Something Rhymes with Purple - Porky pies

Episode Date: June 27, 2023

This week Susie and Gyles unravel the amusing language of Cockney rhyming slang, from making calls on the dog and bone (phone), to drinking a cup of Rosie Lee (tea).  You wouldn’t Adam and Eve (believe) how much fun we have learning about the origins of this fascinating collection of words and phrases. And we love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us on our NEW email address here: [e-mail] Want even more purple, people? Join the Purple Plus Club by clicking the banner in Apple podcasts or head to purpleplusclub.com to listen on other platforms. Don’t forget that you can join us in person at our upcoming tour, tap the link to find tickets: www.somethingrhymeswithpurple.com Susie’s Trio for the week: Wamblecropt - overcome with indigestion Banloca - a bone-locker, the body Snecklifter - the person who turns up to the pub hoping someone else will buy them a drink Gyles' poem this week was ‘The Pleasures of Friendship’ by Stevie Smith ‘The pleasures of friendship are exquisite, How pleasant to go to a friend on a visit! I go to my friend, we walk on the grass, And the hours and moments like minutes pass.’ 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, Giles here. And knowing that we have a family audience, and the Purple people often include some very young people, just to say that today's episode does include some language that some people may find uncomfortable or offensive. Hello, welcome to Something Rhymes with Purple. I am sitting opposite, as always, my co-presenter. He's only a picture on my screen, but what a picture he is. Always energetic, always in front of Marilyn. Regular listeners will know exactly what I mean by that, and always with a smile on his face. Hi, Giles. I ought to explain to our listeners, regular or otherwise, that Marilyn

is on a screen behind me. And it's very few people in the world are known by their first name alone, but you guessed right. It is indeed Marilyn Monroe, who I wish I'd met, but I never did. Though I was lucky enough at school to have a friend whose mother

was the photographer Eve Arnold, who took a whole series of photographs of Marilyn Monroe in the 1950s, and I think took the last famous pictures of her. And so when I was a little boy, I felt I knew Marilyn Monroe because I knew someone who knew her. So at one remove, I have a connection with Marilyn Monroe. They were Americans, but we're not going to America in this episode, are we? Where are we going? We are going to the sound of bow bells because we are going to talk about Cockney rhyming slang.

But I must just say that you and I are about to do something quite exciting. Oh. Thanks to you because you suggested me. I've never been on this program before, but you have. We're going to do Celebrity Gogglebox together. It's very exciting. I tell you the reason I suggested you. I've been lucky enough to do it over several years. It's a strange programme. If you're listening to this in another

country, and the joy of Something Rhymes with Purple is we have purple people listening across the globe. Gogglebox is a show that started out on British TV, it's now shown in some other countries, where real people are filmed watching TV. That's as simple as that. And you see their reactions to the programmes. It's such a daft concept, but it works so brilliantly. And they do a celebrity version with often the celebrities of people I've never heard of. Exactly. Well, that would be nice.

But I've done it over several years. And each time I've done it, as a result, I think, direct result of doing it with me, they've ended up being made dames. Now, again, if you're around the world, you won't know what this means, being a dame. It's an honour bestowed by the sovereign on distinguished women in our country and culture, who then become called dame so-and-so, so-and-so. And I first did it with a wonderful actress called Sheila Hancock, who is now 90 years of age.

And when we'd finished making Celebrity Gogglebox, she was made a dame. So she's now Dame Sheila Hancock. Then I did it with Maureen Lipman, another actress friend of mine, very wonderful actress, currently in the soap opera Coronation Street and actually playing on the West End stage in a brilliant play called Rose. Anyway, she became a dame. Then along came Joanna Lumley, a dame. And my wife said, you know what's happening?

This is, you know, previous years when the late queen was still alive, Elizabeth II. She said, the queen must be watching this celebrity Gogglebox. And she thinks these poor women having to sit there on the sofa watching television with Giles, the queen must feel very sorry for them and has made them dames. Of course, they became dames in their own right because they are remarkable people. So you are going to be my non-dame person this year.

And who knows, as a result of this, it's worked for everybody else, you may find in the New Year's Honours next year, you become, lovely, wouldn't it, Dame Susie Dent. It ain't going to happen. But know what i'm so i am so excited about this so i am going to be joining you i think you probably already knew this on the goggle box sofa i am going to be making my absolute debut i'm a total virgin at this i can't wait what you will find and this is fascinating is that it's for real you know we will be sitting together because on my sofa in my house and we will be watching tv together and the cameras are hidden cameras and the crew they come and install them then they go away it's genuine it's just you and me sitting there

i'll prepare the snacks and get get the tea get the coffee get the maybe the chilled white wine whatever you want and we just watch the shows together. It should be fun. I cannot wait. I don't know. When's the series starting? When are they putting this out? Well, if anybody wants to watch it, you can watch all streams, Celebrity Gogglebox.

It's on Fridays, 9pm at Channel 4. Great. Now, I, as you know, as you'll discover, I live in Barnes, which is in South West London. Yes. But for today's episode, we're going to another part of London, aren't we? Where are we off to and why? Well, we are going to talk about Cockney rhyming slang, which means we take ourselves and the listeners to

within the sound of the church of St. Mary Lebeau. But that was, as you probably know, it's got some history because it was destroyed in 1666 by the Great Fire of London, rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, destroyed again in 1951 in the blitz and then i'm not sure it exists anymore but it is it is part and parcel isn't it of the fabric of being british yes and it's within the earshot of bow bells or is it yeah there is no bow bell is it that it's it's just the bells of saint mary le beau saint mary and i think i am going to look this up to see whether it exists i'm sure i think it does because i think the bells themselves were replaced the original bells were replaced in the 1960s um and it's part of the east end of london these are it's one of the East End of London. These are one of the many churches in the city of London.

Beautiful churches, a number of them designed and built by the great Sir Christopher Wren. But the core of the East End of London includes places like Bethnal Green, Whitechapel, Spitalfield, Stepney, Wapping, Limehouse, Poplar, Aldgate, Shoreditch, the Isle of Dogs, Hackney, Hoxton, Bow itself, Mile End. These are all part of that part of London, the East End. And people who come from that part of the world, they speak, or they can do, some of them speak with a Cockney accent, and they've developed a kind of Cockney language known as Cockney rhyming slang. So while we're recording this, we could be having a cup of Rosie Lee, which is rhyming slang, isn't it? Rosie Lee tea. And we're looking at each other on our Zoom screens. I'm having a butcher's at you. And

butcher's is butcher's hook. Butcher's hook, look. Exactly. Yes. I'm going to just interrupt and say, because I should have known this, especially because I love Courtney rhyming slang. So the church was destroyed during the Blitz, as were the bells. But now it has 12 bells, and they were hung in 1961 as part of the repair programme after the war. So there we are. You can be born within the sound of bow bells.

And bow bells, on a clear day, you can hear them in all those places that I mentioned. If you've got very good hearing, you can even hear them probably in East Ham or Stratford East, Walthamstow, even West Ham. It's basically the east end of London is where they speak Cockney and they have Cockney rhyming what is the origin of this strange form of language and it's it's slang what is slang in a nutshell what is the language called slang which slang is often given a very hard time, but it's the sort of, I'd say, unofficial, you know, sort of informal vernacular that for, you know, people tend to see as sort of improper English and something that should only be used in certain places and certainly shouldn't be in dictionaries. The Countdown Dictionary includes lots of slang precisely because it's designed as a code. And for outsiders, it's important to, you know, to crack that code.

So, dictionaries of slang have existed almost since all dictionaries. In fact, they were one of the first dictionaries ever to be compiled. There was a lovely definition about slang by one linguist, I think it was Carl Sandburg, who said, slang is the language that spits on its hands, rolls up its sleeves and gets to work. Wonderful. Which is wonderful. I'll tell you a bit about Cockney. So the word Cockney itself is a really strange one because the original meaning of that word was a pampered or spoiled child. And we think that might come from a similar word, cockney, meaning a cock's egg. And obviously, cocks don't lay eggs. So it actually meant a sort of poor version of a

hen's egg. So something that was small and misshapen. And then the pampered child meaning that it had then developed into an insulting term for someone who lives in the town. Now, English is full of insults between town dwellers and country dwellers, as you know. And those who lived in the country who were rural and who saw themselves as being kind of strong and rustic and the salt of the earth, they regarded those who were urbane, living in urban places, as weak, you know, in contrast to their hardier selves. And so Cockney began to be even more insulting, really. But then by the beginning of the 17th century, it really narrowed in its geography. And as we say, it applied to someone from the East End of London. So it's had a really,

really strange journey. We think that the rhyming slang itself emerged as a playful but quite important banter amongst costamongers. What is a costamonger? So a costamonger, the costa bit is from costard, which is an old term for a sour apple or an apple, you know, like a cooking apple. So they were the sort of the fruit and veg sellers. essentially it's thought that they wanted some kind of code with which to talk to them you know talk to each other but also to evade the authority so say they were up to some possibly under the counter dealings they didn't want everybody else to know about it and so they came up with this joyful banter and this is not unusual because you and I've talked about Polari before, which was incredibly important, very playful, but also very important code amongst the gay community because homosexuality was illegal at the time.

So these kind of tribal codes and slangs emerge all the time. And we think that Cockney rhyming slang was one of those. And what period are we talking about? So that was probably the late 19th century. Oh, not that long ago. No, not too long ago. So Victorian times. Yeah. Because the word cockney goes back far further to describe people from this part of town. Well, to describe, yeah, and also to, as I say, to have that journey meaning all sorts of things. So yes, that was around before and then applied to those, you know, So, yes, that was around before and then applied to those, you know, the slang spoken specifically within the East End of London.

Good. So it's been in existence for 130, 140 years. Yeah, at least. The kind of ones that we know about, I mean, you talk about them being costamongers, people who are selling vegetables. I'm very familiar with the Cockney rhyming slang for stairs, which is apples and pears. Yes. Yes, absolutely. And that's one of the oldest. And rhyming slang had a real surge during the Second World War, when troops, particularly troops from the East End of London, chose to entertain but also baffle other regiments fighting alongside them. So again, it became this sort of uniting, we are, you know, we're going to keep outsiders out, this is our sort of insider code. So anyone fighting alongside them in the trenches couldn't understand this. And maybe

also it was a bit of a mocking nod to some of the really broad Glaswegian Belfast, you know, you name it, brokes that were being spoken in the trenches. And those from the East End of London have always been mocked themselves. So I think it may have been a bit of kind of tit for tat. And it really, really did grow then. I think Apples and Pears, one of the very earliest. And it's never really looked back. And people go on inventing it. You say the word brogues there. I think that could be quite good rhyming slang for rogues. You can invent them as you go.

I remember when I was young, a new word came in for flares. When flares were popular in the 1960s, they were called your Lionel Blairs. Yes. Because Lionel Blair was a choreographer and dancer. Lionel Blairs give you flares. But actually, they were just called your Lionels, because that's the perfect thing about Courtney rhyming slang, isn't it?

Is that the second half... Oh, explain the way it works then. Yeah, so the second half of the formula is often left off. So use your loaf, use your loaf of bread, your head, which is why it's particularly opaque to anyone outside, because part of it is dropped. Oh, so take a butcher's is what you say yeah take a butcher's means take a look because in fact the full phrase is butcher's hook yes it takes you

to look exactly but sometimes you definitely get both words because i do remember my father this date was not a cockney at all um he came originally from cheshire but he would often this was in his day you often described your wife as your trouble and strife. And there, it's the whole word, you never talked about your trouble, it was your trouble and strife, meaning your wife. Yeah. No, it's endlessly elastic. It really is. And there are some, you know, some wonderful ones. The old dog and bone is another one of your examples. The phone. What's that? What's that? The phone. The dog and bone, yeah. dog and bone is another one of your examples uh the phone what's that what's that the phone dog and bone yeah dog and bone is the phone uh would you adam and eve it would you adam and

eve it means would you believe it would you believe it and what about do you know about um i'm completely brassic do you know about that one i'm completely brassic is that classic? Brassic Park in the dark? No, Brassic Acid? No, it means skint, but it comes from Brassic Lint. And Brassic Lint is a type of medical dressing made from surgical lint, and it's soaked in this saturated solution of various things. But, I mean, that one would be almost impossible. I mean, even for us to unpick really unless you know unless you were well versed in this having a scooby that's one of my favorites having a scooby

having a scooby-doo clue oh my gosh that's a brilliant that's very good um let's take a plate of hake which I mean I made that up on the spot I mean let's take a break see let's take a plate of hake you wouldn't know what I was saying but if you did know it means let's take a break we'll have some more rhyming slang in a moment I think you need a jimmy don't you a jimmy oh a jimmy riddle that means having a piddle who was jimmy riddle who was jimmy riddle you're taking the jimmy are you taking the yeah what's that actually what is the origin of taking the piss? Taking the piss is... Yeah, it's just... I really say taking the Mickey, Mickey Bliss piss,

but taking the piss itself is just using a rude word. And, yeah, obviously, there's no urine theft involved. We'll raise the tone. I'm not sure who Jimmy Riddle is here. Who is Jimmy Riddle? Jimmy Riddle was an American country musician. Oh. Yeah.

Primarily known for the vocal art of e-thing. Do you know what e-thing is? No. Well, this just gets deeper and deeper. Let's look this up. Just before we take the plate of hake. It's a vocal technique, maybe Native American, similar to beatboxing, but nearly a century older.

So that's amazing. Okay, I'm going to be looking at it. So Jimmy Riddle was a real person. I just assumed it was an invented name to rhyme with piddle. So was Ruby Murray. Ruby Murray. I know. Let's go for Ruby Murray.

She was a real person, wasn't she? She was. She was a 1950s pop star, wasn't she? She was. A singer of yesteryear and a Ruby Murray is to have a curry. Yes. Oh my goodness. See you in a moment. Let's just go before it all goes peak time. I'm Nick Friedman. I'm

Lee Alec Murray. And I'm Leah President. And this is Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. We are a new show breaking down the anime news, views, and shows you care about each and every week. I can't think of a better studio to bring something like this to life. Yeah, I agree. We're covering all the classics.

I don't know a lot about Godzilla, which I do, but I'm trying to pretend that I don't right now. Hold it in. And our current faves. Luffy must have his due. Tune in every week for the latest anime updates and possibly a few debates. I remember, what was that? Say what you're gonna say and I'll circle back. You can listen to Crunchyroll

Presents The Anime Effect every Friday wherever you get your podcasts. And watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll or the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. Hi, I'm Jesse Tyler Ferguson, host of the podcast Dinners We'll be right back. I had that I could have done was organized crime. And Sofia Vergara, my very glamorous stepmom. Well, I didn't want to be comfortable. Or Julie Bowen, who had very special talents. I used to be the crier.

Or my TV daughter, Aubrey Anderson-Emmons, who did her fair share of child stunts. They made me do it over and over and over. You can listen to Dinners on Me wherever you get your podcasts. It's gone wrong. Oh, Pete Tong. So, Pete Tong was a DJ. He worked on Radio 1. Do you not remember? Well, I don't remember, I'm afraid. Okay. All right. So, has rhyming slang, Cockney rhyming slang, gone into other languages at all? I mean, would people in America recognise take a butcher's for take a look? No. I mean, they might recognise it, but I don't think they would use it themselves. But I tell you where it really flourished was in Australia massively. So a flower in Australia is called a cobra shower.

Oh. Which I quite like. I'm having a cobra shower or I've given her a cobra shower. That's charming. Often they are named after people and they wouldn't translate. I think Dickie Bird, Dickie Bird was a very well-known cricket umpire. And Dickie Bird, I think, is rhyming slang for simply word. Can I have a Dickie Bird?

I hope it's that and nothing ruder. I think maybe, oh, but maybe actually Dickie Bird is as in a real bird. It may predate the umpire who's called Dickie Bird. I want a Dickie Bird, meaning I want to, do you say to someone? I want a word. Okay. I mean, have you heard of that one? No, I don't think I have. I think I recognise the name Dickie Bird for sure. I mean, he was quite famous, wasn't he? But I've not heard. So you probably would say I need a Dickie, but that sounds quite rude. What about Rosie Lee? Lee I know that means tea but was there a real Rosie Lee I think there was a Rosie Lee um and I seem to remember looking this up and I've completely forgotten um let me okay I keep telling people that you know all this

stuff in your head I know everything oh she's a genius she's got all this stuff stored in her head the truth is she's fumbling through her dictionary most of the life. Always. Rosie Lee appears to have originated in the earliest of the 20th century, first recorded in Edward Fraser and John Gibbons' Soldier and Sailor words and phrases from 25. But, no, we actually – oh, it doesn't say that there was a real Rosie Lee, sadly.

I love the idea. I mean, there must have been lots of Rosiey lees but whether there was one particularly associated with rhyming slang i'm not sure mince pies are yes eyes aren't they yes i think you describe them as mince pies i saw it with my own mince pies is what you'd say yes not with my absolutely right no yeah what about if i said to you um oh i've just met a really nice bunch of Bacardis. I've met a really nice bunch of Bacardi rum. Is that Bacardi? No, Bacardi breezes.

Ah, geezers. Geezers. So is that a rhyme for geezers? Yes. But how strange, because geezer sounds like slang in itself. Geezer. Well, the geezer actually comes from the old mumming plays in medieval times when there was a lot of miming. Mum is from keeping your mouth closed. And there were people who were dressed in disguise. So it was all about guys. And then that became Giza, which was originally spelt G-U-I-S-E-R. So there were people who acted on stage, and then it became... Oh, but this is riveting.

So a Giza, silly old Giza, meaning a silly old bloke. The original Giza was a guy, and it goes back to the mumming days. We were talking about the 14th, 15th century, when players would go around and perform in pub... I was going to say pub car parks, but I mean, you know, the courtyards outside a pub. They'd set up their stage, and they'd perform their comedies or their dramas there. pub, I was going to say pub car parks, but I mean, you know, the courtyards outside a pub, they'd set up their stage and they'd perform their comedies or their dramas there. These were the mummers who became mumblers or they became mummers because they'd been mimes, is that how it went?

Yeah, it was mostly miming. And so mum, as I say, lips closed, that's what mum is representing. mum as i say lips closed that's what mum is representing and they were um in disguise or at least they were pretending to be other people just as any actor would be on stage and the guys bit uh became a geyser as in g-u-i-s-e-r and then it became spelt g-e-e-z-e-r to go on now another little tangent uh mum's the word is not writing slang it's a phrase meaning keep quiet keep yeah keep still but that's the same thing keep your mouth closed um so it's nothing to do with your mother being discreet mum's the word under the mother at all it's it's don't mumble don't mutter don't don't be a mama keep exactly miming how what about if you had a cheesy on your foot if you had a cheesy on your foot would you had a cheesy on your foot would

it be on your foot or your plates of meat because those are your feet aren't they yes you call them your plates not plates of feet oh i've got my oh my plates are killing me um that's plates of meat so what were you asking me about a foot um a cheesy on your foot would be a cheese and onion bunion a cheese a cheesy on my foot comes from cheese and onion rhyming slang for bunion bunion how do we get from tommy tucker to supper because tommy tucker sang for his supper i suppose that's not really rhyming slang that's just not really rhyming it's just one you taught it tommy tucker because you mean supper. Yeah. You know, you were telling me about brogues and rogues. Well, actually, those are Kylie Minogues.

So if you've got a right pair of Kylie's chasing you, they're rogues. Alternatively, you might be wearing a nice pair of Kylie's if you're wearing nice brogues. That's very good. And if they're chasing you in a jam jar. It's a police car, is it? Very good indeed. Yes. No more porky pies from you, Susie Dent.

Porky pies? Porky pies lies. Tell me a couple of porkies. And what about if you are, in your arguments, very Sir Tim? Sir Tim, oh Lord, Sir Tim Rice. That's nice. No, it's another Sir Tim? Sir Tim Rice, precise.

I'm not sure that's that good, that one. I think you've made that up on the spot, hoping to get away with it. There's more recent ones. We both love Sir Tim. Do you know what we should do? I think we should nip down to the rubber dub and have a drink and come up with some more rhyming slang. What I'd like to know from our listeners, please, is if there is the equivalent of rhyming slang in other countries and other cultures. Because if it worked in the East End of London, to the extent it has, when there are literally, if you go to a Cockney rhyming slang dictionary, you find hundreds of examples, which has given you a few. I can't believe you wouldn't find it in Australia, Africa, India, North America.

There must be other rhyming slangs in other parts of the world. And perhaps people could share their rhyming slang from their territory with us at our new email address. Get this, purple people. Yeah, that's the address. Purple people at somethingrhymes.com. Purple people at somethingrhymes.com. Purplepeopleatsomethingrhymes.com. And that's something with a G. Although there will be some people who couldn't give a dental.

Oh, couldn't give a dental, dental... Floss? I don't know. Dental appointment, ointment. I couldn't give a dental floss. Oh, rhyming for toss. Yes. And toss.

What does that mean? Couldn't give a toss. That sounds a bit rude. I think it is. Let's not go there. Well, let's not go there in this episode, though it's high time. We haven't had a rude episode for a long time

and I've got a lot of rude language that needs to be coming out. Aha. Okay. We're totally, when we are live, we are totally uncensored and we do do a few live shows. We're going to be next on stage, I think, on the 16th of July at the Bristol Old Vic.

Yeah. Now, this is the theatre where they've got a genuine thunderball up above the stage. They've actually got a machine where they roll balls down this wooden machine in the gallery of the theatre, and it makes the noise of thunder. And you can then tell your story about the origin of Stealing My Thunder. Perfect. Bristol Little Vic, 16th July. Tickets have gone on sale.

Each show is different. Come and join us. And for tickets and info, you go to somethingrhymeswithpurple.com. Okay. Have people been in touch with us this week? Oh, they have. Do you know what? We've had a lovely one.

I really enjoyed this one from Kat Benzie, who's in Connecticut. And you were talking about how we have listeners from across the globe. And she says, and I love to, she says that our podcast gives her an emotional boost whether she needs it or not, which is really touching to hear, Kat.

Thank you. But this is what I love. She says, in the vein of oxymorons, is there a word for phrases that seem benign, but often have a kind of negative sense, such as, what's the matter with you? What's happened to your face? And she says, my personal nemesis, why don't you calm down? She says, my personal nemesis, why don't you calm down? So I love all that. And I essentially went to the Oxford English Dictionary, because as far as I know, there is no term for that kind of category. And I looked at synonyms for a backhanded compliment, first of all,

but then for anything that is sort of backhanded. And backhanded in turn reminded me of the parting shot that I've talked to you about, which was originally a Parthian shot. Do you remember this? The horsemen of ancient Parthia in Greece had a strategy of riding away from a battle as though in surrender and then turning around on their saddle and delivering an arrow backwards, which was lethal. saddle and delivering an arrow backwards, which was lethal. And that's exactly what these are, it seems to me. I mean, they're not all really bad, but what's the matter with you is never going to be a nice one, or what happened to your face is never going to be, you look lovely. And anyway, the synonyms I most liked, Kat, was hooky, crooky, something that is just backhanded,

and that is from the 19th century. That's a bit hooky, crooky, something that is just backhanded. And that is from the 19th century. That's a bit hooky crooky. Hooky crooky. Sounds a bit like a bit of rhyming slang too. It does. Certainly rhyming. We've got another inquiry about etymology. Okay. Hi, Susie and Giles. My name is Kostra. I'm from Argentina. And I have to say, I love your show. I was wondering what would be the story behind your names?

What would be the etymology of Giles and Susie? Okay, keep up the good work. Oh, what an intriguing question. It's it, but you must know the etymology of your word. I think we may have talked about this before, but a long time ago, and I don't blame anybody for forgetting it. Well, I don't blame myself for forgetting it. I'm so old now. I don't know the etymology of Giles. I do know that it's, in French, it's Gilles, and in Latin, it's often translated as something like

Aegidius. Exactly, which in turn is from the Greek Aegidian. Ah, explain. Do you know what that means? No. Oh, I love this. I love the. Do you know what that means? No. Oh, I love this. I love the fact that you have lived your whole life without knowing that your name comes from a young goat.

Thank you for that. Maybe my parents spared me that knowledge. A young goat. It means a kid. Stop coming about. I'm a young goat and now I'm an old goat. I discover that I'm named after... That's terribly funny.

I had no idea. Yes. My wife will be discover that I'm named after... That's terribly funny. I had no idea. Yes. My wife would be amazed that I didn't know that because she always says to me, God, you are so self-absorbed. Knowledgeable. Don't you ever get bored with yourself, child? The rest of us do.

I.A. Gideas comes from a goat. A Greek I.A. Gideon, yes. And Susie is obviously a shortened version or derivation of Susan. Susan, Susanna, all Hebrew. And this is lovely because it comes from a word shushanna, meaning lily of the valley. Oh, that's lovely. It's pretty, isn't it? I'm sorry that I have the lily and you have the goat.

Yes, that's very good. Well, what a combination we are. We are. Now, do you have for us three special words to take away and try to remember? Yes, I do. And I'm going to start off with a word that the writer Mark Forsyth, who wrote the Etymologicon, many people will know. This is one of his all-time favourite words because he finds it so beautiful to say, Wambelcropt.

Wambelcropt. favorite words because he finds it so beautiful to say wumble cropped oh wumble cropped um and it it's not got a very nice meaning despite its sound it means overcome with indigestion and that is spelt w-a-m-b-l-e-c-r-o-p-t that's a very useful word and for those of us who suffer from something called acid reflux, I think it's a word we wanted to use. Wambled cropped. Wambled cropped, yes. Excellent. The next one is, I find this quite poetic, but some people might find it a bit dark. It is an older English word that fell out of use for the body, and it is ban loka and it means a bone locker oh so the body the flesh that goes on top of the bones locks them in and it's known as a bone locker is that how you spell it a bone locker it is yes or it is the locker you know like you put things in a locker

for your bones and it's spelled b-a-n-l-o-c-a but i just think b-o-n or b-C-A. But I just think bone locker. B-O-N or B-A-N? B-A-N. But I don't think many people use the old English. I think just bone locker itself is probably quite. Is legitimate. Yes. So if you came in and there was the corpse lying on the floor, you'd say, and I saw the bone locker lying there. You could do. Or you could say, I don't know what's happened with my band locker. I'm just so ramble cropped.

There you go. Is there a third word? Yes, there is a third word. I think I may have mentioned this when we, years ago, talked about drinking and the pub. And it's a sneck lifter. Do you remember what a sneck lifter is? There was even a beer called this, actually.

Sneck up is a phrase used by Shakespeare. But it's an insult, meaning shut up or go away. Snack up. Is snack to do with neck? You lifting something? It is to do with obviously lifting something, but the snack here is the latch of a door. So the idea is that a snack lifter lifts the latch of the pub door, peers round, and then looks to see if anybody will buy them a drink. So it is the person who turns up to the pub without much money at all.

Very good. A snake lifter. Those are three good words. Well, thank you. I think we put them on our website, don't we, each week? They're on the programme description, yes. So people can find out if you want to know the spelling of the word and want to do some more homework.

And I think we tell people what my poems are, too. And this one, I thought, since we're going to be spending time together at my home on my sofa doing celebrity goggle box over the next few weeks and you're my friend, I thought I want a poem about friendship. And I thought, well, what's my favorite short poem about friendship? And it's by one of my favourite female poets, Stevie Smith, called The Pleasures of Friendship, by Stevie Smith. The pleasures of friendship are exquisite. How pleasant to go to a friend on a visit. I go to my friend, we walk on the grass, and the hours and moments like minutes pass. And I hope, Susie, you find when you come and sit on the sofa with me and we're doing Celebrity Gogglebox together,

that the hours and moments will like minutes pass. In fact, they do. And then when it ends up edited, you'll find they're like seconds that pass. But anyway, it's fun. I love that. Thank you. I very much look forward to it. Sitting next to you on the sofa and uh i'm watching tv as i said it's such a strange concept but i can't wait i'm very grateful as always to anyone who has listened

to the show to anyone who's just discovered it and to all of those who have steadfastly been with us since the very beginning um please keep following us on apple podcast spotify stitcher amazon music or wherever you get your podcasts you can find us on social media as always, at Something Rhymes on Twitter and Facebook, or at Something Rhymes With on Instagram. And we have the Purple Plus Club, don't we, Giles? Oh, yes. Ad-free listening.

Exclusive bonus episodes. That was a funny laugh. There we are. Well, Something Rhymes With Purple is a Sony Music Entertainment production. It was produced by Nya Dia with additional production from Hannah Newton, Naomi, Oiku, Chris Skinner, Jen Mystery, and Richie, who is with us here today, because, well, he just couldn't really be bothered to possibly to show up. I saw him outside the pub, you know, peering in.

He's a sort of a snake. He is a short. That's very true. But despite the fact that he wasn't here, we have Richie. And, well, I think we had a real chicken korma today, don't you? Chicken korma? A bit of a stormer? A stormer.

Who needs gully?