Something Rhymes with Purple - Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Episode Date: January 21, 2020

This week is our first ever show recorded in front of a LIVE audience. In front of a packed room of Purple People at the Islington Assembly Hall in London, Gyles and Susie discuss their love of words and their individual “word journeys”. Susie runs through some of her favourite etymologies like Buxom, Scurryfunge and Halcyon. Gyles reveals his New Year Resolutions and gives us a run down of the longest, shortest, most common and most liked words in the English language. As a real treat we get to answer the Purple People’s questions with them there in the room and, as always, Susie has her trio of words for you to take into the week. We also have an exciting announcement regarding your next tea break… get your very own Something Rhymes With Purple mug here: https://purple.backstreetmerch.com/ A Somethin’ Else production Susie’s Trio: Nudnik - a pestering, nagging, or irritating person; a bore Propinquity - the state of being close to someone or something Obabmbulate - to walk about or wander If you have a question for Gyles and Susie please email [e-mail]  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up y'all it's your man Mark Strong Strizzy and your girl Jem the Jem of all Jems and we're hosting Olympic FOMO your essential recap podcast of the 2024 Olympic Games in 20 minutes or less every day we'll be going behind the scenes for all the wins

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with American Express. Unmissable show coming up? Good news. We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main We'll see you next time. Annex. Benefits vary by car and other conditions apply. Hello and welcome to Something Rhymes with Purple. Now normally, Giles, we are sitting in my sitting room or my kitchen, but there's a different acoustic here, isn't there? Very different. Because we are not in my kitchen.

No, we're not in Oxford. We're in London, England. I say that because we now have quite a few listeners in Canada, which is quite exciting. So it could be London, Ontario. Who knows? Not far from either Toronto or indeed even Vancouver Island. Because this is an international

podcast. We are in London Islington and we're doing it live we've got a real audience here of what are we going to call the people who listen to our podcast? We call them the purple people, is that alright with you? Those are the purple people Yay!

Yay! Oh it's fantastic. We established that quite a few of you from... Who's from London? Who? Who's from out of London? You see? Who is from the world?

OK. We've got a live audience here. We have a live audience, and you will know, hopefully, if you've listened to us before, that this is a program all about words and it's our passion for words because we are logophiles aren't we logophiles is that a canadian word for people who are move like lumberjacks they move logs about are they logophiles what is the origin of logophile log lovers they know they're logo lovers they're

word lovers simply logophiles well logo is a, is it? In Latin, file is enthusiastic. Okay. So that is us. Do you remember the first moment you thought, wow, about English? Yes, I think I do. I've been in love with English language since I was a really little child. I had wonderful parents. I'm constantly asked to write a book about my childhood. I can't because I couldn't publish a misery memoir because I had a lovely childhood. I paraphrase a poem by Philip Larkin to describe my childhood.

My poem goes like this. They tuck you up, your mum and dad. Because my parents just tucked me up in bed. They read me stories. They recited poems to me. My father was a lawyer. My mother was a teacher. They introduced me to my love of words

from a very small age. I've loved words all my life. Now, how about you? One is sitting in the back of a car, my parents' car, going to some freezing destination on the South Coast. And my sister, who is very glamorous

would be playing around with new makeup eyelash curlers that kind of thing I would be sitting there with a vocabulary book at the age of seven and it was a French and German vocabulary book at this point and my goal was to learn as many words as I could by the time we reached Worthing or wherever it was I was a nerd even then, age seven. And even before that, I remember sitting in the bath looking at shampoo bottles and marvelling at what must have been the most boring ingredients in the world and just thinking, I want to be able to understand these.

It's interesting that you mention the shampoo bottles because even at my advanced years, I cannot stop anywhere. In the bathroom, perched on the loo, sitting on the edge of the bath, I can't do it without words. So I'm reading the side of the soap packet, the shampoo, the medicines. Are you trying to find anagrams? Because that's my new thing. Oh, really?

Yes. Well, you know, I've been doing Countdown for so long, it would be hard not to find hidden words. Oh, let's do a test with these people, OK? We'll do an anagram of an everyday English word is Monday, M-O-N-D-A-Y. All of you together now, you'll know this.

Rearrange the letters in the word Monday, and what have you got? An everyday English word, M-O-N-D-A-Y. Rearrange those letters to come up with another everyday English word. On the count ofN-D-A-Y. Rearrange those letters to come up with another everyday English word. On the count of three. One, two, three. Dynamo. Well done, sir.

Dynamo. That's magic. Congratulations. Pretty good. He called it out. What's your name? Where do you come from, sir? Nigel from Clapham. Nigel from Clapham. If I may say so. That's a come on if ever I heard one. Wow.

When I was a Member of Parliament, there were people who would go down to Clapham to meet a Nigel, I can tell you. Especially a dynamo, Nigel. So, you went to school, and were you good at English at school? I did go to school. I was very much a geek before it became, you know, cool to be a geek,

before geek chic ever arrived. And a nerd. Geek chic? I've not heard of that. Geek chic? What? Geek chic. I do not embody it. But yes, French and German, my first true loves. German particularly.

German is honestly one of the most beautiful languages in the world. It gets a really bad time, but it's just beautiful. Then I came to English quite late, and I came to English when I was working at Oxford University Press. I was working on their French and German dictionaries. And then one day, I was having lunch in my office, old desco, and I pulled down a copy of a really old etymological dictionary called Skeet's Etymological Dictionary

of the English Language. I started reading about swan song and how the origin of swan song, I may have mentioned on the podcast before, but it's quite beautiful. I need to find another adjective for beautiful. I think I've said it five times today. No, if it's a good word, keep using find another adjective for beautiful. I think I've said it five times today.

No, if it's a good word, keep using it. For centuries, people believed that swans are born mute and they remain mute all their lives until the moment of their death where they burst into mournful but beautiful elegiac song. And that is the idea of a swan song, your final great performance. And I was so captured by that that I started to read more and more and more.

And that was it. That was it for me. Is it a myth or is it true that swans... No, they have a whole range of vocal sounds. And there are so many myths about animals. Do you remember licking into shape? Lick something into shape, you think, oh, this is military boot camp type thing. But licking into shape was an ancient legend

that persisted through Shakespeare's time and things that bear cubs are born as blobs as formless blobs and they have to be licked into bear shape by their mums it's not beautiful that's where looking something into shape comes from so all these stories all wrapped up in this book in any really good dictionary word origins nowadays will will tell you these stories all wrapped up in this book. And any really good dictionary of word origins nowadays will tell you these stories. And you'll get lost in it forever. And it was from your time at the Oxford University Press, you began working on the Oxford English Dictionary? No.

Well, that kind of came a little bit later. But with my second week at OUP, I was asked by my boss whether I wanted to go and work on this program called Countdown, which I had seen before. I said no very firmly. I was quite happy doing what I was doing. And he came back three times. I said no three times.

And then he came back and said, I think this would be really good for your job. So I had no choice. And then I famously went and hid behind Rulu Lenska's hair, my first show. Evidence is still on YouTube, unfortunately. I looked, well, I was terrified. And I met you not long after, which was also terrifying. In your jumpers.

Jaws' jumpers. Remember Jaws' jumpers? Yeah. Oh. You love your jumpers. People can't see this. I'm looking touched. So that's when we first became friends.

And I was on Countdown. In fact, over the years, I've been on Countdown, I think, probably more than anybody else in Dictionary Corner, many hundreds of times. I was on Countdown because I was a friend of the actor and entertainer Kenneth Williams. And I'd met Kenneth Williams doing the radio program Just a Minute on Radio 4, and we'd become good friends.

And he said, you'll be ideal for Countdown. But I was already a word enthusiast. I was the founder of the National Scrabble Championships. I am the president of the British Association of Scrabble Players. Afterwards, I will be walking among you so you may touch my garb. And I just have loved words all my life. And I became a friend of Dr Robert Birchfield, who, when I was young...

He was amazing. He was amazing. And he was the editor of the Oxford News Dictionary. So that's how I got into words and language. And that's how we really come to be here. Because we thought about a year ago, we love getting together. We're friends. We like talking about words.

Let's do it. And so here we are, a million and more downloads later with the cream of the purple people talking about words and language. Where did you get into etymology? For me, etymology, the word origins, is the most thrilling part of English.

There is a whole etymology team on the OED, and their amazing job is to go digging for new evidence and new stories of every single word, because even the most boring-se seeming everyday word has had some incredible journey and i know journey is a word that really gets on people's nerves including mine but they really have been on these incredible um sort of meandering uh routes through life what's your favorite journey oh gosh there are so many of those um well i was just thinking yesterday about the word naughty.

And people don't really use naughty these days, especially for kids. Some of the clubs I go to, they do. Yes, I knew that. I knew that was coming. I think Nigel from Clapham knows a lot about naughty. I knew that was coming. So to speak. so to speak um um yes so naughty was was to be worth naught so it was n-o-u-g-h-t so it was applied to the poor and the needy who literally had nothing so it's very sad but because people tend to look down on the poor it then became associated with kind of vice and moral wickedness,

which is pretty horrible. On a happier note, buxom used to be a word used of men. This is your night night, it really is. So it was men who were buxom. Not only can you be naughty, but she's buxom, go on. So yes, but we're a Germanic language, and buxom is from the German wiegsam, meaning, you'll love this, go on. So yes, we're a Germanic language and buxom is from the German biegsam, meaning, you'll love this, bendable,

bendy or pliable or versatile. You know, somebody who's obedient and goes with the flow. And so men would be buxom members of a particular corporation. And then because obedience for some strange reason became associated with healthy milkmaids, healthy in a booby sense, busty sense, it kind of transferred to that.

I mean, it's the weirdest journey, that one. So those are a couple of your journeys. I tell you, journey may irritate you. The words irritating me at the moment is nuanced. Everything is now nuanced. I find that irritating. It's just the overuse of a word. That's all that I find that irritating. It's just the overuse of a word. That's all that I find irritating.

You know, a survey was done recently of the most liked words in the English language. Do you have a favorite word before I tell you what came top of the survey? Mine generally change every day, but it would be either thunderplump. Thunderplump. Scurryfunge. Scurryfunge. Scurryfunge. You know about scurryfunging.

Or halcyon. Halcyon, as in halcyon days. Yes. Do you love those words because of their sound or because of their meaning? Both. And when it comes to halcyon, the story behind it, because it's the story of the kingfisher. So the halcyon was the kingfisher,

and it was said to lay its eggs on the sea and the god of the winds would calm the seas so that the chicks could hatch in serenity and peace which is why halcyon days are the kingfisher days oh i know it's another sweet one yeah feel free to do the ah feel free because that's we hope what people are doing is they they listen to this whatever they scurry funging you know what scurry funge is i don't think you're a scurry funger is i can't remember that's i've used this one so no nobody you know she you feed so many lovely words at us unless you keep a notebook and things it's not always remind me what does scurry funge okay well apologize apologies to anyone who reads my twitter because i use this at least once a week

to scurry funge is to madly, frenetically dash around the house, shoving things into cupboards, kicking things under beds and sofas just before visitors arrive. That is American, American dialect from 19th century. It's brilliant.

Very good. The reason there's a pause now is that I have a New Year resolution. Well, I've got two New Year resolutions. One is to be more buxom, by which I mean more pliable. Yeah. I'm going with the flow this year. You know, just letting things happen as they happen.

But two, my New Year resolution is never to interrupt Susie. My basic rule in life is listen to your wife. And my wife said to me as I was coming off tonight, she said, why don't you make a new year resolution chance? Why don't you try listening to Susie for a change? You know, you don't listen to me at home, but we've lived together for 50 years. I'm quite used to it. I said, I'm not listening to you either. But with Susie this year, why don't you try not interrupting her, listen to what she's got to say, think about it, and then ask her to say something more. Because we've heard your stories, Charles. This is my wife speaking. So you will find, if you are a regular of the podcast, it'll

be a bit different this year, because there will be these pauses. I don't want Lawrence, our producer, cutting them out because it'll look as if I was interrupting when I wasn't. There will be a pause. And when I think that Susie has finished... Oh, for fuck's sake, shut up. When I think she has finished, I will pause. And then when she nods, I will speak again. Did you want me to say something?

I did. Were you about to come to the top word of the survey, pause and then when she nods i will speak again did you want me to say something i did were you about to come to the top word of the survey or have we had that we're coming back to that okay oh i haven't forgotten that you were telling me about scurry funge and you finished on that and halcyon that's good the survey the second most popular word in the survey was discombobulate. Ah, no, we have a member of the audience who hates that. Oh. Yeah, and I'm coming to that later. Oh, really?

There's somebody who doesn't like it. I think people like discombobulate. What does it mean? It means to be confused. It means to be discomforted or slightly perplexed or just, you know, in some, you might know this, but in some fantastic airport lounge in North America, I can't remember which one it is, they have a recombobulation lounge, which is where you go to gather.

That's nice. So I think people like that because it is onomatopoeic. Yeah. And they like the sound of it. Yeah. I think with the word that came top of the list, they both like the sound of it and they liked what it means. The top word most liked in this survey of people

liking words in the English language was lullaby. We love this audience. You've got some great purple people. Is it time for a break yet, Lawrence? It is. It's time for a break. Let's take a break. A little round of applause. thank you so much for being here

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Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Are you the friend who can recognize anime themes sampled by J. Cole, MF Doom, and The Weeknd? Don't worry. I'm Lee Alec Murray, and I'm also that person. I'm Nick Friedman. And I'm Leah President, and we invite you to take your Sonic knowledge to the next level by listening to our show, Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. Learn about how yeji's latest album was actually born from her own manga i started off with not even the music i started off by writing a fantastical story or how 24k golden gets inspired by his favorite opening

themes there are certain songs that i'm whoa, the melodies in this are really amazing. No idea what bro's saying at all, but I'm jacking these melodies. And you know, I hear Megan Thee Stallion is also a big anime fan. So Megan, do you want to trade AOT hot takes? We're here. Listen every Friday, wherever you get your podcast, and watch full episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. Watch full episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. Now, Giles, are you a theist? A theist? A habitual tea drinker.

Oh, I am. I drink nothing but tea. Tea and water. You know I don't drink alcohol. I gave up coffee because of the acid reflux. So I now want tea. And I have to have it made in a particular way as you know. The tea bag in, boiling water on top, a touch of milk and the bag stays in the mug. Yes,

I've noticed. Bag always in and you only drink half a cup. I do. Unless that's my tea. I usually drink the top half. Okay, you're so fussy. Well, I can add another caveat to your order now. Milk, no sugar, tea bag in, half only drunk. But it can also now be served in your very own Something Rhymes with Purple mug. Yay, they have arrived. They have. They're beautiful, genuinely beautiful. Perfect, we hope, for those of you who like to listen to the podcast curled up with a brew. And a really good gift, again, we hope, for any word nerds in your life. Indeed, or for anyone in your life.

Actually, they are beautiful. They're handsome, lovely, deep, deep purple in colour and they've got our logo on the front in a very classy font, I must say. And hold on. Oh, on the inside, the word gongoozle. Well, that's amusing. As you lift it to your lips, the word gongoozle appears. Remind me, what does that mean?

Well, the answer lies at the bottom of the mug, Giles. You have to drink your tea, remove your tea bag, etc. Drink to the very bottom and you'll find out. I love it. You drink down and the word's definition is revealed. I think it's sort of... Oh, it's hot. It's sort of slurpery as well.

Dear, dear, dear. I want to get one to give to my long-suffering wife. She wonders why I've moved in with you. I say it's a podcast. That's a funny euphemism. How do I get hold of one of these? The mugs are available now from purple.backstreetmerch.com. Purple.backstreetmerch.com.

Okay. And not to be crude, how much are we talking? £15. Ideal. Purple.backstreetmerch.com. £15. Right. Now, what does gongoozle mean? welcome back to our amazing collection of purple people here um in islington in london so our very

first live podcast and jazz we were talking about the word discombobulate which frequently comes near the top of the nation's favorite words when when people are polled. But there's one member of our audience, Chris, Chris Lacey from Exeter, who doesn't think it's all that. Chris, you're here. I certainly am. Is this not your favourite? I just wonder if you know a more amusing synonym for discombobulated. Discombobulated.

As entertaining a word as it is. Well, there are two B words that I really like. Well, three, actually. One is betwattled, which I think is great. So if you're a bit kind of surprised and perplexed and don't really know where you are, what you're doing, you are betwattled. That's centuries old.

To go with that is betwitted. So betwitted is to be fluttering with excitement and just sort of overcome with emotion and another one which is to be completely totally bowled over with surprise rather than pleasure you are blutter bunged that's an old dialect word so betwitted betwattled andutterbunged I would offer you as my three alternatives to discombobulated. Could you spell the last one? Blutter, there's butter with an L in it, and bunged. Blutterbunged.

Blutterbunged. I love it. Yeah, I remember when Trump was elected that was my only word of the day. I am completely blutterbunged. I like words that are unique, that are remarkable. In written English, the most frequently used words are

the, of, and, to, a, in, that, is, I, and, it. The longest words in the language, I thought for many years that the longest word in the language was the 29-letter word, Is that the way you say the language was the 29-letter word phloci-nau-hi-ki-ni-li-pi-fi-ca-tion? Phloci-nau-hi-ki-ni-li-pi-fi-ca-tion. Is that the way you say it? I might be wrong.

It's the longest non-technical word in the OED, isn't it? Yeah. What does it mean? It means the estimation of something is completely worthless, including that word, I would say. And it dates from 1741. It's a Latin grammar, isn't it, I think? You will know the

longest word created in the 20th century that went worldwide. In fact, we can all do it as a team. Super galley fragilistic expialidocious. Isn't that amazing to create a word that everybody in this room knows? Running to 34 letters.

Created for the movie Mary Poppins. The 45-letter word, the longest word in the OED, that's a technical word. You may know how to pronounce it. It is pneumono-ultra-microscopic-silico-volcano-coneosis. Is that about right? That's about right, yeah. And it runs to 45 letters.

It's a lung disease. But it's totally made up, that word. Oh, is it? Yeah. It was made up to be the longest word. I like curiosities like that. I collect the longest words with different letters in them. Do you know what they are?

Mm-hmm. Uncopyrightable. Oh, I see, yeah. That's quite a good one isn't it yeah and dermatoglyphics there's the longest english word consisting only of vowels which is do you know this one oh you do know sorry i interrupted no do no go i love your rendition i want you to i'm not going to interrupt you you interrupt me me. No, no. I may not have the right one. Ooh.

Ooh. No. You are a... It's a medieval mnemonic. Oh, I know. It wasn't where I was going. You used to recall... Oh, you thought it was a noise of ecstasy, didn't you? Yes, exactly.

The noise made by the topping ram. Oh no. You, oh you. It's a medieval mnemonic used to recall the musical tones required when chanting the Gloria Patri. It also takes the title as the English word with the most consecutive vowels. Can you think of words with five consecutive vowels? Can anybody give me one? Cueing. Brilliant. Brilliant. Is onomatopoeia, has that got five consecutive vowels? Four. Cueing. Cueing. Very good. But when are you going to say that? He was cueing on the corner. Do you know what word what word well you will know this in the oed has the most definitions set oh you did know what do you want sorry you've worked there for many years so you would know wouldn't you how do you keep all this stuff in your head um well i don't keep

very much else in and um it's the same with countdown. People say, how do you come up with these words? But honestly, the same ones, my brain produces the same ones over and over. You just kind of see the same patterns. Plus, I have been doing it for a very, very long time. Very, very long time. By the way, Rachel Riley took for her baby one of my favorite words ever, which is a maven. Beautiful name. But also, maven beautiful name um but also

maven is like a connoisseur so word maven is a connoisseur or expert of words which I think is beautiful it's a bit like being a doctor so all you know people that you meet will say um where does this word come from uh it's a bit like can you have a look at this rash on my leg um so sometimes it's just nice to clock off. Although, I have to say, as a wordy person, it's very difficult to clock off. And eavesdropping is part and parcel of being an electric choreographer. I've always done this. I've always lent into conversations.

And do you know the best place to listen in to conversations and to pick up new words? Starbucks. Starbucks and the loo. Oh. So quite often... You're in one cubicle with your ear cocked. Yes.

Is that what happens? Well, pretty much. So I heard two teenage girls a few years ago talk about the massive coleslaws on their lips, which I thought was very sad. And in the coffee queue, this is where you pick up egg corns so song lyrics famously we've all misheard song lyrics um mine was lord of the dance settee it was positive that's what i used to sing at school i was just just took it for granted he was lord of the dance settee um but um yeah so it's just things that we just get wrong

like going into hammer and thongs or um uh this is the best one in a starbucks coffee queue as it happened there's two men in front of me getting really exercised about somebody i think it was their boss and uh you could see the steam coming out of their ears until one of them stamped his foot and said but it's his attitude that's the whole crotch of the matter um so we now talk about the crotch of the matter in my house um so you have to be a good eavesdropper and you pick up all sorts of gems eavesdropping yes eaves of a house that drop i mean what's the origin of eavesdropping used to be the eaves drip so it would be standing below the um yeah the sort of the place where the the guttering i guess where

the water would collect and then drop in the right place and from there quite often you could overhear your neighbors um talking so that was the eaves drip stand below the eaves drip and then eventually it changed to eaves drop because that made as much sense. Well, normally what happens at this part of the program is that, or the podcast, is that we read out letters that people have sent us, emails that they've sent us, which anybody can do by emailing us at purple at somethingelse.com. But today, because we've got hundreds of quality people

who braved pretty grim weather to come to this paradise that is the Islington Assembly Hall, we've asked them for questions and they've written them down on bits of paper. And you're picking some, Susie. What have you picked? Yes. Well, this is from Paul in Dorset, Paul Burden. Thank you for this, Paul. He says, what is your favorite translingual idiom? The French equivalent of have other fish to fry is to have other cats to whip. It's true. Outre chat à fouetter, isn't it?

I think my favorite is, again, another French one where we say the writings on the wall and they say there are spiders on the ceiling. Il y a des araignées sur le plafond. That's my favorite one. Have you got one? Oh, I haven't got one at all. It's brilliant. Those are some great ones. Richard

Katmer from Buckhurst Hill in Essex asks, is there a link between the rather negative words contempt and contemptuous and the rather more positive contemplation? No, is the answer. Explain that. The origin, the source is the same, positive, contemplation. No, is the answer. Explain that. I mean, the origin, the source is the same, is it?

No. They just sound very similar. And they come from slightly similar roots, linguistically anyway. So contempt and contemptuous come from the Latin contemnare. And we still get to contemn, don't we, with E-M-N. And that simply meant the same thing it was to condemn someone or to look on them with askance or with contempt which is exactly what we're talking about today whereas contemplation has got a temple at its heart because contemplare was to consult the

birds the auspices and then basically settle on the right time to do something. So if the time was auspicious, you would have contemplated on this sort of bit of ground where you could take the auspices and then you might decide on inaugurating something. And inaugurating also goes back to the auspices or the augers who would track the movements of the birds and then decide when something was auspicious the right time this is from ancient times when people would

insult the sphinx and yeah go to the oracle to discover things and these look at the birds they look at entrails of animals explain about the birds i didn't know about this okay well birds were hugely important um so it was the movement of the birds across the skies, and it was also particular birds. So owls were seen as particularly gloomy. I mean, I guess as you might still see them today as harbingers of doom, likewise with ravens and that kind of thing. But it was primarily to do the movements across the sky. The albatross being bad luck for sailors. Well, yes, thanks to the ancient mariner. But also stars. So stars inform a lot of our words today. To consider goes back to the Greek sidere, the stars.

So to consider was, again, to consult the stars in order to decide when to do something. And a disaster has got aster, the Latin star that's behind asterisk as well. And a disaster was when the stars were so badly aligned that they would bring terrible events. The stars are everywhere, and so are birds. Stop for a moment. Can I just say, you had not had any foreknowledge of it. You have spoken about it with such eloquence and such knowledge.

I think you are remarkable, Susie Dent. remarkable Susie Dent. Just buttering her up. I don't know the origin of the expression buttering her up. I hate to think, but I imagine Nigel from Clapham does. Is there another question? Poor Nigel. I don't think you submitted a question yet, Nigel. We'd like one from you.

I've got the answer to your question, Nigel. I don't think you submitted a question yet, Nigel. We'd like one from you. I've got the answer to your question, Nigel. 07772416417. Carry on. Robin Schaefer from North London. Schaefer? Schaefer? Thank you. From North London. What's the origin of the phrase square meal?

There's a bit of a folk etymology attached to this one, which says that plates on board a ship in the olden days would be square-shaped so that in turbulent waters the food wouldn't spill. It's actually codswallop that we think. You'll explain codswallop later, won't you? I will, I will. Codswallop goes back to the bottles made by Hiram Cod.

Hiram? Cod? Is it Hiram? Thank you. Who made fizzy drinks and he made those, you know those glass, those stoppers that you get on glass bottles, old-fashioned glass bottles to keep the fizz in. He manufactured those and he manufactured

fizzy drinks and wallop was a slang term for weak beer. And the beer manufacturers looked down on Hiram and just called his drinks Cod's Wallop. In other words, it was small beer. That's where we get it from, we think. But anyway, square meal, we think it just goes back to square, meaning just something that is kind of right and fitting. So it was always figurative rather than the square plates on board a ship.

Some more? One more. We've got one more before your trio nigel might like this one peter scarf again from london where do we get the phrase house tricks well there's a theory a theory that it goes back to sorry about this nigel i don't actually mean what I said at the beginning. It goes back to prostitutes. I don't know why I said that. Turning tricks. What was the phrase again? House tricks. House tricks. That's the possible origin, Nigel.

Not necessarily the right one. So there we go. Now, Susie, Nigel, not necessarily the right one. So, there we go. Now, Susie, every week, people who are new to the podcast, every week Susie gives us a trio of words that she hopes we'll find intriguing. I always do find them intriguing. I don't always remember them, and I should really write them down. Tell me

what have you got for us this week? Have you ever heard of a nudnik? A nudnik? Or a nudnik. This means, Giles, a pestering person. Or a boring person, which you are obviously not. So the nick is the kind of suffix from beatnik and that kind of thing. And nud or nud is a bore. A bore.

A nudnik. Stop being such a nudnik. A nudnik. Don't be such a nudnik. Yeah. Good. That's the first one. I just like this one because I think it sounds beautiful. We were talking about euphonious, mellifluous, melodious words. Propinquity.

Propinquity. Does that mean close to? Yes. It can mean closeness in time or in place, or it can just mean closeness of a relationship. I think it's just quite beautiful, propinquity. And this is one for Londoners, really, because, obviously, it's hectic, this place, isn't it? It's beautiful but hectic. Obambulate.

To obambulate is to wander aimlessly. Obambulate. Oh, I love that. Moodle and mooch and dawdle and tootle and poodle and all that stuff. To obambulate. Well, you've obambulated around the language quite deliciously. My plan this year is each week to come up with a quotation, a line that has inspired me.

And because this is the beginning of the new year and I'm determined to have a good year, not interrupting you, not name droppingdropping, but working hard, I've turned to the book of Proverbs. And this is my quotation of the week. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty

will come upon you like a vagabond. And what like an armed man. So thank you very much indeed for being here. But now, bugger off and get back to work. That's the message. Thank you so much for coming. Oh, we forgot the credits.

Something Rhymes with Purple. Something Rhymes with Purple is a Something Else production produced by Lawrence Bassett with additional production from Grace Laker, Chris Skinner, Steve Ackerman and Gully. So thank you to them and thank you to our wonderful audience here at the Islington Assembly Hall.

Thank you so much. Well done you.