Something Rhymes with Purple - Tawdry

Episode Date: December 17, 2019

This week we’re doing some last-minute shopping and trying not to act like a couple of bulls in a china shop. We’ll be discussing the various theories behind the origin of Black Friday, why a shop is called a shop, why a high street is high, and differentiating between haggling and bartering. We also be learning about the connection between counters and computers and the difference between a BOGOF and a BOBFOC. As always we’ll be answering some of your excellent emails and having some fun with puns in a new word game. A Somethin’ Else production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Something else. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. And we're together in Susie Dent's home, which is in Oxford in England. I say that because people listen to our podcast around the world. Yeah, thank you for that. Thank you very much for that. And we broadcast from all sorts of places, sometimes London, sometimes Oxford. Today it's Oxford, a week or so to go until Christmas. I take the train from Marylebone Station in London, where I live, and it means I go via somewhere called Bicester Village. Don't ask me why, but tens of thousands of people seem to be on the same train also going to this vista village for last retail outlet yeah yes i've let even i've not yet been okay clearly it's

remarkable it's hugely popular what happens at this village it's basically an outlet where you buy brands at a discount i think if you really care about your labels, it's the place to go. Wow. I'm not sure I do. I don't care about labels. I don't care about anything. I want to talk to you about Christmas shopping. I want to talk to you about shopping.

You know what I've asked my grandchildren for for Christmas, don't you? A smile? No, a smile would be lovely. It would make a change. People sometimes say to me, Giles, why are you still working? And you know what I say? I need the money. I have three children, seven grandchildren, and I've discovered over the years, money is the one thing keeping me in touch with them. But this Christmas, I've said to my grandchildren, please, I don't want any socks. Grandpa doesn't

want socks. I've got enough socks. And grandma has said, Grandpa can't have any more chocolates. So no socks and no chocolates. You must learn a poem by heart for me. Oh, nice. OK. And so I'm encouraging, and they're doing it. And so on Christmas Day, after lunch, we're all going to get around, around the fire, around the tree, and we're all going to perform poems. How lovely.

That would be nice. Which is a nice idea. That's a great idea. So that's what I'm encouraging people to give free presents. But do you do shopping? Do you give people presents at Christmas? Yes. Do your daughters still have stocking and things?

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Santa still comes to our house for sure. But was the train this packed because it was Black Friday? The other day was Black Friday. When I was here a week or two ago, that was Black Friday. That was a nightmare. It's always, that train is always full.

Going back to Black Friday, do you know why it's called Black? Yeah, I would love to know. People have asked me, what is the origin of Black Friday? I've heard lots of stories. What's the truth? Well, traditionally, it started out in North America. And traditionally, it was the launch of the Christmas shopping season, the day after Thanksgiving. That was the idea.

And there was this kind of unwritten rule that no shops would start their Christmas shopping period until the day after Thanksgiving. Nowadays, it's kind of creeping a little bit forward, but it was supposed to jumpstart the season. It began with Macy's, I think. You know, Macy's, the big department store in New York City. But black, some people say it's the day when stores began to turn a profit. They went into the black and have been in the red all the year. Yes, that was all to do with the colour of ink once used to indicate profits. If you were in debt, the ink was red. But the true origin, we think, Oxford Dictionaries uphold this one,

is that it goes back to Philadelphia in the 60s when local police would talk about Black Friday to describe the traffic chaos resulting from the hordes of shoppers. So for them, it was a very grim day indeed because they were trying to cope with this influx of people. It's relatively new in Britain, isn't it? It's rather like Halloween. It's one of those American things we've imported.

But the season's extended and extended. It's not one day. Oh. It goes on for weeks. Oh, really? We're talking about the language of shopping today. Yes. And do you have any questions?

I have lots of questions. I can't promise I'll answer all of them. I want to know why a shop is called a shop, why it's called shopping for a start. Oh, yeah, that's quite interesting. Well, it goes back to an ancient Germanic word, skopan, which was like a lean-to or a penthouse. And the early meaning of a shop was a lean-to.

It was like a stall or a booth, something that was kind of makeshift because often early shops were tiny wooden structures that were kind of built onto the front wall of a house, for example. So they were fairly makeshift because often early shops were tiny wooden structures that were kind of built on you know onto the front wall of a house for example so they were fairly makeshift very good yeah and so and to shop is which came first the place or the function yes the place and now we talk about things like stores as opposed to shops and super stores supermarket where's all that come from? That's just linguistic inflation, isn't it?

It's not just a market. It's a supermarket. Oh, I see. Not just a store, a super store. A super store. So is that. Incidentally, talking about markets, the word cheap goes back to markets in the sort of Middle Ages and beyond

when the chapman, or the chapman, as it was the surname nowadays uh was the market seller and cheap simply meant the price um but because people used to barter and haggle over the price cheap became sort of you know low in low in price rather than just the plain price so that's where we get cheap from you go into the shop yeah and sometimes you go to a counter is the counter where they count out the money absolutely right yes the comptoir as it is in uh in french in the house of commons that they have a counter don't they one who counts those are in the house do they apparently apparently they are considered there's a lovely quote from the 1860s um where it says a counter is looked upon in the house for the same sort of individual dread

that is accorded out of the house to a hangman. So not very popular figure in the House of Commons. Well, this is talking about the 1860s. When I was there in the 1990s, we didn't have counters. You had people, the whips countered the people when they came to vote in the lobbies, but there wasn't somebody called a counter. So that's an old phrase.

That must be old. Counter originally is from the Latin com meaning with and putare meaning to think. So if you compute something, you think together. And conti eventually became counter in French, but it means that a counter and a computer are linked. Does that make sense? It does. So you're standing at the counter. You're looking for a bargain.

Bargain. Where does bargain come from? I'm a bargain hunter. i'm a bargain hunter are you a bargain hunter no i'm not i'm not interested in shopping i don't like shopping i don't want over to see look at the way i dress i don't like shopping bargain itself slightly misty um heritage this one but it might possibly go back to barca b-a-r-c-A in Spanish, which was a barge. So the idea maybe was carrying goods to and fro, and then you basically go back and forth.

It's the same idea. If you bargain with someone, you're going back and forth. It's much like a barge that carries things to and fro. Well, is that like haggling? If you're haggling with somebody for a bargain, what's haggling? You see, haggling I find really, really difficult. Oh, I'm no good at it at all. And that simply goes back to a really violent Viking word, meaning to strike with a weapon. So to haggle, I mean, it sounds like it, doesn't it? Hag is also a really sort of strong word. So to haggle was originally to fight with someone and then

eventually it became a sort of verbal sparring, I suppose. Bargain, barter, haggle. They all sound a bit similar, but they're all rather different, aren't they? A bargain to bargain. A bargain is a bargain. It means it's good value. Yeah. But do you bargain with somebody? No.

Yeah, you can bargain with somebody. Or strike a bargain. You can strike a bargain, but you can bargain with somebody. And that means pretty much the same as haggle, I think. Oh, really? Yeah. So I think they've come closer together. And haggling is arguing about the price. Yes. And it dates from? Oh, it? Yes, I think they've come closer together. And handling is arguing about the price.

Yes. And it dates from... Oh, it dates from Old Norse. So we're going back to the Viking times. Barter is quite interesting because it goes back to possibly a French verb meaning to cheat. And then, of course, to kind of, you know,

maybe you were trying to get one over your customer, but then it just came to me. Because barter now means I will give you my chicken if you give me your sack of potatoes. Yes, it's an exchange. It's an exchange. It's an exchange. But people will say, oh, you need to barter for that. And they mean that loosely.

Yeah, they've all come very close together. Can I tell you about BOGOF? Oh, buy one, get one free. What's the origin of that? Exactly, that's an acronym. But it goes back to the 1970s. But I love the fact that people are beginning to use it as a verb now, which is a sure sign that something is settling in the language

when it gets a different part of speech. So I bog off at the supermarket yesterday is one example in the database. What does that mean, I bog off? I bog off at the supermarket. I mean, we're supposed to be celebrating the language, not just lowering the tone. We don't want people bog offing as a result of the programme. Do you bog off?

Well, no, I hope I don't. What does that mean to bog off? Well, it's the same as do you like getting bargains, essentially. It means are you somebody who looks for a buy one, get one free? Not the same as Bob Fogg, which I love. What is a Bob Fogg? Bob Fogg is buy one, get one free? Yes. Not the same as Bobfock, which I love. What is a Bobfock? Bobfock is an acronym, a really old acronym now. And it was once a question on University Challenge,

which is a British really difficult general knowledge quiz show. And they were asked, the students were asked where Bobfock comes from. And it means body off Baywatch, face off Crimewatch. Which is pretty awful. That's very good. But anyway, nothing to do with shopping that's very okay speaking with shopping a bowl in a china shop well that just means that you you know you basically go around just knocking everything over because you're so rough and ready but i love the modern example of that which makes no sense whatsoever but it is quite plausible and that's

like a bowl in a china shop people are getting it plausible. And that's like a bowl in a china shop. People are getting it slightly wrong. Go at it like a bowl in a china shop. Has a bowl in a china shop been around for a long while? Because shops as we know them have not been around for so long. You certainly wouldn't find a bowl in there, would you? A china shop. I mean, I don't know. I don't think shops have been around in that sense,

like we see them on the high street. Oh, where's the high street come from? Oh, well, the high street is just a use of high to mean main or principal. So a high city was the chief principal of a county, for example. There's a wonderful book that I would recommend called English Down the Ages, which takes you through kind of historical events and the vocabulary associated with it. And it tells us that by 1350, almost every town has a shop because in the middle ages people live by agriculture produced pretty much everything they needed themselves wouldn't it be wonderful to do that today but any surplus would be sold at the weekly market in a nearby town and then they'd use

the profit to buy anything else that they needed and then it was only at the great fairs where goods brought or imported from right across the country that middlemen came into being. People hated middlemen because they thought they would, I guess we still do, they hated them taking a profit. But one of my absolute favourite origins is that at some of these fairs, they would sell a lace ribbon that was a commemoration really of a saint called St. Ethelredred who lived in ely in um was it in caberature ely she lived a fairly she would say sort of profligate life she loved kind of jewels and sumptuous clothes etc saw the error of her ways and went to a nunnery so she became i'm not sure if she's the abbess but she became the head of this priory. She then got throat cancer, what we think was then throat cancer. And she saw this as a retribution for her love of luxury. And she died. And at these fairs,

they would sell Audrey Lace, St. Audrey Lace. That was her nickname, Audrey. St. Audrey Lace. And at these markets, they became sort of quite cheap and cheerful, these bits of ribbon and bits of lace. And it became known as tawdry lace. And eventually the lace dropped off. And anything that's cheap and shoddy today, we call tawdry. But it all goes back to St. Audrey. Oh. That lovely story.

That's a great story. I mention this because we had a lovely email from Audrey Jones who said, someone told me my name is linked to the word tawdry. Please tell me it's not true. Well, sorry, Audrey. It is. But it's so hidden in history. I don't think many people know please tell me it's not true um well sorry audrey it is but it's so hidden in history i don't think many people and it's such a fascinating story yeah and she was a wonderful woman as well i hate paying through the nose what's the origin of that expression we know what it means paying too much yes the idea is simply of having a nosebleed in a way because

you know figuratively speaking because something is too expensive but a lot of people will say oh there was a law in viking times that if a data didn't pay up their nose will be slit in punishment no record of that whatsoever we know the vikings were violent but actually they did coexist quite happily alongside the sort of native english speakers which is why so many old north words you will find in the northern britain within the dane law um so nothing to do with slitting people's noses, thankfully. But to do with nosebleeds. It's so expensive, it provokes a nosebleed. Yeah, that kind of idea.

Wow. To shop someone. When you shop someone to the police or you tell tales on them, shop them to the head teacher, shop them to the boss. Two things there. One is a slang term amongst criminals for a prison was shop for a while. You'll find that in criminal dictionaries of the 19th, probably 18th century as well. So we think it goes back to that.

But also there's another little add-on there, which is if you grass on somebody, which means the same as shopping them, that comes from rhyming slang for a shopper, grasshopper. So grassing on someone comes from grasshopper equals shopper. Very good. Yeah. I've got a nice present for my wife this Christmas, a little tea caddy. I'm rather pleased with the tea caddy. To be honest with you, I was given it. But I thought it was so attractive it would do as a Christmas present.

And though I should be old enough to know better, I'm still in the habit when I go to a hotel of stealing all the soap. Are you? Yeah, which is why I'm the reason that people now introduce these plastic cylinders so that they don't give you little individual sachets of soap.

They give you attached to the wall. What do you do with all these soaps? Well, I used to use them at home as soap. But so now I can't steal the soap because it's attached to the wall in a plastic container. I've taken to poloining the tea bags. So I'm going to fill this tea caddy with a whole range of lovely teas

that I've stolen from the many hotels I've stayed at this year. And their little sachets. I know. My wife has said to me, Giles, you've now reached the age where you don't need to steal everything from the hotel. You gave up stealing the slippers and the towels many years ago it's not necessary to come back with all these little bags of biscuits it's quite sort of childish impulse isn't it because i would childlike impulse because i when i was tiny and the rare occasions i went on a plane i would steal the

little salt and pepper pots i had a whole collection of them it's fascinating they're so dinky um should we talk about stationery and stationary and the two spellings? Because that's got to do with shopping. I love stationery for Christmas. That is what I adore. Yes, that's a good one. I really, I love proper notepaper. I used to love stationery.

And actually, I think all kids do, don't they? They're fairly obsessed with stationery. Well, the first stationers actually were booksellers who were authorised by the universities to sell the books that were needed for the students' studies. So they kind of grew up at around the 12th century stationers at around the time when Oxford University, for example, was established. So copies of books could be bought at the stationer. and stationer itself goes back to the latin stationarius meaning somebody who stood still because they were distinguished from or distinct from the itinerant sellers of goods because most goods actually were sold by oh like a peddler who went traveled around selling the ribbons and yeah the spells and the potions exactly stationer was stationary was stationary but yes but then

the stationers not only sold books, but then kept a stock of pens and parchment and everything that the student needed then. So that's when the two things began to separate. And stationary wear was what stationary with the E used to be called. But we deliberately, this is one occasion where English speakers have actually

been quite logical, we deliberately change the spelling in order to distinguish the two. So when you are standing still and when you are talking about pens and papers. So when you're standing still, it's stationary with an A-R-Y. And when you are selling paper, pencils and the rest, it's stationary with E-R-Y and you are a stationer. Why? That's good. Let's take a break. Wherever you're going, you better believe American Express will be right there with you. Heading for adventure?

We'll help you breeze through security. Meeting friends a world away? You can use your travel credit. Squeezing every drop out of the last day? How about a 4pm late checkout? Just need a nice place to settle in? Enjoy a room upgrade. Wherever you go, we'll go together. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. Hello, I'm Elizabeth Day. You might know me as the creator

and host of the How to Fail podcast, but I want to tell you about a new podcast I've made. How to Write a Book is for anyone who wants to get their story out there. Fronted by a best-selling author, a super agent and a powerhouse publisher, this 12-week masterclass will take you right through from developing an idea to nailing the plot. If you want to get all episodes at once and completely ad free, subscribe now. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Jaz, what do you spend most of your money on? Oh, I hardly spend any money at all. I must say, I'm not good at buying because I don't buy for myself. Shopping does not interest me. is a bit of a male characteristic so and my wife says I don't want anything more we've got

enough just don't get in you once told me about a Christmas where you and Michelle basically just sat opposite each other and had something like bread and cheese you decided to completely forego any kind of luxury we well the idea was all work, it wasn't so much foregoing luxury. We had a very simple Christmas. We had a microwave Christmas. And we were there with the children. And we found that, I think it was M&S that year, we're doing an instant microwave Christmas. And so at one o'clock, we all lined up with our little plastic trays. And we each one took it in turns. We only got one microwave to pop it in the microwave for 90 seconds. And we then sat down at table and we'd finished the, we'd cooked and eaten the entire Christmas dinner in under 20 minutes.

By the way, I only recently discovered, it's a bit of a myth from my friend Gethin, that poppity ping is not the Welsh for a microwave. I really wanted it to be. It should be. But it apparently isn't. Can I show you a microwave? I'm giving her, I've taken my little fingers and I'm waving them at her.

You see, it's a microwave. It doesn't really work on a podcast, I'm joking. But there you are. Moving swiftly on. What about retailers and wholesalers and things? Have you ever wondered about those? Well, I've never known the difference. A retailer is somebody who sells you something.

When you go into a shop, the shop is a retailer. When you go into a stationary shop, it's a retailer. What is a retailer? Somebody who sells, retails. Yes, somebody who sells. And normally you think of retail as being at the point of purchase. So you think of a shop primarily, don't you? Well, they mentioned that making money from the efforts of others, middlemen particularly, were really frowned upon in medieval times. In fact, any middleman thought

to be trying to bag a little bit of money for himself illicitly was punishable by a spell in the pillory because they were suspected of exploiting people who couldn't afford to buy commodities at a bulk price. So the idea was that bulk would be cut up without the middleman and then distributed to individual retailers and retail we think goes back to a french family to cut up into small pieces and yeah and they went that way so wholesale is fairly obvious but that was where retail came from and gross is quite interesting as well because that actually was once a synonym for a wholesale dealer so for the romans grossarius meant somebody who sold wholesale.

And then it travelled through French, via the Normans, and eventually the company of grocers was established in about mid of the 14th century. And they were often dealers who specialised in spices, because remember, spices were so exotic, things that came from the far east so it was applied to shopkeepers who sold spices dried fruits sugar even which was another exotic thing and then of course it narrowed and narrowed until it became primarily fruit and vegetables my ideal christmas present would be to be given time i like the idea over christmas in fact i look forward to boxing day more than christmas day because there's no responsibility on Boxing Day. Sitting by a real fire with a mug of tea, reading a book.

What is your current book I will get? Because I don't think I've got your current. You usually give me your books. If I want it as a last-minute Christmas present. I'm so bad at plugging. Do you know where plugging comes from? Oh, no, tell me. It comes from the idea of putting a real plug into an electric socket and somehow sparking interest. Oh. I'm bad at plugging. Do you know where plugging comes from? Oh, no, tell me. It comes from the idea of putting a real plug

into an electric socket and somehow sparking interest. Oh. I'm terrible at plugging. I want to spark interest in your books. I've got a library of Susie Dent books about words and language. If you enjoy this show, you're bound to love one of her books.

Do you remember that Jimmy Carr joke? If you're staring at a set of all of Susie Dent's books lined up end to end, you're probably standing in a charity shop. Oh. No, it's called Dent's Modern Tribes. It's about the languages that belong to specific groups of people. And let's face it, we're all quite tribal.

I recommend it. It's called Dent's Modern Tribes. My Christmas book this year is called Dancing by the Light of the Moon. It's a beautiful big book of poetry to learn by heart. But have our listeners been in touch this week? Well, I know I've got a listener who's been in touch who's introducing me to a new game. He's called Andrew, and rather amusingly,

he comes from St Andrews. I don't know if he's at the university. And he's reminded me of a wonderful game about a character called Tom Swifty. You familiar with Tom Swifty's tom swift is it's basically a punning game based on adverbs adverbial phrases and i think it goes back almost 100 years i'll give you an example turn on the radio said tom with a short wave get it short way very nice how about a game of drafts asked tom airily see drafts of the game very good

very good i'll try to dig up a couple of friends said tom gravely ah very nice i got the first three wrong said tom forthrightly this is quite clever you haven't you as a german lover will like this said Tom fearlessly. Oh, very good. You see, because fear is the number four in German. I just say, when you speak German, you don't need to sound like that. Oh, don't you? Drei, fünf.

Drei, fünf. I'll do it again then. Drei, fünf, said Tom fearlessly. Very good. Just did it with a lighter touch. I love that one. Let's trap that sick bird, said Tom illegally. Oh, these are great. great they are good aren't they

that's a very large herring said tom wait for this is so good that's a very large herring said tom superficially it's a super fish that's brilliant i'll give you a couple more and then people if they like them can send in some of their own pass the cards, said Tom, ideally. I like to go camping, said Tom, intently. Drop that gun, said Tom, disarmingly. It should be intermittently. Intermittently. You're getting the idea, aren't you? Anyway, zero, said Tom, naughtily.

That's the first meaning of naughty, that you were worth zero. Oh, really? Yes. Oh, that's very, very clever. Well, if you've got some Tom Swift that you were worth zero. Oh, really? Yes. Oh, that's very, very clever. Well, if you've got some Tom Swifties you'd like to send us, it's purple at somethingelse.com, or you can even tweet us. Have you had a proper inquiry from anyone?

Oh, we've had some lovely ones come in. Just a reminder that we did a podcast a few weeks ago which was devoted exclusively to listeners' questions, and brilliant they were. So do listen that if you um if you fancy it but the god badger this is his twitter handle wasn't his real name um asked about the origin of donkey's years uh well this is a pun on donkey's ears thought to be pretty long and donkey's years was also messed around with to give us yonks as in donkey's years meaning years years ago. Yes, you've been doing that for donkey's ears for a long time. And yonks also. Oh, it's been there for yonks.

Oh, that's intriguing. Okay, so we had Josta, or Yosta, again, Twitter handle. Hi, what does the suffix dean mean when used in old house names, e.g. Hazel Dean? Well, I imagine it was situated in a valley because dean is from the Anglo-Saxon, meaning a little valley. So it's quite pretty. Lots of houses have Dean as a name, don't they?

Forestine, Hollowdean. And also Glyn Parr emailed in to say she's wondering if we know the origin of the phrase many a mickle makes a muckle, which is great. Well, the original proverb was actually many a little makes a muckle. And mickle and muckle are actually variants of the same word, meaning a large amount. So it was just, it was born for the love of the sound. And the misquotation, essentially, many a muckle makes a muckle, then spawned a misunderstanding that I think most people now sort of interpret the proverb with, that muckle means a small amount and muckle means a large amount but actually originally they meant the same thing well it's interesting words do get

muddled up as the years go by i spent the whole of the last week since our last podcast saying to myself uh the dint is the dent in the punt of the bottle no the dint is the dent in the bottle of the punt the punt is the bottle anyway the point is you can get confused i just loved it yes but i have mastered it i know that the dint is actually the punt is actually the d Anyway, the point is you can get confused. I just loved it. Yes, you can. But I have mastered it. I know that the punt is actually the dint in the bottom of the bottle. That dint, sometimes people call it a dint, is actually a punt. I've got that right, haven't I? I think you have.

Yeah. Okay. I tell you, somebody also has been in touch, and it's somebody who is also called Susie, which is rather sweet. She comes from Swansea, and she is taking part in the ongoing game, which we're having, of trying to get to sleep by going through names that are both first names and also are real words. And last time she tuned in, we got down, I think, to G for Grace and Guy.

And she's come up with some quite interesting ones for the letter H. Hank, a loop. She says it's an American name. Hank, it's a short version of Henry. Yeah. And she says a hank of rope is a loop. I didn't know that. I know Hank, the name.

Well, that's what she says. To Harry. Harry is a person's name, a diminutive of Henry. Harry, someone's name is Harass, yeah. Exactly, Harass. And she has two more, Hazel. Hazel, as in light brown and the name Hazel. And I suppose a hazelnut.

And Heather. It's a shrub and it's a girl's name. That's nice. Henry, apparently, in physics, is the unit of inductance. Did you know that? No. I need to brush up my physics. That's what Susie in Swansea says. You want to give us an eye one. We'll cut through eye with you. What was the eye one you gave us?

Iris. Iris, part of the eye. And I've got one that is Christmassy, seasonal, an evergreen climbing plant beginning with I, also a girl's name. Ivy. Ivy. Very nice. The holly and the ivy when they are both full. Will you give us your three words? Oh, I certainly can. Well, we're talking about shopping. If you're one of those people that, particularly around Christmas time, go mad on food and drink, you might need this word. It's a bit of a mouthful, if you excuse the pun.

Obligation. Oh, good grief. How do we spell that? A-B-L-I. A-B-L-I. A-B-L-I. G-U-R. G-U-R. I-T.

I-T. I-O-N. Abligurition. Simply means excessive spending on food and drink. Excessive spending. Avoid abligurition. Abligurition. Yes.

Quite like it. This is a lovely one again. I think it's quite seasonal. Much easier to say. It's an expression. Quite like it. This is a lovely one again. I think it's quite seasonal. Much easier to say. It's an expression. An angel visit. An angel visit, centuries old term, for a catch up with a friend that happens all too rarely. Isn't that lovely?

That's lovely. It's beautiful, isn't it? And the angel's share as well is the amount of, this isn't my third word, I'm just throwing this in for good measure. The angel's share is the tiny bit of alcohol that evaporates from a cask. Oh. The angel's share. The last little bit. That goes to the angels.

When I was a child, you used to leave something on your plate for Tommy Manners. It was considered. Yeah, exactly. It was considered rude to gobble up all the food on your plate. That's a great euphemism. You were supposed to leave a little bit of food on the plate for Tommy Manners. Ah. Okay, that's cool.

Speaking of euphemisms, twankle. Oh, yes. That's my third. Can I say it's too early in the day for a twankle as far as I'm concerned? A twankle. No, Mrs. Thomas, no, no. It's to twang with the fingers on an instrument, but a musical instrument. Oh, yes, no.

Oh, I'm going off now to twankle my ivories. No, no, yes, no. Oh, I'm going off now to tranquil my ivories. Oh, no, no, Mrs. Oh, no, put them down. Oh, no. Enough, enough, enough. Please don't forget to give us a nice review or recommend us to a friend or send in questions, which we love. You can email us at purple at something else dot com.

And don't forget, we still need a name for the wonderful Purple listeners and our community. Something Rhymes with Purple is a Something Else production. It was produced by Lawrence Bassett with additional help from Paul Smith, Steve Ackerman and Gully. Oh, dear Gully, I must pay him an angel visit.