Something Rhymes with Purple - Tantalus

Episode Date: June 28, 2022

Today’s episode is fabulous in the most literal of senses as Susie and Gyles are looking into fables and specifically the works of one of the most famous writers; Aesop. In a slow and steady manner, we will learn about greed with the help of a goose and a golden cacklefart and how the combination of foxes and grapes can impart teachings on petulance. Be ready for many marvels, morals and myths as Susie and Gyles discuss the questions surrounding Aesop and his very existence.  You will not be blowing hot and cold by the end of his episode as we hear from some more wonderful Purple People with their intriguing questions but you may be feeling some of the heat after Gyles’ sizzler of a poem.  A Somethin’ Else production.  We love answering your wordy questions on the show so please do keep sending them in to [e-mail]  To buy SRWP mugs and more head to.... https://kontraband.shop/collections/something-rhymes-with-purple. We currently have 20% off all our merchandise in our store. If you would like to join the Purple Plus Club on Apple Subs please follow this link https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/something-rhymes-with-purple/id1456772823 and make sure that you are running the most up-to-date IOS on your computer/device otherwise it won’t work.  Susie’s Trio Umbrageous - Creating or providing shade, shady Psithurism - Whispering of the leaves in a summer breeze Joining Giblets - Getting married Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Something else. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. Hello, Purple people. Welcome to the 169th episode of Something Rhymes with Purple. This is a podcast where, week by week throughout every year, Susie Dent, the world's leading lexicographer, that's not her description, it's mine, and I get together to talk about words and language. How are you today, Susie Dent? I am very fine because at the moment of recording, it is absolutely beautiful outside.

So here in Britain, we're enjoying some incredibly lovely, almost swallowing weather, I would say. That was one of my words for the day recently on Twitter. Swallocking, which is when it's so hot you can scarcely breathe. How do you spell swallocking? Swallocking. So it's S-W-U-L-L-O-C-K-I-N-G. It's one of the rare words, unsurprisingly rare, in British dialect for really, really hot weather. Obviously, we tend to focus on the drizzle. Swallocking. Oh, I like that. And how old is the word? I would say at least 19th century, probably before, because as you know, for dialect, we're very dependent upon the brilliant Joseph Wright's English dialect dictionary,

which was compiled at the beginning of the 20th century. And he was incredible. We've talked before about how Leeds University is starting up more research now into dialect and actually, you know, mapping dialect in a way that was only really done by Joseph Wright and had never been done before. Anyway, it's in there and it's very difficult to know because it's largely a spoken tradition how long a lot of the words have been around for, but we do know at least since the 19th century. Today, we're going to talk about somebody who is literally fabulous. It's Aesop. But before we do, I know you've heard of Aesop. Many people have. But have you heard of Woodbine Willie? I didn't think you were going to go there. No, tell me about Woodbine Willie.

Well, Woodbine Willie is my new hero. Woodbine was a brand of cigarettes, may still be a brand of cigarettes for all I know. I don't smoke. I think my father, who was, I'm afraid, quite a keen smoker, which may explain why he died quite young. I think he smoked Woodbines during the Second World War. But Woodbine Willie was a character who became famous during the First World War. And I've only recently learned his story. And it's so charming, even though it's associated with cigarettes, that I wanted to share it with you. and it's so charming, even though it's associated with cigarettes, that I wanted to share it with you. Woodbine Willie was the nickname given to the Reverend Geoffrey Studdart Kennedy by all ranks of the British Army during the First World War. He volunteered, this clergyman, as a stretcher

bearer in the trenches where, with a Bible and words of comfort, he distributed woodbine cigarettes paid for out of his own pocket to wounded and dying men. And in 1917, he was awarded the Military Cross for conspicuous gallantry and was sent around training camps throughout France to boost morale. Anyway, the reason I came across him is that he became a prolific author of poems as well as sermons. a prolific author of poems as well as sermons. And despite suffering from poor health, he died in 1929 of pneumonia, aged just 46, after, wait for it, giving his overcoat to a poor man who was freezing in the gutter. Oh, what a man. He came from Worcester and thousands of people lined the streets of Worcester for his funeral. And I'm tearing up as I tell you this, ex-serviceman threw Woodbine cigarettes into his grave.

Oh, because in those days, am I right in thinking that cigarettes were actually promoted for good health? I think they were. And I think they were distributed free in the army. I think you've got a ration of cigarettes to keep you going. And also they alleviated stress and that kind of thing. So what a man, what a man. You can't say Aesop without saying Aesop's fables. Just as Woodbine and Willie go together, Aesop and fable go together. And we did an episode recently on summer fruits, and we touched on the origin of sour grapes, the expression sour grapes, which comes from one of Aesop's fables. But we thought today we'd explore, you know, who was Aesop and why his fable is still so prevalent and relevant today.

In a nutshell, Susie, who was Aesop? Well, he was a storyteller. We do know that. And he is thought to have lived in Greece between 620 and 564 BC. Now, I say we do know that. We actually know very, very little because some believe that he didn't actually exist. So, it is true, none of his writings survive, but they were kind of became, we were talking about dialects earlier, became part of this very spoken tradition and were

passed down from generation to generation a little bit like, you know, lullabies or bedtime stories, etc. Certainly, if he did exist, we do know that a lot of the subsequent fables probably didn't belong to him and were just attributed to him because his name was, you know, so meaningful. They tend his tales to feature animals that behave in a human-like fashion. So there's anthropomorphism, as we say there, and they then deliver a moral, essentially, at the end. And it is said that a lot of our English expressions, if they didn't come directly from his fables, they at least are based on his stories. And we'll discover that, I'm sure, today.

They're not sort of direct lifts from his fables, but the lesson that they impart is very much wound up in his stories. And when did they first get into print as Aesop's Fables? Well, the first English publication was in 1484 by William Caxton. William Caxton, as you know, set up the first printing press in England, had a huge impact on English spelling, English orthography, and, you know, just on people's reading. You know, suddenly there was this kind of collective community spelling, collective reading that had a, you know, a huge impact. And so, thanks to him, Aesop's fables were spread even further, you know, and they were lifted from this spoken tradition into something that was passed from hand to hand. Well, let's run through the most famous of them, which I suppose the most famous,

is it the hare and the tortoise? Yes. The moral of which is slow and steady wins the race. Don't be arrogant. Don't be complacent because the hare thinks that he's going to win and sort of fools around and rests by the roadside while the tortoise plods on. Do we think that one is probably a genuine Aesop one? Yes. Who knows? I mean, I think it's going to be really hard to know which actually belonged to

him, as I say, because there's so many myths surrounding him. But I think it's quite a good lesson about bullying as well, because the hare is so arrogant, isn't he? And he just sort of completely denigrates the poor tortoise who ends up winning in the end. So as you say, it's all about more haste, less speed. And also, as you say, just don't be complacent. And in that, it's quite similar to don't count your chickens, isn't it? Before they hatch, which is another one. Oh, but is that an Aesop story? Well, I think a lot of people do attribute that to him. And there are various versions of a story

that will kind of account for it, if you like. But this is the problem, as I say, that we actually don't know whether a lot of those proverbs do look back to them. Sometimes the gap in time is so long that actually you just think these were different proverbs and not necessarily rooted in those talking about eggs. There's the goose that laid the golden egg. That is attributed to Aesop. Remind me of the story in that. Okay, so a cottager and his wife, they have a hen that lays a golden egg every day. And so they think, wow, inside this hen must be a huge lump of gold, you know, a huge repository of gold, because it's squeezing out these golden cackle farts, if you remember, that's one old dialect term for eggs, every single day.

So what they did is they killed the hen. And then, of course, found to their surprise that the hen was no different from any others. And so hoping to become rich all at once, they actually, in the end, got nothing apart from what they had fritted away before. So yes, don't be greedy. Don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg. I like it. Exactly. Then there's the one that, of course, we began with, the fox don't be greedy. Don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg. I like it. Exactly. Then there's the one that, of course, we began with, the fox and the sour grapes. What's the, I mean, not to be confused with the La Fontaine,

Mettre Corbeau sur son arbre perché, which I learnt as a small child. Yeah, what's the story of that one again? Well, that one is there's the bird. He's got a cheese in his beak and he's flattered into singing. And drops the cheese. Drops the trees. Right.

But this is different, isn't it? Don't be amenable to flattery, I suppose, that one. But I think that's by La Fontaine. I don't think that's necessarily attributed to Aesop. Anyway, the fox and the sour grapes. Yes. So this is just showing really that we can be really bitter about something that we actually really wanted but couldn't obtain. So we end up saying, I didn't want it anyway. And what happened? I don't remember. mouthwatering bunch of grapes above him. But tantalisingly, and it is a little bit like the

story of Tantalus that gave us the word tantalise, if you remember, because Tantalus in Greek myth was condemned to always seeing food and drink just out of reach. And so he was tantalised by the possibility of getting them, but he never, ever can. So tantalisingly, the branch here in this fable is again too high for the fox and tries he might he just can't reach them so he gives up he sits down in disgust and says here i am wearing myself out to get a bunch of sour grapes that are not worth gaping for in other words i never really wanted them anyway oh very good so it's a bit of petulance in that one good dog in the manger i mean i know it's these fables they may well come from other sources,

but because it's an animal associated with Aesop. Dog in the manger. And a dog in the manger attitude has subsequently slipped into English, isn't it? A manger is a cot away in a manger. This is like a little cot, a little bed made of straw. Yes. Or it can be the place housing that sort of, you know, it can be a bit bigger. I always think of a manger as being sort of bigger, a bit like a barn.

But don't you think, I'm going to look it up for you now. I'm going to look up a manger. Isn't it funny? I assume the manger. A way in a manger. A way in a manger, no. No crib for a bed. Oh, I see.

The manger is the house. Well, I might be wrong. No, I think you're right. Oh, I see. The manger is the house. Well, I might be wrong. No, I think you're right. Oh, no, no, no. Okay, so here, you were right. It's a trough from which horses or cattle feed. So it's even worse than that. So it's a symbol for the birth of Jesus, isn't it, really?

And the reason I thought it was something small was, of course, manger, the French word manger, is to eat. Yes, of course. So the animals feed from is to eat. Yes, of course. So the animals feed from this trough, you're absolutely right. And that also gave us mange tout, mange tout peas, and the mange that animals get as well is linked to that because another meaning of manger was to itch from bites. It's all about, again, eating and biting. So if you've got insects biting at you, you might get the mange.

So the dog was sat in this manger, preventing people from eating just for the sake of it. Yes. So essentially, a dog in the manger attitude is when you essentially say, I'm going to have this, even though I don't really want it, to prevent other people having it. So it's kind of spite. So you don't have any use for it, but you're going to prevent others from it. And the idea is there was a dog lying in a manger, you're going to prevent others from it and the idea is there was a dog lying in a manger you're right a trough who didn't eat the grain but wanted to

prevent the horse from being able to eat it as well uh so you're absolutely right i should have known that well i've learned what a manger is today fairly basic from my job well yes absolutely i always i'm saying week in week out she knows everything she's so wonderful i don't i don't i don't you know almost nothing i mean mean, almost nothing. You know almost everything. The wolf in sheep's clothing, that's a familiar one. We often use the expression, he's a wolf in sheep's clothing. It means not being quite what they think they are. I mean, you know, dressing deceptively. I mean. Yes. It's a bit like the tale of Red Riding Hood, just the same idea. The wolf dresses up as

Riding Hood's grandmother. So yes, I mean, it is exactly that. Beware, things aren't always what they seem. And that too was published, I think it was very early on by William Caxton in his press in Westminster Abbey. I mean, it's so extraordinary, isn't it? William Caxton was doing this eight years before the discovery of America. That's how old printing has been, but what an impact it still had. Just to allay the fears of people who may feel that their forebears were in America before America was discovered, we do know that. We use it as a cliche. Yes, sorry, I should say, of course, all the indigenous people who had a really, really tough time. So it was very much a, you know, it wasn't necessarily a peaceful thing,

but yes, you're absolutely right. Now, a fable. Let's get to grips with these words. Every fable has a moral. Fable, what is the original word fable? So fable came to us, as so many words did, from French, fable. But ultimately, you go back to the Latin fabula, a story. And that, if you trace it back far enough, goes back to a root, fari, F-A-R-I, meaning to speak.

And the idea of something being fabulous, meaning amazing, comes from the notion of it being a story that is kind of like an exaggerated story. Yes, or that is so brilliant that it is kind of retold. But originally fabulous meant fond of telling fables or legends, really. of telling fables or legends, really. But because they were full of myths and these myths were legendary and they were exciting, et cetera, it came to mean something marvellous. Marvellous meaning full of marvels, of course. It did for a while. Fabulous also had the sense of being slightly absurd and ridiculous. And you can sort of sense that still, can't you, when you say that something is perhaps just a little bit too good to be true and fabulous. There's a moral to most of these fables, or indeed to all of Aesop's fables. That's part of the idea. Moral, what's the origin of that? That's from the Latin of

mores, meaning morals, or mos, meaning custom. And it was first used to translate Moralia. And this was the Latin title of a work about the book of Job written by St. Gregory the Great, full of lessons, full of morals. And then it was applied to the works of various classical writers and because their works had a lot of lessons in them, it was attached to those that we ourselves can draw from any story really. And when does that go back to? It was attached to those that we ourselves can draw from any story, really. And when does that go back to, this? Well, obviously to Roman times, but in English,

I would have thought it might be around the Middle Ages. Yeah, 14th century. Gosh, an adage. An adage is a kind of truism, isn't it? It's a sort of pithy saying, isn't it, really? Or, again, it's got a sort of slight moral to it, I think. Let's see how it's defined. Yes, a well-worn adage. I mean-

A maxim, yeah. Yeah. Expressing a general truth. And adage, is it because it's survived the ages? What is the origin of adage? I mean, how does that word come about? It actually goes back to a word meaning to say, the Latin adagium, that was a saying,

and aio, A-I-O, meant I say. So you are expressing a statement. I mean, you mentioned truism, that's something that originally was so true, it was self-evident. So it's a kind of proverb, a saying, much as we would use saying today. And is adage in any way connected with the musical term adagio? No, I don't think so, because adagio is all about speed, isn't it? And that goes back to the Italian adagio, meaning slowly, quite, quietly, sweetly. And ultimately, from the Latin agio, A-G-I-O, meaning ease or leisure. So not linked.

That's what people in the world of language call a false friend. Something that looks as if it'll take you one direction, but don't be fooled. So an adage is something quite different. An adage, so often repeated, becomes a cliché. I mentioned that word earlier on. And I do remember we talked about Caxton, but this is a word that comes directly from the world of printing, doesn't it? Part of a French printing press was a cliché. Remind me. Yes, it was a stereotype block, really. So we get stereotype from there as well and it goes back to the french cliche meaning to click and that was supposedly an echo of the sound of a

mold striking metal and also originally so a cast that you got from letting a matrix fall face down into a surface of molten metal on the point of cooling, it was imagined that that too would have a little bit of a sound as it dropped. So either way, it is very much a kind of sound thing. Look, we better take a quick break and then give me some more of these wonderful phrases that are adages, not cliches yet, but fabulous. And many of them have a moral.

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We're here. Listen every Friday, wherever you get your podcast, and watch full episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. Welcome back to Something Wines with Purple, where we are talking about the Greek fabulist Aesop, whose identity remains really unclear. There's no evidence of his writing, and yet century after century, his fables were collected and credited to him. And it's become a really big tradition to associate a lot of English proverbs with this man. So, Giles, I've got a couple for you, which I love if I can tell you those, just because their stories are so lovely. And, you know, wherever they came from, they do account for the expressions in English. Can I share them with you?

Okay. So the first is blowing hot and cold. Do you know this story? No. Okay. So if we blow hot and cold, we're continuously changing our minds. And this was born in the fable of the man and the satyr. Now, a satyr is a sort of forest creature, if you like, that is, I think, half man, half animal. And in this story, a traveller becomes hopelessly lost in a forest, encounters a satyr who offers him lodging for the night and a passage safely out of the woods in the morning. Very generous. And on the way to the satyr's home, the man blows on his hands. And the satya's home the man blows on his hands and the satya asks why he does this and the man replies

my breath warms my cold hands and when they get to their destination they sit down to some steaming hot food porridge I think and the man blows on his first spoonful and again the satya asks him why and the man says the porridge is too hot to eat and my breath will cool it. And at this, the satya orders him to leave crying, I can have nothing to do with a man who can blow hot and cold with the same breath. Isn't that brilliant? That is brilliant. And it is so true. I mean, the science behind it is really weird because you do cool your porridge by blowing

on it and equally you do try and warm up your hands by blowing on them. So, you know, that paradox survives. So if we have any purple scientists out there, please could you explain to us how that works? Great. I think that's very good. It's a really good one. Out of the frying pan, into the fire. And that comes from a story called The Stag and the Lion, apparently.

Oh, okay. I mean, it means what it says, doesn't it? Out of one bad thing into another bad thing. One's too hot to handle. The other is too hot to handle. But give me the other one you were going to share. Well, the other one was the lions that share, actually, which is another good one.

And you probably will have heard of this one. So the lions share goes back to a story that the lion goes hunting with the fox, the jackal and the wolf. They hunt and hunt. And eventually they take a stag. And then comes the question how their booty should be divided. And the lion roars, call to me a stag. And then comes the question how their booty should be divided.

And the lion roars, call to me this stag. So the other animals cut it into four parts. Then the lion stands in front of the carcass and says, the first quarter is for me because I am king of the beasts. The second is mine as the referee.

Another share comes to me for my part in the hunting. And as for the fourth quarter well i should like to see which one of you would dare to lay a paw upon it and the fox grumblingly understandably walks away with his tail between his legs and he says in a low growl you may share the labors of the great but you will not share the spoil it's cool that isn't it very Well, we would love to hear from people who are purple people about the fables from whatever part of the world they are in,

because the ones we've been sharing with you, though originating possibly with Aesop in ancient Greece, are ones that are common really in the United Kingdom and maybe in other English-speaking countries. But around the world where people listen, you may have other fables that you'd like to share or indeed inquire about and we can get exploring. Have we had lots of correspondence this week? Oh, we always get lots of correspondence, which we are incredibly grateful for, as you say. Yes, this one from Jeff Atkins. During the Jubilee celebrations, there was much discussion of the event that took place some 70 years earlier.

I have heard a number of commentators and journalists referring to Princess Elizabeth having been coronated. Personally, I think the word is an abomination, but my searches on the internet have not revealed a definitive ruling on the use of coronated as opposed to the, in my

opinion, correct crowned. I wonder what your thoughts were, or maybe those of your friends at the Oxford English Dictionary. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Regards, Jeff Atkins. Well, Daz, I think Jeff will not be looking forward to hearing from me because he won't like my answer. This is a really good example of how something sounds so modern, like a really naff ripoff of an existing, much older and more proper word. But actually, you know, coronated and coronating, the verb has been around since 1623, called in the Oxford English Dictionary. It's simply based, like crown itself, on the Latin coronare and corona, which meant a crown. They both come from the same root. The only thing I

can say to Geoff, if this makes a difference, is that crown has been around since the 12th century. So it's got 400 years on coronating, but we have been coronating for a very, very long time. It's not as newfangled as you might think, but it fell out of use. I think most people would prefer crown, but coronating is definitely not wrong. Well, there you are, Jeff. I think that is the definitive answer. Pear-shaped next. This comes from Jonathan Davis. Susie and Giles.

On Saturday last, I found myself, out of choice, I must add, on the bus to the start line of the Mournway Marathon in the beautiful Kingdom of Mourn in County Down, Northern Ireland. There was a mix of anticipation and nerves amongst my fellow runners and I couldn't help but eavesdrop on some of the conversations around me. I heard one person joke that she hoped things didn't go pear-shaped over the next few hours in the hills. As it turned out, things went pear-shaped for me as I fell, hurt myself and had to call it a day at mile nine. Such is life. Pear-shaped was certainly the theme of my weekend, unfortunately. But why do we even say it?

Keep up the good work. Oh, what an intriguing letter from Jonathan. And I have to say, I do love an Irish accent, whether from Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. I just, I don't know if I mentioned to you the other day, I had the good fortune to go to Royal Ascot, Susie. Oh, did you? Yeah. It was a really hot day that day as well.

Well, the day I went, which was the last day, the fifth day, it wasn't so hot. It was actually perfect. But for me, the big excitement was I met so many Irish people with wonderful Irish accents because a lot of the great trainers come from Ireland. And I spent time with, oh, well, so many of them, Willie Mullins, among others, Aidan O'Brien, very exciting. And I met a great jockey called Ryan Moore. I must put a picture of him up on Twitter because I was so excited.

But anyway, I just loved, I love the lilt of an Irish accent, whichever part of Ireland it comes from. I'm with you. It's probably the most mellifluous in the world. And I was almost distracted by his lovely voice from the content of what he was saying, but he was asking a very good question about going pear-shaped.

Where does this interesting phrase come from? Well, we haven't completely nailed this down, but most linguists think that it goes back to the 1940s. So one of the first references I think we have is from a 1940 film, My Little Chickadee, which starred W.C. Fields and May West. And there's a line, I have some very definite pear-shaped ideas so it's said that it goes back to the 40s because one of the maneuvers that trainee pilots in the RAF had to master in preparation for World War II well during World War II indeed was the loop-de-loop which was a really difficult aerial trick and if you were inexperienced or having a bad day you couldn't keep a perfect circle all the way

around, but you'd level off at the bottom of the loop. And so it would have a slightly distorted pear-shaped outline, which obviously wasn't ideal. And the pilot might come in for some ribbing from his, and it wasn't normally his, you know, colleagues. So that is where we think it comes from. But as I say, it's hard to find absolutely definitive proof for that, but that's our best bet. And, you know, that would make it one of those many phrases like gone for a Burton and that kind of thing that originated in aeronautics during the Second World War. Well, if you think you have a better answer than that offered by Susie Dent, do get in touch with us. And if you've got other queries, we will endeavour to get the answers to you. And if you've got other queries, we will endeavour to get the answers to you.

The address for any correspondence is simply purple at something else dot com. And that's something without the G. Purple at something else dot com. And of course, we do look at every letter that we receive, every message, even if we can't get round to answering all of them. Yes. Because we have to find time for everything. You have to find time to research your trio of words every week. Three interesting, unusual words.

What have you come up with this week? I have three summary words for you today, Giles. And some of them, I think, or at least one of them will be very familiar to people. But I'm going to start with one that people may or may not know. And that's umbracious, umbrageous, which is U-M-B-R-A-G-E-O-U-S. And that G is kind of soft, umbrageous. And you can probably guess what that means, can you? No, I don't think I can. If I say it's linked to the umbrella.

Oh, I should have guessed. Yeah, go on. Nothing to do with rain, everything to do with sun. So umbrageous is all about shadiness and offering shade. Oh, I think that's my postman. Could you just give me one second? What is he or she called, remind us? Lloyd. everything to do with sun so umbrageous is all about shadiness and offering shade oh i think that's my postman could you just give me one second what is he or she called remind us lloyd lloyd we want to meet lloyd one week hello i'm just doing my podcast oh it's fine bye lloyd sounds very friendly suzy oh did you hear him? He's absolutely lovely.

Best postman in the world. Okay, carry on with your trio of words. Back to umbrage. If we take umbrage against somebody, we are casting shade, to put it in modern terms. And umbrageous means just shady because umbrellas were originally used to protect people from the sun and not from the rain.

So that's my first one. The second is one I think a lot of people will have heard of, and that's scytherism with a silent P. Scytherism. The P is silent, as in swimming pool. How do you spell this word? P-S-I-T-H-U-R-I-S-M. And it is simply like susurrus, which has definitely been one of my trios before. Susurrus and scytherism are the whispering of the leaves in a summer breeze. Beautiful. Love it, yes.

And the third is hopefully to make you and the purple people smile. Obviously, a lot of weddings going on over the summer. And an old term, we covered this in our love episode, an old term for getting hitched centuries ago joining giblets oh i love that very odd but it's a very odd well that certainly shows great intimacy oh what are we doing we're joining giblets it should feature on wedding invitations yes we would request the pleasure of your company at suzy and giles joining giblets on j the blah blah. Yeah, it's a lovely idea. Very good.

I love those three. I've got a poem for you this week. And because I was at Royal Ascot and it was very sunny, I've been thinking about sunshine. We've enjoyed recently, just changed, but we've enjoyed some wonderful weather here in the United Kingdom. And I found this poem, which is about coping with the heat. And I like it, particularly today, because we've touched on pears, we've touched on grapes, and both of them

feature in this poem by somebody who became known as H.D. Her real name was Hilda Doolittle. She was an American poet, a modernist poet, I think, notable in her day for avant-garde experimental style. But I think this poem is perfectly accessible. It's simply called Heat. Oh wind, rend open the heat. Cut apart the heat. Rend it to tatters. Fruit cannot drop through this thick air. Fruit cannot fall into heat that presses up and blunts the points of pears and rounds the grapes cut the heat plow through it turning it on either side of your path so that's that's swallowing weather that it is isn't it that's that's a poem when the heat really is oppressive and there have been days isn't it funny we're never happy with the weather we talk in britain

we talk about the weather all the time either it's's too hot, or then it's too cold. It's wet when you want it to, you know, anyway, we are ridiculous. We are, we are, we are. Well, the purple people are definitely not ridiculous. And we are very grateful that you have been listening to us today. Please keep following us on, you know, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, wherever you get your podcasts. and if you could recommend us to other people we would love it too and as jas says most importantly you can get in touch via purple at something else.com oh and do consider joining the purple plus club for some bonus episodes on words and language yes exactly um something rise with purple as always is a something Else production produced by Lawrence Bassett and Harriet Wells, with additional production from Chris Skinner, Jen Mystery, Jay Beale and... do you think he's off joining giblets?

I don't know. I think he should be feeling the heat anyway, whatever he is. It's gully.