take her point. Cow meat is beef, big meat is pork. Is it to aggrandize them, make them seem more seemly? Is it to do with the French? Yeah, tell us more. It has to do with the French. So the story goes, much told, that after the Norman invasion,

the Norman conquest, the words for prepared foods in Britain took on the French equivalent, what the Normans would have called them. And that was very much because it was the French nobility and aristocracy that were eating these prepared dishes and the so-called peasants were eating much sort of baser or more basic things. So they bred the cows, the sheep and the swine, and then they cooked them and served them on wonderful plates to their Norman rulers, which is why beef is from the French boeuf, mutton, mutton, pork, pork, etc. We do have poultry, which comes from the French poulet, mainly chicken. So we do have a French for chicken in that sense. But it's possibly because chicken was a really important part of everyday diet. So perhaps it was considered to be more ordinary and more everyday, as I say. And so

it took on the English word as opposed to the French, so that virtually every social class was eating chicken. And so we didn't need to reach for the sort of posher French term, if you like. But we're not completely sure if that's the case. And it is a bit of an anomaly, but it possibly is because it was easier to come by and therefore wasn't particularly associated with nobility and therefore the French. Is this why even hundreds of years after this, menus were even in Britain, were still published in French. And actually, very recently, at court, the menus were written in French. Well, absolutely. And menu itself is French. So, obviously, there is a huge amount of French vocabulary in our food. And one day, we can

talk about a claim by a French professor very recently, which made the news, which was that English is just French poorly spoken, essentially. But yeah, menu, gastronomy, you know, all things gastronomique, very much associated with the French and the Normans because they were the ones who people looked up to and they were the ruling classes, essentially. You will marvel at this, but I discovered this when I was writing a biography of the late Queen Elizabeth II. And it was this, that when the queen was a young princess, little girl, she and her sister, when her father became king, they moved to Buckingham Palace. And food was sent up to the nursery for them to eat nursery food with the nanny in the nursery. But the food came

with a menu. This is children's food. We're talking about little girls aged 10, 11, 12. And the menu was written in French. Wow. That's incredible. Yeah. Wow. It's a few years ago now, but even so. But they understood it perfectly. This is in the nursery. In the nursery. Nursery food, but the menu is written in French.

I suppose it helped them. They had a French teacher. Well, I suppose so. So maybe it helped them learn that French. That's incredible. But now you don't. But even, I mean, I'm sure you remember, even 20, 30 years ago, you went to a grand dinner, and often the menu was written in French.

Yeah. Well, that's very true. That is very true. And so helpful. But also, I think, I don't know if we look up to the French quite so much these days, but definitely, as we've talked about before on the pod, we do associate them with things that are sort of saucy as well as classy, don't we? So it's kind of national stereotypes kicking in, but very much the reality after 1066. How did the word saucy come? I mean, I imagine the origin of saucy is to do with the sauce that you serve. Picante. Picante.

And sassy. Sassy is a riff on saucy. Very. Well, I think I would have guessed that. Yeah. He's sassy, he's saucy. So because a sauce could be that is in a sauce boat and is served to pour on your meat, be piquant. That's how you become, if you're slightly saucy, it's you've got a slight piquancy about you. Yeah, I think that's the idea.

Also salsa, actually salsa is to do with salt rather than sauce. And salt has a huge family behind it. But yeah, if you're saucy, you're saucy. I'm just looking up in the OED. family behind it. But yeah, if you're sassy or saucy, I'm just looking up in the OED. Actually, the first senses of saucy in 1511 were impudent, presumptuous, irreverent, or cheeky, and then lively, spirited, sprightly, and so on. How far back does that go? 14th century?

16th century. 1511 is the first record that we have. Gosh, Shakespeare is so saucy. Yeah. Well, there you go. And then 1513, so just a couple of years later, we have the sense of flavor all covered with sauce.

And then piquant, pungent, sharp, and tangy. So they've both kind of grown up in parallel, really. They have. In fact, really, what you're telling me there with the dates is the idea of being cheeky predates the picanci so well just but as with all these things a couple of years you know we might well predate it it's antedated at some point um but anyway it's

a fascinating question and it slightly leads into the first word in my trio the idea of being saucy because I've taken some very obscure words from the Oxford English Dictionary that will probably never see the light of day, apart from this moment in the sun. But you can kind of see why the first one didn't really catch on. It's a verb, a-cang, A-C-A-N-G, and it meant to lose self-control. That's actually quite a useful word, isn't it? Well, I suppose so, but it's just a really odd-sounding word.

How do you spell it again? From the 13th century, A-C-A-N-G, akang. And is that a verb? It's a verb, yeah. Yeah, to act foolishly or to lose self-control, maybe a bit salty. From the 18th century, we have an anything-arian, which is somebody who is just a bit of a windsock or just has no particular belief.

So they're either indifferent or they just go with the flow. An anything-arian, not particularly positive, as you would imagine. Well, I quite like people who are anything-arian. I do. positive as you would imagine well i quite like people who are anything arian i think yes i'm that wonderful line from i think it's yates the best lack all conviction while the worst are full of a passionate intensity oh yeah i i quite like an anything area new says well i don't really know i'll go with the flow i'm not against that it depends if you're more of a windsock or if you are laid back. I think it's sort of, you know, if you lack conviction. A windsock means you just blow with the way the wind goes.

Yes, exactly. Yeah. Anyway, the third one I quite like. We're not going to be using this one again. Colworts, C-O-L-E-W-O-R-T-S. And it means old news. And colwort was a cabbage or cabbage like vegetable and there was a proverb colwort's twice sodden in other words it's a bit like you know how we dismiss if somebody's worried about a newspaper story they say oh it'll be fish and fish and

chips tomorrow fish and chips paper um it's similar so colwort's twice sodden twice sodden cabbages. It's old news, but you don't want to hear about it anymore. I just quite like that one. So, there you go. Obscure words from the OED. And I've got a poem that isn't obscure at all. I was tempted because we talked about keats possibly being a word that we could adapt in some way. He wrote that wonderful poem, To Autumn, when we were looking for a word that gives you the smell of autumn. And I thought, well, should I read a bit of Keats? And then I thought, no, it isn't autumn. To everything, it's season. So let me think of a poem that gives us spring. And Robert Browning's Home Thoughts from Abroad does exactly that. Oh, to be in England,

does exactly that. Oh, to be in England, now that April's there, and whoever wakes in England sees some morning unaware that the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf round the elm-tree bowl are in tiny leaf, while the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough in England now. And after April, when May follows, and the white-throat bills and all the swallows, hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge leans to the field and scatters on the clover, blossoms and dewdrops at the bent spray's edge. That's the wise thrush. He sings each song twice over, lest you should think he never could recapture the first fine careless rapture. And though the fields look rough with hoary dew, all will be gay when noontide wakes anew. The buttercups, the little children's dower, far brighter than this gaudy melon flower.

Ah, beautiful. Wonderful. than this gaudy melon flower. Ah, beautiful. It's wonderful. And I think, do you think the phrase, first fine careless rapture comes from this poem? You've heard people use the phrase. I haven't. Oh, really? I haven't either. Oh, well, maybe it's the romantic in me,

something of an older generation. People will talk about careless rapture. And I think it may come from this Browning poem. Anyway. Maybe it must do. It's beautiful. Yeah. Beautiful. I love that. And I reallying poem. Anyway. Maybe it must do. It's beautiful. Yeah. Beautiful.

I love that. And I really enjoyed today. I hope you did as well. Thank you so much for listening in. Thank you for following the show and recommending us to friends and family. And just a reminder, there is always the Purple Plus Club

for ad-free listening and exclusive episodes about, well, anything. We're anything-arians in that, aren't we? We are. And not ashamed of it either. Something Wines with Purple is a Sony Music Entertainment production. It was produced by Naya Dia

with additional production from Jennifer Mystery, Matias Torres-Sole, and Olly Wilson. And Olly smells really wonderful. What about Naya? Well, I felt it would be important to be seen sniffing around Naya, whereas Olly encourages it.