Something Rhymes with Purple - Rex

Episode Date: December 6, 2022

It’s the real deal today Purple People as we enter the palace courtesy of Tour Guide Gyles for a Royal episode. Come discover why Sovereign is ‘super’, how the King was a family man, why real tennis isn’t royal at all and how elevation was the key to prominence in the monarchy.    Gyles seems in need of a pizza delivery service during our correspondence section thanks to Purple Person, Quentin Lotte and Susie’s trio takes us down the pub to meet the Knight of the Sprigot but make sure you don’t have a lanspresados as company!   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:  Intumescence: bubblement; excitement: anticipation. Knight of the Spigot: a party host or pub landlord/lady. Lanspresado: one who comes to the pub with only a handful of change in their pocket.   Gyles reads ‘The King’s Breakfast’ by A.A. Milne   The King asked  The Queen, and  The Queen asked  The Dairymaid:  "Could we have some butter for  The Royal slice of bread?"  The Queen asked the Dairymaid,  The Dairymaid  Said, "Certainly,  I'll go and tell the cow  Now  Before she goes to bed."   The Dairymaid  She curtsied,  And went and told  The Alderney:  "Don't forget the butter for  The Royal slice of bread."  The Alderney  Said sleepily:  "You'd better tell  His Majesty  That many people nowadays  Like marmalade  Instead."   The Dairymaid  Said, "Fancy!"  And went to  Her Majesty.  She curtsied to the Queen, and  She turned a little red:  "Excuse me,  Your Majesty,  For taking of  The liberty,  But marmalade is tasty, if  It's very  Thickly  Spread."   The Queen said  "Oh!:  And went to  His Majesty:  "Talking of the butter for  The royal slice of bread,  Many people  Think that  Marmalade  Is nicer.  Would you like to try a little  Marmalade  Instead?"   The King said,  "Bother!"  And then he said,  "Oh, deary me!"  The King sobbed,  "Oh, deary me!"  And went back to bed.  "Nobody,"  He whimpered,  "Could call me  A fussy man;  I only want  A little bit  Of butter for  My bread!"   The Queen said,  "There, there!"  And went to  The Dairymaid.  The Dairymaid  Said, "There, there!"  And went to the shed.&a 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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skip to the good bit using the card member entrance. Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by card. Other conditions apply. Something else. Annex. Benefits vary by car and other conditions apply. Hello and welcome to Something Rhymes With Purple. Because something does rhyme with purple, as Giles, who is with me, and I are constantly emphasising.

And the reason we chose this title is because this is a podcast all about words. Weird and wonderful and surprising words. I am Susie Dent. And as I say, sitting opposite me, at least on Zoom, is Giles Brandreth. And he is going to take today's episode away because he is an absolute expert on the subject we've chosen. Morning, Giles. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. good afternoon, good evening,

wherever you are in the world. Welcome to Something Rhymes with Purple. And I'm in a strange state at the moment, Susie, because I've had quite an exhilarating few months. I say exhilarating because I've been working, I think I've told you this, I've been working very long days. Yes. And it's been both exciting and exhausting. And the reason I've been working very long days is I have quite a full program, as you know, anyway, doing our shows together, our live shows. And I've been doing some stage shows with the great Dame Susie, Dame Susie Dent. I'm looking to the future. I've always mistaken for her. Well, she'd be thrilled. And no doubt you'd be thrilled to always mistaken for her. Are you? Well, she'd be thrilled

and no doubt you'd be thrilled to be taken for her. She's wonderful. She's fantastic. And she and I, Dame Susie. No, I'm doing it again. Isn't that funny? Dame Judy. Call me Dame.

Yeah, well, it's only a matter of time. Only a matter of time. Yeah, you have to get your honour first. Oh, no. I mean, to be a friend of yours is honour enough, to be honest with you. We're hanging on each other's coattails. Anyway, back to your exhilarating lifestyle. So I've been busy doing all my bits and pieces, but I've been having an extra duty, obligation, because I have been finishing a book that I'd

already begun about the late Queen Elizabeth II. And my publisher said, well, now, sadly, the queen has died. We should publish the book sooner rather than later. Can you finish it so we can get it out in time for Christmas? And I thought, well, actually, I'm going to. And I thought, everyone knows what Elizabeth II looked like. But what was her inward mind? So I thought, I'm going to try and write a personal portrait of the Queen, which is what I've done. And so I've been working these 16-hour days finishing this

book. And then now the book is published and it's been serialized. I've been going around talking about it, promoting it. And it occurred to me that maybe today we could talk about some of the words that I've been using and that people do use all the time that maybe people take for granted. I know we've talked about, as it were, aristocratic ranks before because we did an episode in the world of Upstairs Downsides. Yes. And we talked about the different roles in Big Houses. So if you would like to hear about butlers and valets, pages and earls and counts, etc., then do go listen to that episode. And in fact, I think the episode I remember was called Marchioness, because we discussed dukes and duchesses, marquises and marchionesses.

But here we're going to talk about language to do with the monarchy. And let's start with the word monarchy. What is the origin of that word monarchy? Well, very, very old. We have to look back to ancient Greek for this one. And it means absolute rule, but really it means the ruling of one person. So, mono, of course, means one, alone. And then you have a Greek verb, archine, meaning to rule. So, it is a single ruler, a head of state, essentially. A sovereign. And sovereign, at its heart, although it's kind of changed its

appearance, so it's slightly hidden, has got the Latin super in it, meaning above, or sort of presiding over, if you like. And the reason it looks very different is that we decided to change it, fittingly, I suppose, with reign, as in the Queen's reign, R-E-I-G-N. So that is why in French it became souverain, and then in English it became sovereign, with the reign at the end of it. But reign has got nothing to do with the rain falling from the sky, R-E-I-G-N. No. It's as in, you know, the queen regnant, meaning the person who is on the throne. That comes from the Latin rex and regina, I assume.

Exactly. King and queen. Absolutely right. Yes. rex and regina, I assume. Exactly. King and queen. Absolutely right. Yes. And then we have royal, of course. Now, royal is quite interesting as in it again has changed its meaning. And it began actually with a word which is spelt like our adjective real, as in that's the real deal. But it's not related, at least not in its recent history. And I'm talking recent history, the last thousand years, to the real that was the origin of royal. Because real ultimately goes back to the Latin regalis, meaning regal, of course. But for a long time, it was thought that, to just go off with a tangent, that real tennis, I don't know if you've ever played real tennis, but it's a different form of the game, was the tennis that was played by kings and queens. But actually, that's been, I mean, this just shows that etymological detective work is ongoing because we think actually it's simply because it was thought to be the real deal played by the aristocracy versus the other version of the game. Because I thought real tennis was royal tennis.

versus the other version of the game. Because I thought real tennis was royal tennis. I know that Prince Edward, who the Earl of Wessex, is very keen on real tennis. But in fact, it means real tennis, not royal tennis. Yes, that's what we think. But anyway, it did start, the word royal did start in English and in French as real, R-E-A-L. But ultimately, from the Latin, regardless, meaning regal, which of course is linked to Rex again.

So it's come into slanguage as well, because you say something's a right royal pain. I mean, where did those sorts of expressions come into use? Yes. Well, quite early on, royal was used for anything on a grand scale or something of great size or strength. used for anything on a grand scale or something of great size or strength. So particularly in military context, if an army had great force and weaponry, it would be the battalion royal, for example, or the army royal. And you'll find that going back to the 15th century. So that is that sense in there. And then a royal bastion was a very impressive kind of fortification. And then from about, well, not long after actually,

still in the 15th century, you'll find royal meaning excellent or first rate with the idea of something being preeminent or sovereign, I suppose. And then, as you say, it was applied to things that might not be so good, right? Royal pain. I think in Catch-22, you'll find that's a real royal screwing they're getting ready to give me. So used in slightly different contexts,

but the overriding theme was of something preeminent or, you know, big, major. Did monarchy give us other words like moniker, monogram, or is that just the mono part that leads to those? Oh, that's a really good question, actually. So the mono you will find in monocle, which is a single, single iglus, if you like. Yeah, so you'll find it there. We don't know where moniker, as in a nickname, comes from. I don't think you will find monos there, but you'll find monotony, sort of single tone,

a single note that's being struck all the time. So pretty boring and without variation. So you'll find that monos in lots of different places. Monosyllabic, you know, etc. Okay. Now we get to actually with the passing of the queen, we have a new king. Where's the word king come from? It's interesting this because for such an important word in our history, we don't quite know where it comes from. It's of uncertain origin, but it may be related to kin, our kith and kin, because it is our family, meaning that actually the king is the leader of the family and the family here being the sort of people, if you like. There's another

theory that it goes back to a much older Germanic word meaning noble, particularly in birth. So one who was of noble birth. But I favour the kin one. And actually, if it's true that king is related to kin and kindred, it also means it's related to kind, because slightly double-edged sword with kind in its earliest uses, because the idea is that if you were kind, you were primarily compassionate towards your own kin, towards your own people, which would mean that a king was kind to his people and possibly not their enemies. Looks after his own. Yes. I mean, I'm amazed that we can't nail down the origin of king, given that we've had in this country kings for more than a thousand years. And the German is König, isn't it? König, absolutely.

Which is the same sort of word. And does that also relate to kind, et cetera, and kin in German? Yeah, I think you'll be going back to, you know, some reconstructed ancient word that probably gave us all of these siblings in different Indo-European languages. Now, Mrs. King is traditionally known as the Queen, though, as in the case of the last Queen and Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria and Queen Anne, they were the real deal, the complete show themselves. But also, traditionally, a king's wife is called a queen. What's the origin of queen?

Well, that one is very simple because it's pretty much had the same meaning for a millennium. It's Germanic for sure. And it crept into old English as a word meaning a woman or a wife or a queen, and ultimately from a Germanic root meaning a woman, and obviously a very powerful one at that. Because we also get slang versions of queen. And is it differently spelled? There was a, I seem to remember in Shakespeare's day, there's a queen, but of course, spelling was then loose, Q-U-E-A-N, which is a prostitute. Absolutely. Yes. Am I right? Have I imagined this? No, you haven't imagined it pretty much from the start. Now, this is something that English

loves to do, is it starts off with a word that is fairly neutral and then it splits off in two directions. So, do you remember me telling you about hussy and housewife and how they both came from the same root? Hussy was someone attached to the hoose, S-H-U-S in Old English. And, you know, they were the keeper of a household. They were the person who presided over it along with their husband. And of course, because there's a lot of misogyny, unfortunately, in the history of English, it split off so that a housewife was largely neutral, not always, and a hussy was obviously the sort of impudent, promiscuous woman. And that's pretty much what happened with Queen, spelled Q-U-E-A-N. It was a woman or a female originally, and late

it became a bold or an impudent woman, or indeed a hussy. And within the United Kingdom, if you're being very formal, the king and the queen are addressed as your majesty. Yes. And people who are not the king or the queen, who may be, as it were, the children or cousins or other members of the family, are called your royal highness. This is all to do with elevation. But where does the word majesty come from? Majesty goes back to the Latin maior, M-A-I-O-R, and it means great, of course. So the greater, really.

It's the comparative of great. So it means the greater person. And highness, as you say, is all about loftiness and again, sort of being superlative, really. So it's all about being up there, number one, top of the tree. Yeah, exactly. That's life as the king and queen. And the children of kings and queens are princes and princesses. Yes. I mean, it's interesting to me they're not called kinglets or, anyway. It would be nice. Where does prince and princess come from? It's interesting. Again, it's all to do with, in some ways, being lofty, but also being the sort

of founder. So, a chief or a ruler, but also somebody who kind of instigated a particular role. So, it goes back to the Latin princip, which gave us, of course, principal. So it's about being the principal person in a group, likewise princess. Great. Well, look, we've touched on the people at the top of the tree. Maybe after the break, we can just touch on one or two of the people in the royal household and some of the extraordinary titles that they have, which I think go back hundreds of years. Should we take a little break first? Let's take a break.

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This is Something Rhymes with Purple and we've got coming up another of our performances on stage. Each show that we do is different and delightfully. Have you noticed, Susie, some people are coming back to see us again? Can't believe it, first time round. We've actually had a few people coming

three or four times which is just gorgeous yeah so thank you so much for everybody who keeps coming if you're interested in coming you can get to london for tickets and info go to something rhymes with purple.com or follow us on social media at something rhymes on twitter and facebook or something rhymes with on instagram yes so that So that's coming up. And we've got these America episodes coming up, haven't we? We have. Because as well as being on this actual tour,

you know, getting out and about ourselves, we're going on an etymological tour around North America. Having done a road trip down the East Coast, visiting Boston, New York, Philadelphia. We're next going to one of my favourite cities in the world, New Orleans. Oh, I can't wait to hear about this. This is somewhere that's been on my bucket list for such a long time.

I've never been. Never. I first went, and I remember it vividly, on the night that the actress Vivien Leigh died. Oh, you can tell us about that in our New Orleans. I will tell you about that. But back to, we're talking about royalty, because I have my book, Elizabeth, An Intimate Portrait,

is just out, And it is exactly that, a personal picture of what the Queen was really like. And I've been lucky, I was lucky enough to meet her and her husband many times over many years. But also I met, of course, people around them, people in there who worked with them and for them. And they have some amazing titles within the royal household itself. There's the Lord Chamberlain, different from the Chamberlain, they do different roles, but the idea of the Lord Chamberlain, where the Lord Chamberlain's office, they organise the elements of the king's programme that involve ceremonial activity. And, you know, if you get invited to Buckingham Palace, it's the Lord Chamberlain

who commands you to be there. What is a Chamberlain? Chamberlain, etymologically, is someone who is involved not with the monarch's public duties, but actually much more with their private chambers, if you like. Because chamber, of course, goes back to a very old word meaning bedroom, really. So chambre, if you think of in French, means a bedroom. And do you remember we talked a little bit about how ultimately the Latin camera, meaning a chamber or a room, also gave us comrade and it gave us chum as well, because a chum was your chamber mate. So you've got the two roles of the public and the private, but is there a chamberlain and a law chamberlain? There are two people. There is, there are two people. There is a chamberlain. If you saw the

Queen's funeral, the late Queen's funeral, we were, this time, as well as seeing the formal funeral at Westminster Abbey, later in the day, in the chapel at Windsor, there was the interment. And there, the end of the ceremony, there was a moment when the Chamberlain, different from the Lord Chamberlain, the Chamberlain, who was, as you rightly say, the personal attendant upon the Sovereign, broke his staff and laid it on the coffin. Do you remember that moment? This was at Windsor. And that is a different role to the Lord Chamberlain, and that is a different role to the Lord Chamberlain, who, as you rightly say, is the person who organises all the events. But the big state events, like the coronation or indeed a funeral, they are organised traditionally by the Duke of Norfolk. So, all these titles go

back donkey's years. Oh, what's the origin of donkey's years? Just use that expression. I use it all the time. Oh, it was a bit of a pun on donkey's ears because donkey's ears are very long. So donkey's years is a long time and donkey's years also by play on words gave us yonks, as in yonks go. But just going back to that breaking of the staff, that gave me goosebumps actually. It's quite a sort of sad gesture, isn't it? So did his or her role end with the queen's death does that mean that their duties then end so they won't carry on for the king now no you then have another one another one comes in and that that tends that role of being that chamberlain tends to go between two different families uh who is hereditary Some of these things may change.

For example, the late queen and all queens before her had ladies-in-waiting, and their duties in recent years have been to be a companion to the late queen, to deal with correspondence. But the new queen consort has let it be known she doesn't feel the need to have formal ladies-in-waiting, and she is going

to have people who are called Queen's Companions. I think it'd be rather sad, as time goes by, we will lose, I'm sure, some of these titles. The one I hope we don't ever lose is the Keeper of the Privy Purse. This is the person, I think, who really organises the finances of the royal household. But do you know about the origin of the Priy purse? It's one of the oldest titles of office, I think. Yes, I was just getting lost in the OED, thinking about how waiting has got two different meanings, hasn't it? To wait is to expect something, and then to wait upon someone is to attend them.

And then I was thinking in French, it's exactly the same. Attendre is to wait, but it's also to attend to somebody, which is interesting. Anyway, sorry, I was lost. And the ladies would say, they would talk about being in waiting, oh, I'm in waiting at the moment. And they would do, you know, a couple of weeks of, oh yes, this fortnight I'm in waiting, meaning that I'm, you know, waiting upon a majesty, not waiting for the call. It's interesting, isn't it? Anyway, sorry, just to go back to the privy purse. So this is the

monarch's private income, isn't it? And enables them to operate as a sort of separate business, I suppose. So privy, as you would expect, is from the Latin privatis, meaning private. So withdrawn from public life and purse being purse. In other words, the sort of budget, the private budget, if you like, budget coming from another French word meaning purse or pocket. Yeah. And I think there's been a keeper of the privy purse since around the 14th century, at least. And some of the staff have the most amazing titles. I mean, there's the page of the back stairs, I think, because literally he would take the back stairs. And there's also, there used to be the page of the stool. And I think the page of the stool was was i know was literally the person who in in ancient times would take the chamber pot away uh yeah exactly these things had to be had to be

done had to be looked after of course and needed a proper title and i imagine in ancient times it was considered something of an honor that's neither here nor there at the funeral of the the queen they were all the the sort of the attendant people who were there. And I loved seeing the wonderful titles of the people who were the members of the College of Arms. The Portcullis Persuivant, the Blue Mantle Persuivant, Rouge Dragon Persuivant. Do you understand any of this? Does any of this intrigue you or interest you? I don't really understand. I mean, obviously, Portcullis is an interesting one because it again sort of implies separation, doesn't it? As if you're sort of standing in front of a grating of sort of wooden bars, etc. And then pursuivant, I think, is so-called because whoever it is fulfilling that role is pursuing things for the benefit of the monarch. So it's linked

to pursue. But as to what these particular people do, no, I don't really understand it, but I imagine it's quite complicated, is it? Well, basically, these are people from the College of Arms. They're called the Officers of Arms. And on parade, we had all these. And I love it because it speaks of the heritage. And I know it's old-fashioned, and it will probably go. But nonetheless, I sort of cling on to it. And then behind them came members of the Queen's household, the master of the horse. Well, that says what he does.

The keeper of the privy purse. Well, that says now what he does. You told us what the privy purse is. And of course, all these people with a new reign, it'll all change. You know, we need to get to our correspondence. Oh, we must. I will, I promise you, I'll send you a copy of my book,

because if you weren't intrigued by the story of the Queen, and it won't cost you a king's ransom. I'll ask you that, because it's not very expensive. But the king's ransom is one of the many phrases that comes out of royalty. Can you quickly, before we get to the correspondence, tell me the origin of that phrase? Yes, that was simply the sum paid or demanded for the release of a prisoner or hostage

as decreed by the king, essentially. So it goes back to the 14th century. Fine. Well, it won't cost you a king's ransom. Oh, before we get to the correspondence, there's one other thing we must mention. Speaking of the longest running reign in British history, we're coming up to an anniversary, a jubilee in our lives, because on the 31st of January, you and I are turning 200.

I feel it. But no, that's so exciting, actually. I mean, I do remember the early days in my sitting room in front of a fire that Lawrence, my producer, really hated having because it crackled so much in the background. But you and I fought for it. And then to Zoom during lockdown, it's been quite a ride and a joyful one at that. Well, before the end of the year, before the 31st of December, we would like to challenge the purple people

to give us a word if there is for a 200th anniversary. We've had jubilees. You know. We know that a silver jubilee is 25 years. A golden jubilee is 50. Diamond is 60. Somebody invented platinum, I think, to be 70. What is 200? What is the 200th birthday going to be called? Yes. Well, there is an answer to that. But actually, we are going to be talking about linguistic gaps, aren't we? So we're going to ask people to submit their why isn't there a word for X, Y and Z. And I will try to oblige, perhaps with words from some other languages, but then also we will hear our lovely purple people's suggestions.

I really look forward to that. But in the meantime, we have had a fantastic email in from Quentin Lott in Fulham. And this is actually a lovely bit of trivia. And I'm going to test you on it, Giles, because do you remember how in one of our live shows we talked about bells and we talked about how Big Ben was the name of the bell in the tower that's now called the Elizabeth Tower. So this was Quentin's fantasticion trivia. Okay. What, Giles, links Big Ben, Good King Wenceslas, and Boxing Day? Big Ben, ding dong merrily on high, St Stephen. St Stephen is going to be the answer. Because, well, I was a Member of Parliament in the 1990s. And you go into the, if you're a member of parliament, you enter parliament

through the St. Stephen's entrance. Yes. So the tower was called the St. Stephen's Tower before it was called the Elizabeth Tower. Good King Wenceslas, it was on the 26th, it was on the Feast of Stephen that he went out. And that's when he got his pizza, wasn't it? Deep and crisp and even. And Boxing Day is traditionally the day after Christmas when those boxes, those boxes at the back of the church where arms for the poor were put. Brilliant. So St Stephen is the answer. Yes, it's a lovely one.

Thank you so much, Quentin. And if any other members of the Purple community have some lovely Connection trivias like that, especially ones related to etymology or language, we would love to hear them. Now we have an email from Chris Caprice. Greetings, Susie and Giles. Tonight I heard someone use the phrase, now so-and-so is cross with me. And it made me picture someone dragging around with them a giant cross.

It got me wondering, where did this expression come from, and how old is the usage of cross to mean being upset? Cross is also used as a religious symbol, as addition and multiplication signs in math, a kiss, buried treasure, crossing someone, crossing a bridge, etc. But where and when did it come to mean being angry or annoyed? Sounds like a case for Denton Brandreth. Oh, a crisscross question. This is your crisscross quiz. and when did it come to mean being angry or annoyed? Sounds like a case for Denton Brandreth. Oh, a crisscross question. This is your crisscross quiz.

Crisscross quiz. Excellent. Well, what is the answer? Okay, so cross is originally used in English to a monument that was in the form of a cross. So it actually is a Viking word, but it's got links, of course, to crux, which is a Latin word that gave us crucial, the crux of a matter the crucible actually as well because that was a nightlight that might be hung in front of a crucifix and also gave us excruciating from the idea of being tortured on the cross so as chris says so many different meanings here so i haven't got time to go into all of them. But cross, meaning annoyed, is linked, really. First used in the 17th century, and it's actually from the high seas,

because it's from the idea of a wind blowing across the bow of your ship, rather from behind. And that gave us the idea of something that was opposing, an opposing force, something that was kind of keeping you back. And from there, it meant sort of bad-tempered, really, because you were at odds with the prevailing wind, if that makes sense. It makes good sense. Thank you for that. And it's one of those, I imagine, it's a little bit like the word you were looking up earlier, queen, and even like let, one of those things that in the OED will have page after page on cross, all the different ways of using it. Lots and lots of different ways

and lots of idioms as well, for sure. Good. Wherever you are in the world, if you want to get in touch, you just email us. It's purple at somethingelse.com and something is spelt without a G. Every week, Susie gives us three new words.

Well, actually, they're usually quite old words that she has come across and relishes and wants to share. What's your trio this week? My trio? Well, this is in honour of your book, Giles, which is causing all sorts of intumescence in all sorts of places. This is kind of bubblement, excitement, anticipation. And tumere in Latin was to swell.

So you're kind of swelling with excitement. So this is how we all feel in anticipation of your book. One of my favourite, I was talking about the various characters that you might find in the pub, and we have done an episode on drinking quite early on, actually. It's one of our earliest episodes. And this is one of my favourite terms for either a party host or traditionally a pub landlord or pub landlady. And that's knight of the spigot. Oh, which is just brilliant. Oh, as in K-N-I-G-H-T, knight of the spigot. Yeah, K-N-I-G-H-T, knight of the spigot, I think is lovely. I'm not sure what the female version

of that would be actually. But anyway, it's just a lovely old term for a taverner. Lady of the spigot. lady of the spigot. Lady of the spigot. Because a knight, you know, if you're called Sir Herawood Pispot, your wife is called Lady Pispot. Well, that's quite appropriate. You're Lady Tosspot when it comes to drinking types. Okay. And finally, you have a lance presado. So, a lance presado is a word that has had quite a journey. So in the 16th century, it was a non-commissioned officer of the lowest grade. So it was a lance corporal. But then it was translated to any type that was looked down upon. And it took on a role,

particularly within pubs and drinking, because it essentially now means someone who comes to the pub with only a handful of change in their pocket. In other words, they're the person who feels for their wallet and says, oh, no, I'm so sorry, I didn't quite bring enough, and so relies on the generosity of their companions. Alain's prosado. That's a very good word. Very good. Brilliant.

What about your poem for us today? Is it royal-themed? It is royal-themed. The Queen was born in 1926. That was the year that A.A. Milne published his first collection of children's verse. And this is called The King's Breakfast by A.A. Milne, who also gave us, of course, Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin. The king asked the queen and the queen asked the dairymaid, could we have some butter for the royal slice of bread? The queen asked the dairymaid. The dairymaid said, certainly, I'll go and tell the cow now

before she goes to bed. The dairymaid, she curtsied, and went and told the alderney. Don't forget the butter for the royal slice of bread. The alderney said sleepily, you better tell his majesty that many people nowadays like marmalade instead. The dairymaid said, fancy, and went to her majesty. She curtsied to the queen, and she turned a little red. Excuse me, your majesty, for taking of the liberty, but marmalade is tasty if it's very thickly spread. The queen said, oh, and went to his majesty. Talking of the butter for the royal slice of bread, many people think that marmalade is nicer. Would you like to try a little marmalade instead?

The king said, bother. And then he said, oh, deary me. The king sobbed, oh, deary me, and went back to bed. Nobody, he whimpered, could call me a fussy man. I only want a little bit of butter for my bread. The queen said, there, there, and went to the dairymaid. The dairymaid said, there, there, and went to the shed. The cow The dairymaid said there, there, and went to the shed. The cow said there, there. I didn't really mean it. Here's milk for his porringer and butter for his bread. The queen took the butter and brought it to his majesty. The king said butter, eh,

and bounced out of bed. Nobody, he said, as he kissed her tenderly. Nobody, he said, as he slid down the banisters. Nobody, my darling, could call me a fussy man. But I do like a little bit of butter to my bread. I love that. The Alderney, I should explain, is a breed of cow, isn't it? Yeah, from Channel Islands. And what is a porringer? What is a porringer? Oh, a porringer is... Now, I'm going to have to remind myself of this.

I think it's a dish in which you keep your porridge, but I don't know. Yes, it's a small bowl or basin used for soups, stews or similar dishes. Absolutely right. That was perfect. I love that. And I hope that all the purple people did too. I'm sure they did. And I'm sure they enjoyed this show.

Greatly looking forward to reading your book, Giles. Please do follow us everyone on social media if you have it we are on at something rhymes on twitter and facebook or at something rhymes with on instagram and for more purple why not consider the purple plus club for ad free listening and exclusive bonus episodes on words and language on everything in between something rhymes with purple is there something else and sony Music Entertainment Production produced by Harriet Wells, with additional production from Chris Skinner, Jen Mystery, Jay Beale, Teddy Riley,

and do you have a word for this person, Charles? Well, he's right royal, that's for sure. He's not a pain. It's gully.