Something Rhymes with Purple - Poltergeist

Episode Date: November 1, 2022

It’s a spooky one for you Purple People as we transcend to the world of the supernatural for an etymological seance with ghosts and poltergeists.    Discover what blazing fires and the ethereal have in common, why we climb to 7th heaven and why the mystics are so close to their secrets.  Susie will tell us why our faulty applicants give up the ghost and Gyles shares a story that packs a punch..of should we say, a fright!   We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us here: [e-mail]   We currently have 20% off at the SRwP official merchandise store, just head to: https://kontraband.shop/collections/something-rhymes-with-purple   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the week:    Kalopsia -  The delusion of things being more beautiful than they are  Mumpish - Feeling sullen, cranky, withdrawn and glum  Simchaa - A word from Hebrew meaning gladness and joy   Gyles read ‘Dark, dark wood’, a story developed by Cambridge English Online on behalf of the British Council.    In the dark, dark wood, there was a dark, dark house.  And in that dark, dark house, there was a dark, dark room.   And in that dark, dark room, there was a dark, dark cupboard.   And in that dark, dark cupboard, there was a dark, dark shelf.   And on that dark, dark shelf, there was a dark, dark box.   And in that dark, dark box, there was a ghost.   A Somethin’ Else & 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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Something else. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Hello, Susie Dent. How are you? I am sort of okay. I'm a bit throaty today, so you might hear my voice being a little bit croaky. But yes, I do have a bit of a frog, let's face it. But other than that, I'm okay. Do you do Halloween things? Well, this voice would be quite appropriate for Halloween because it gets very deep and cackly. Yes, I love Halloween. I absolutely love it. And I put on a green wig every year. You put on a green wig every year? I've got a fluorescent green wig that I adore.

This is a generational thing because I think Halloween has only really happened in this country in the last 30, 40 years. So when I was small, it wasn't really a big thing. It was an American thing that came to the United Kingdom. And all this trick or treating, it seems a bit alien to me. Do you get sweets in? Yeah, well, we're torn. Some years we simply hide. We turn off all the lights and we hide. Not to be frightening. We just hide because we don't want anyone ringing the doorbell. But we do have grandchildren and they sometimes go on a trip and they bring people to the door. But you can't really do it properly. You can't actually frighten people because it's not

considered proper to frighten people. And also, I'm not sure that one should be giving sweets to strange children. So it's all a bit fraught. I mean, I'm fascinated by it. I mean, I think the whole thing is intriguing. I've been to Mexico for the Day of the Dead. I'm interested in the concept of, I mean, today, the 1st of November is All Hallows Day. I think that's why the night before is called Halloween. Yes. And I think tomorrow is All Souls Day. And I think the whole thing is fascinating. And the heritage of it is interesting. Where do dead people go when people die? Do they just disappear into the ether?

Or is there something in the beyond? All these things are intriguing. To be serious for a moment, can you remember the first dead person you ever saw? Have you ever seen a dead person you ever saw have you ever seen a dead person yes i did i saw my uh grandma who died in her sleep and we went around as a family to check that she was okay and uh so yes i do remember seeing her but actually no one since then how about you what did you feel about that before i answer? I was very little, so I don't have very strong recollections. I think my sister was quite traumatised by it, but she did look very

peaceful. I mean, it was a lovely way to go. Well, I've had a number of experiences of being in the presence of dead people. When I was a little boy, I'm sure I've mentioned this before, I was a server at a church in London called St. Stephen's in Gloucester Road, a very high Anglican church. And I remember at the end of one service going to the vestry with the priest to change, you take off your cassock and your surplus. And he had wandered, he had gone from the vestry into a side room. And I followed him into the side room. And in the side room on a trestle table was a coffin. And I don't know how old I was, six or seven years of age. And I asked the priest, well, what's that? And he said, it's a coffin. And he told me that

somebody had died and they were going to be having a funeral maybe the next day. And I said, oh, dear. I was sort of, I don't know quite how I reacted. But I remember him saying to me, oh, yes, he's dead in this world, but he's gone to a better world. He's actually happier now. It's marvelous. And so this was this, you know, this priest's belief in the everlasting. So in a sense, I was given a positive introduction to death. Anyway, that's by the by. So I'm sort of slightly confused about this and also our desire to be frightened. I mean, we do this lovely live podcast in a beautiful little theatre in London called the Fortune Theatre. Running in that theatre for years now has been a play

called The Woman in Black. I think it's the second longest running play in the history of the West End after The Mousetrap. Explain a little bit to people who don't know about The Woman in Black what it is. Well, it's based on a gothic horror novel written by Susan Hill. And it's been adapted into a stage play by Stephen Mallertrack, I think. And we're very conscious. I mean, whenever we go there and try and find the green room or the dressing room or whatever, you have to go through so many different doors. And I've frequently gone the wrong way and found myself in this absolute labyrinth, quite spooky set of dark corridors. I don't know if you've done the same, but it's a perfect venue for what is quite a claustrophobic play. It is. It's basically a ghost story. So today,

because we're in this ghostly, ghastly, grim, but joyous mood, that's the confusion of it to me. What is death all about? Why are we doing all this? But let's talk about some of the language of it. I mean, we're looking at the world of the supernatural. Supernatural, I suppose, means above nature. Supernatural. So it's similar, I suppose, to extraordinary. So outside the ordinary. So supernatural is something that sits above the natural order of things because it is not following the norm. Is the word transcendent the same sort of thing? Yes. So in some ways that's about sort of crossing over. So transcendent is beyond the range or the boundary of normal human experience. So you've got trans meaning beyond or

across and then scandere meaning to travel or to climb. So quite appropriate that idea of climbing over or crossing over because that's what we talk about, don't we, when spirits pass over when people die. You say spirit. What is the origin of the word spirit? That is straight from Latin. And actually, it's got so many different meanings, spirit, doesn't it? It's got that sort of ethereal sense to it, but it's also got this idea of someone's soul, really the sort of non-physical part of us, really, as well as you've got the Holy Spirit, you've got the spirit of a person,ysical part of us really as well as you've got the holy spirit you've got the spirit of a person so the qualities regarded as making up their personality you've got

someone in good spirits if they're in good mood etc so there's so many different meanings for that particular word but what's lovely is that actually in latin means breath and we've talked before about how you'll find that spiritus or spirare in latin in lots of different words to inspire someone is to breathe life into them in a way to expire is to breathe out to perspire is to breathe through to conspire is to come together and breathe closely as you are plotting so you'll find it in lots and lots of different words. And many an illustration of a spirit or a ghostly spirit is done like a kind of breath, as if you're out in the cold and you breathe out and you can sort of, I can see Casper the ghost appearing.

Speaking of Casper the ghost, the spirit, I mean, you talk about in the Bible, sometimes it's translated as the Holy Spirit, sometimes as the Holy Ghost. The two words are interchangeable? They are in some sense, yes. In the supernatural sense, I think, yes, they are. It actually comes from the German Geist. So it was influenced by the Flemish Geist and Flemish types that has put the H in it. I think we have a bit of correspondence, actually, for one of the purple people asking about giving up the ghost. So we will talk about that later.

So we have a ghost, which you've told us about. We have the spirit. These are things that are in the world of the mystical. And what's the difference? A mystic is a person, but mystical is a quality. That's right. So a mystic is a person who, through contemplation, really, and self-surrender, achieves unity with the spiritual world. I think that is the idea, even sort of the deity, if you like. And it's got lovely etymology because it goes back to the Greek, we think, for closing the eyes or lips. So it's the idea of something that is very secret and almost concealed. Whereas mystical, as you say, it's an adjective and it means having a spiritual, symbolic significance that transcends human understanding. Yeah. I remember my father once saying to me that nobody ever really dies until their name is spoken out loud for the very last time.

is spoken out loud for the very last time. And I sometimes justify to myself in my head, telling all my old stories about people I've encountered by thinking, well, people haven't heard of them anymore, but I still want to go on telling the stories because I don't want these people to disappear. And in a way, for me, the people who've gone before are still alive. If they're in our heads, people like my parents, my grandparents, the ones I knew, not the ones I didn't. All these people, they're still alive if they're alive in your head. I would love there to be a kind of heaven. I would love there to be a traditional heaven with clouds and people playing harps and, you know, St. Peter at the Gates and angels. I'd love all that. And I think that's a little bit unlikely, but I'm open to the'd love all that. And I think that's a little bit unlikely,

but I'm open to the possibility of the mystical. And I feel, I don't necessarily feel I've seen a ghost, but I do feel I've, as it were, been in the presence of people who have been before in an interesting way. How about you? No, I am totally transfixed always by ghost stories and listening to a very good podcast at the moment called Uncanny, which is a BBC sounds podcast. And it's brilliant because it's just lots of people's encounters or memories of meeting ghosts or encountering ghosts or poltergeists, etc. But no, I don't think I have, but I am totally enthralled by them. But you mentioned heaven there. And that's always sort of etymologically been a bit of a mystery because we don't quite

know where it comes from, but there are lots of parallel forms in languages. So heaven has always been both the sky, the heavens and the abode of God. And obviously in Christian theology, there's just one heaven. But if you go to Jewish and Muslim theology, there are, I think, seven, of course, of which the seventh is the highest. That's why eternal bliss is to be in seventh heaven, to be very, very happy or ecstatic. I didn't know that. But I love the mystery behind heaven. It seems very fitting somehow. You mentioned poltergeist. That's Germanic, I imagine. Geist is ghost, is it? I don't know. Tell me about that word. Yes. So, geist is absolutely ghost. And poltern in German

is to create a disturbance. So, poltergeists are incredibly tricky and, well, yeah, just either full of mischief or full of, you know, I don't know if they're full of evil, but they do, according to the beliefs, they do create a lot of havoc. You know, a very, very scary kind. Well, they are a phenomenon. Is a phenomenon? Yes, people talk about a sort of strange phenomenon, don't they? What's the origin of phenomenon? Okay, I have to say something here.

I just mentioned, this is Danny Robbins does this uncanny podcast. And I keep wanting to message Danny to talk about something that really, really annoys me in his podcast. And normally, as you know, I am a language liberal, Giles, but all his experts talk about phenomena as if it's a singular. So they will say this phenomena has started since. as if it's a singular. So they will say this phenomena has started since. And I just think, no, it's phenomenon. Phenomena are plural. But I keep thinking maybe in the spiritual world, there's a very different usage of it. So apologies, Stanley, if that's so. But it does really annoy me. So I thought this is my chance to point it out. But it goes back to Greek and it means something that appears to view. It comes from an idea of showing something. So obviously that's what phenomenon is all about. It is showing itself to you. Before we leave heaven, give me the origins of, say, celestial, divine, ethereal, and then we'll take a break. Ah, yes, celestial is lovely. So that goes back to the Latin selum, meaning the sky. It's also linked to cerulean which is the perfect blue of cloudless sky how interesting

i say i say cerulean okay it's c-e-r-u-l-e-a-n isn't it yeah and you might well be right because i don't know if i've ever heard anyone else say it i just think it's such a beautiful word sarah let me i'm going to listen now on the Oxford Dictionaries audio. Cerulean is what they give in Oxford Dictionaries. Either way, it is the most beautiful, beautiful adjective. And it again goes back to that selum meaning sky. And it really means sky blue, but it can also describe a beautiful, serene ocean. I love that word. Ethereal.

Ethereal. Yes. So ethereal is all about ether, really. Well, yes. So, ethereal is all about ether, really. So, the ancient Greeks believed that the earth was composed of earth and air and fire and water, but that the heavens were made of a much purer and less tangible, less physical substance that was known as ether, but also called quintessence, the fifth element. And ether was often described as a kind of invisible light or a fire. And that's a clue to etymology because it goes back to a Greek word meaning to blaze. So when ethereal came into English in the Middle Ages,

it meant the regions beyond the earth or anything that seemed to kind of come from there. But it's all about ether. You're divine. Now, people use that word now to describe, you know about ether. You're divine. Now, people use that word now to describe, you know, like saying you're divine. But of course, divine must be to do with deity. It's got some connection there, hasn't it? It does, yes. So it goes back to deus, meaning God, and the Latin divinus, godlike. And as you say, it has really diluted, hasn't it, over the years, a bit like heavenly, actually. Oh, you look heavenly.

I'm not sure people would say that these days, but it's very similar, you know, in its weakening, really. Look, we're going to have to take a quick break, but then I want you to dig down deep into the world of the devil, just briefly. But we mentioned, didn't we, going to the Fortune Theatre, and I ought to encourage people to come and see us next time we're there. When are we next there? I think it's in November, 20th November.

Yeah. And then we've got a date in December as well. And we'll be back in London after the new year. So come to the Fortune Theatre. For tickets and info, you go to somethingrhymeswithpurple.com or you can follow us on social media at Something Rhymes on Twitter and Facebook and Something Rhymes With on Instagram. Okay, I'll be back with the devil woman in just a moment. Uh-oh. This episode is brought to you by LEGO Fortnite. LEGO Fortnite is the ultimate survival crafting game found within Fortnite. It's not just Fortnite Battle Royale with minifigures. It's an entirely new experience that combines the best of LEGO Play and Fortnite. It's not just Fortnite Battle Royale with minifigures. It's an entirely new experience

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Welcome back to Something Rhymes with Purple. And I'm Giles Brandreth. I'm with my co-host, Susie Dent. And we're conjuring up the world of devils. Well, it's post-Halloween. We're just recovering. Conjure, where does that word come from? Yeah, so today we sort of, you know, we use conjure quite recently, don't we? A name to conjure with, for example. But it had much more serious beginnings. So it comes from a French word conjurer, which ultimately came from Latin. And it means to bring together by an oath or conspire. And actually, it could also mean to exercise, exorcise as an exorcism. Yeah, much weightier meanings, really. And it was to call essentially on somebody in the name of a divine or supernatural being to appeal to them.

Also, it's linked to Jewry. Very interesting. It's much more serious and profound than, you know, it's now trivialised into talking about conjuring tricks. Exactly, exactly. I mentioned before the break that demons and devils, we probably touched on this before because I know we did an episode called Goblinus, all about goblins and fairies and gremlins and frightening things. But just remind me about demons and devils, where that word comes from, those words. Oh, yes. So, the Greek word daemon gave us a demon. And in ancient Greece,

a demon was a sort of supernatural being that was somewhere between gods and humans or an inspiring force. So, if you read Philip Pullman's Dark Materials, you'll find it used in that way. So they're not evil. The evil ones didn't appear until the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible that appeared in the third and second centuries BC. So that is when they took on their sort of darker incarnations, really. But before, they were actually quite helpful, or they could be. Very good. Oh, well, I like that idea.

And you asked about devil as well. That goes back to a Greek word, diabolos, which gave us diabolic. And it means accuser or slanderer. So somebody who, again, goes against the natural order. The devil just appears in so many English idioms, really. The devil finds work for idle hands, talk of the devil. That's from the superstition that if you speak the devil's name aloud, he will suddenly appear. If you remember, Giles, people exclaiming,

what the dickens, we're using dickens, not in reference to Charles, but in a sort of sidestep away from the devil, because again, they didn't want to mention the name. Needs must when the devil drives, they didn't want to mention the name needs must when the devil drives that's shakespeare um playing devil's advocate which we've talked about before in one of our eps actually that was a real official appointed by the roman catholic church to challenge proposals to um sanctify somebody to make them into a saint and when it was usually a he would present everything known about that saint, including the negative aspects, in order to make sure a balanced view was reached at the end. So the devil has permeated a lot of proverbial wisdom in English, which, you know, I suppose just underscores how terrifying the idea is.

Well, you know, I've been doing these shows with Dame Judi Dench celebrating her career at the Gielgud Theatre in the West End, and Cliff Richard turned up at one. And I was in the corridor with him and he said, shall I go and see Dame Judi? I said, of course. And did you enjoy the show? He said, I love the show. I said, well, maybe as you go in, you should sing congratulations. And he said, no, I'd rather sing Devil Woman. So, curiously, it can be a compliment as well as it being having negative connotations. Yes. It's a little bit like calling a woman a vamp originally was not as, you know, it's not particularly nice these days, but actually that's a reference to vampires. So I think we're going to do a bonus episode actually, where we can touch on vampires.

We are, for members of the Purple Plus Club. Dracula. Yes. All about Dracula and the world of Bram Stoker. But right now we're in the world of ghosts. Yes. And if you want to catch up on our episode, Gobalinus, there are frights and goblins and fairies and gremlins there. Yeah. Good. Well, look, we've been touching on, well, ranging around the world of post-Halloween here. But I think around the world, people have very different traditions.

So if you are somebody who believes you've seen a ghost or have views on the dead, the departed, and I have to say, I like calling the dead the dead. This thing about he passed. Oh, I'm witty. I find an awkward euphemism. I mean, my view is if they can pass, they can pop in. If they're dead, they're gone. That's

the view. But so people do get in touch with us with any queries you have or any thoughts you have. It's purple at something else.com and it's something without a G. Speaking of which, relevant to ghosts, we've had a very intriguing query from Rob Dickinson. Hello, Susie and Giles. Your wonderful podcast helps keep me sane as I battle my way through the working week, so thank you. As the weather has turned this week, I've been looking at electric heater

to help keep our old stone house warmer. Reading reviews online, I saw a reference to someone's old heater having given up the ghost, and I realised I've got no idea where this came from. Surely you do. Many thanks, Rob Stockport. What do you reckon, Giles?

Well, I reckon you do. So tell us the answer. Well, it's a reference really to dying. That was another euphemism, a bit like passing, to dying if you give up the ghost. And the idea is that the soul is the source of life. It is the ghost of life. But that has become much weakened in language and it now seems to refer, as Rob says, to equipment that's broken down beyond repair. But yeah, had quite sort of fundamental beginnings. Good. Marissa Kalp has been in touch. Hello, Giles and Susie. Is there a word for carrying over the feelings from a dream? For instance, sometimes if I have a very sad dream, I'll wake

up and maintain that sadness throughout the day. No matter how much I try to shake it off, knowing it was just a dream, it seems to hang on. I keep thinking there must be a word for that. Mahalo for all you do, Marisa. Oh, what a nice message. It was. So, what do you think? Yeah, it's really interesting. Well, there is a word for a dream state that kind of persists more for a few moments rather than the whole day. So, I'm intrigued that this can actually affect Marisa throughout the day. But if you look at the word hypnopompic. Hypnopompic. It's not a word on everybody's lips. Hypnopompic.

Yeah. And if you read, there was a person who I suppose first diagnosed this, he was a scientist, and he says in 1901, to illusions accompanying the departure of sleep as when a dream figure persists for a few moments into waking life, I have given the name hypnopompic now he coined it as a counterpoint to hypnagogic the hypnagogic is you know when you have those horrible night jerks as you're just falling asleep horrible have you ever had those we just had those oh good grief okay uh hopefully the purple people will know what i'm talking about it's a kind of bumpy shock where you're just falling asleep and you got your whole body just suddenly shudders. So that's hypnagogic.

I think you need help, Susie Dent. But to be hypnopompic is much more than hovering in a limbo state, really. It's to be trapped in a dream state that often you don't want to be in. So I think that's what Marissa is saying. You know, there's sort of, well, it comes from the Greek hypnos, meaning sleep, and then pompik, meaning sending away. So the idea is that you're sending away sleep, but that this sort of state in your mind persists. But as I say, I think Myers thought of it as, well, he says, only a few moments rather than kind of recalibrating the whole day. So that's fascinating. But I hope that helps a little bit, Marissa. Well, Marissa, it's intriguing because could it be, I mean, we have a nightmare. What about a daymare? I mean, why is a nightmare called a nightmare?

Is it a horse who rides at night? I don't know. Yeah, no, nothing to do with a horse and everything to do with, it comes from an Irish word, at least it's related to an Irish word, meaning a fairy or an elf, but actually quite a sort of malicious one who would come and basically lie on the chest of sleepers and

make them feel like they were suffocating. Well, I've got the answer then. If a nightmare is this ghastly goblin-like creature that lies on your chest and disturbs your sleep at night, then during the day, if it's lingering, if it's something negative, it is a day mare. But if it is something delightful, it's a day fairy. That's my answer. I like this. So I've got a day, I'm having a day fairy today.

What do you think? I like this. Or day sprite. A day sprite, something that's light and nice. But if it's something that's dark, it's a day mare. Well, those are my suggestions. What are your suggestions for three real unusual words that you'd like us to incorporate into our vocabulary? Yes.

So the first one is, well, something I think most of us feel on New Year's Eve. And it's just quite a joyous state, really. It's called calopsia. It's a much more elegant version, really, of beer goggles, because colopsia is a state when everyone and everything looks beautiful. So I think we all want to be in that particular state. So my other one is, well, mumpish. Mumpish means sullen, cranky, withdrawn and glum. So you might find that if you're feeling just a little bit frobbly mobbly today, which, as you know, jazz is my favourite expression for being just a bit meh.

But mumpish is good. I like mumpish. Mumpish is very good. I like that too. And finally, we have a beautiful word from Hebrew, which is simcha. Simcha means gladness and joy. And it's actually more than gladness because it's a bit of an ethos. It's a really empowering approach to life that's about clutching joy wherever we can. So even amid daily irritations and sorrows, try and grasp some simcha. And it's about C-I-M-C-H-A-A. Beautiful word.

Well, I'm not sure that my poem this week is a poem, but it's certainly something that's apt for this time of year. In a dark, dark wood, there was a dark, dark house. And in that dark, dark house, there was a dark, dark room. And in that dark, dark room, there was a dark, dark cupboard. And in that dark, dark cupboard, there was a dark, dark shelf. And on that dark, dark shelf, there was a dark, dark shelf. And on that dark, dark shelf, there was a dark, dark box. And in that dark, dark box, there was a ghost. That was terrifying, but utterly brilliant. That really took me by surprise. That was more like a night jerk.

Thank you. I'm frequently called a jerk, but to be a night jerk is something quite special. Well, look, that's it for this week. But we are here every Tuesday and then forever because it's out there in the ether. And we've got nearly 200 episodes. So you can go into the back catalogue. Please, if you like the show, do follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, wherever you go and recommend us to your friends and family we want to spread the purple magic we certainly do and for more purple why not consider the purple class club for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus episodes on words and language and as you've just heard dracula something rhymes with purple is a something else in sony music entertainment

production it was produced by harriet wells with additional production from Chris Skinner, Gem Mystery, Jay Beale, Teddy Riley and he's back, Giles. Yes, our very own goblin cum gremlin. It's Gully. Gully.