

Something Rhymes with Purple
Sony Music Entertainment
Susie Dent and Gyles Brandreth invite you to enhance your vocabulary, uncover the hidden origins of language and share their love of words in this award-winning podcast.
We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us here: purple@somethinelse.com
Want more Purple, people? Join the Purple Plus Club by clicking the banner in Apple podcasts or by heading to purpleplusclub.com to listen on other platforms for ad-free listening, and not 1 but 2 episodes of the show every week.
You can buy our branded mugs, tote bags and T-shirts here: https://bit.ly/37huhqs
A Sony Music Entertainment production.
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
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We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us here: purple@somethinelse.com
Want more Purple, people? Join the Purple Plus Club by clicking the banner in Apple podcasts or by heading to purpleplusclub.com to listen on other platforms for ad-free listening, and not 1 but 2 episodes of the show every week.
You can buy our branded mugs, tote bags and T-shirts here: https://bit.ly/37huhqs
A Sony Music Entertainment production.
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 16, 2023 • 1min
Introducing... Please Tell Me A Story
As a lover of words, we know you’ll be a lover of this comedy podcast all about story telling…
Omid tells his story to Abi. Abi tells Omid’s story to Sean, then Sean to Kai, Kai to Sikisa and Sikisa to Helen… each time with hilarious misrememberings, improvisations, stumbles, fumbles and laughs.
Six comedians have a funny story to tell. Can they pass the story along the chain without completely twisting the tale? But this isn’t like the game you play at school where you only whisper short sentences. Each episode is a complete, beautifully written story, with each retelling getting funnier (and weirder!) as it passes on.
And boy, does season one of Please Tell Me A Story feature an all star comedy cast: Omid Djalili, Abi Clarke, Seán Burke, Kai Samra, Sikisa, and Helen Bauer.
Join them as the story gets weird…https://listen.sonymusic-podcasts.link/qxhC1Drl
A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow us @sonypodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jan 10, 2023 • 41min
Chandelier
Susie and Gyles are guiding us out of etymological darkness as they the light way to better understanding the world of light!
We’ll have many light bulb moments as we discover how extortion and contortion are twisted into the intriguing language of torches, what’s hiding in the sconce and why candles are candid.
Gyles shares his schoolboy days as a lighting technician of sorts whilst Susie continues to pull the plug on linguistic myths when answering this week’s Purple Peoples’ post. Susie and Gyles are guiding us out of etymological darkness as they the light way to better understanding the world of light!
We’ll have many light bulb moments as we discover how extortion and contortion are twisted into the intriguing language of torches, what’s hiding in the sconce and why candles are candid.
Gyles shares his schoolboy days as a lighting technician of sorts whilst Susie continues to pull the plug on linguistic myths when answering this week’s Purple Peoples’ post.
We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us here: purple@somethinelse.com
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:
Peccable: Prone to sin. This is a rare example of a lost negative.
Leucocholy: A white Melancholy, a good easy sort of a state.
Uitwaaien (Dutch oot-vay-en): To clear the mind in windy weather.
Gyles reads The Midnight Skaters by Roger McGough
It is midnight in the ice rink
And all is cool and still.
Darkness seems to hold its breath
Nothing moves, until
Out of the kitchen, one by one,
The cutlery comes creeping,
Quiet as mice to the brink of the ice
While all the world is sleeping.
Then suddenly, a serving-spoon
Switches on the light,
And the silver swoops upon the ice
Screaming with delight.
The knives are high-speed skaters
Round and round they race,
Blades hissing, sissing,
Whizzing at a dizzy pace.
Forks twirl like dancers
Pirouetting on the spot.
Teaspoons (who take no chances)
Hold hands and giggle a lot.
All night long the fun goes on
Until the sun, their friend,
Gives the warning signal
That all good things must end.
So they slink back to the darkness
of the kitchen cutlery-drawer
And steel themselves to wait
Until it's time to skate once more.
At eight the canteen ladies
Breeze in as good as gold
To lay the tables and wonder
Why the cutlery is so cold.
A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production.
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jan 3, 2023 • 34min
Elementary
It’s a smokin’ hot episode today people as we delve into the world of Smoking.
We’ll run into Colombos, Hamlet and Charles Dickens as we uncover why we have pipe dreams, why stogie cigars are linked to wagons, how pipes and musical instruments are connected and that the original meaning of blowing smoke up someone’s arse is very different from today’s..
Susie will make sure our understanding of smoking idioms is up to snuff and Gyles shares tales of an icon of his that is synonymous with the pipe.
We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us here: purple@somethinelse.com
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:
Twithought: A fleeting thought
Potgun: Something that makes a lot of noise but that is ultimately irrelevant.
Holy Willie: hypocritically pious person
Gyles reads ‘Fall’ by Connie Bensley
When you’re falling
Expect a split second of thought
before you hit the stone, stair or ground
How to use it?
Worrying about the dog? No
Regretting your ancient underwear? No
Cursing the car which is careering towards you? No
Use this tick of time to turn your head in such a way
that your teeth avoid the primary impact
This will enable you to smile at the first responder
When he bends to lift you with his big hands out of the gutter
A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production.
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dec 27, 2022 • 41min
Spatchcock
Recorded live at the Fortune Theatre on Sunday 20th November 2022.
Tis’ that peculiar time between Christmas and New Year when we might find ourselves overindulging and spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Therefore, Susie and Gyles are here to make you feel that little bit more informed about the methods of cooking that have come to create that mince pie you might be eating whilst you get your Purple fix this week.
We’ll discover what stews, steamed baths and typhoid have in common, why getting the wrong end of the stick is mucky business and why receiving a roasting when you fail to complete your roster of duties is more appropriate than you think.
Susie and Gyles challenge the audience to teach them how to poach an egg and they discover - thanks to audience member and Purple Person, Professor Hansen - why the loser gets a wooden spoon.
We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us here: purple@somethinelse.com
If you’ve ever thought ‘There must be a word for that?’, then now is your chance to ask Susie and Gyles! To celebrate the 200th Episode of Something Rhymes with Purple, Susie and Gyles are challenging the Purple People to submit the linguistic gaps they want filling. Please email purple@somethinelse.com with the subject line, ‘Is there a word for?’ Please submit entries by the 31st December.
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:
Ferntickle: a freckle (15th century: A freckle on the skin, resembling the seed of fern’)
Bodkin: a small dagger. Mentioned in Chaucer’s, ‘The Reeve’s Tale’
Kickshaw: an elaborate but disappointing meal, from the French ‘quelque chose’.
Gyles reads ‘Don't Worry if Your Job Is Small’ by Anonymous
Don't worry if your job is small,
And your rewards are few.
Remember that the mighty oak,
Was once a nut like you.
A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production.
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dec 20, 2022 • 36min
Ambassador Satch
Come discover what the $10 note might have to do with Dixieland, why the city of Orleans was ‘made new’ and what ‘Mile High Ice Cream Pie’ is as we arrive at the city of New Orleans for our 3rd stop on our North America road trip.
Susie and Gyles explore the food, the language and the Jazz Culture of one of Gyles’ favourite places in the world and he makes sure that Susie has put the city of New Orleans on her bucket list by the end of the episode.
We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us here: purple@somethinelse.com
If you’ve ever thought ‘There must be a word for that?’, then now is your chance to ask Susie and Gyles! To celebrate the 200th Episode of Something Rhymes with Purple, Susie and Gyles are challenging the Purple People to submit the linguistic gaps they want filling. Please email purple@somethinelse.com with the subject line, ‘Is there a word for?’ Please submit entries by the 31st December.
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:
Nubiferous: full of clouds
Nubbled: covered in small lumps (bumfled)
Frugalist (19th century): a belt-tightener
Gyles reads ‘We have not long to love’ by Tennessee Williams
We have not long to love.
Light does not stay.
The tender things are those
we fold away.
Coarse fabrics are the ones
for common wear.
In silence I have watched you
comb your hair.
Intimate the silence,
dim and warm.
I could but did not, reach
to touch your arm.
I could, but do not, break
that which is still.
(Almost the faintest whisper
would be shrill.)
So moments pass as though
they wished to stay.
We have not long to love.
A night. A day....
A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production.
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dec 13, 2022 • 34min
Lanolin
It’s a knit and natter kind of episode today Purple People, as we unravel the words and phrases that are woven throughout the world of knitting.
We’ll unstitch the mystery of what frogs have to do with knitting mistakes, how a lawyer’s wig pulled the wool over our eyes, what stitches and sticks have in common and Susie advises Gyles to avoid knitted underwear as she is certain it will cause him shivviness - the feeling of roughness caused by a new undergarment.
We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us here: purple@somethinelse.com
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:
Metopomancy: Divination by the (lines on the) forehead or face.
Hamsterkauf - Panic buying.
Egg of Colombus - A brilliant idea that seems easy once you know how.
Gyles reads ‘Requiescat’ by Oscar Wilde
Tread lightly, she is near
Under the snow,
Speak gently, she can hear
The daisies grow.
All her bright golden hair
Tarnished with rust,
She that was young and fair
Fallen to dust.
Lily-like, white as snow,
She hardly knew
She was a woman, so
Sweetly she grew.
Coffin-board, heavy stone,
Lie on her breast,
I vex my heart alone,
She is at rest.
Peace, Peace, she cannot hear
Lyre or sonnet,
All my life's buried here,
Heap earth upon it.
A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production.
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dec 6, 2022 • 34min
Rex
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: purple@somethinelse.com
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

Nov 29, 2022 • 30min
Xocolatl
It’s a chock-a-block episode today as we dive into the chocolate box to discover how our favourite fillings got their names.
We’ll hear the ‘sweet’ story that gave us the Praline, what a horse's lower jaw and Ganache have in common and why the strong smelling fungus and the lovely truffle filling are etymological twins.
Susie takes us back to university in search for the origin of being ’Toffee nosed’ and Gyles shares an extract from a recent book purchase which adds a purr-fect addition to this ever so sweet episode.
We also launch our 200th Episode Challenge where we are asking the Purple People to tell Gyles and Susie about any linguistic gaps that they want filling! Ever experienced a feeling and thought, ‘There must be a word for that?’ Then put it to Susie and Gyles and see if they can find the answer. Susie and Gyles also want to hear your suggestions so it’s time for us all to be etymology detectives! Please email purple@somethinelse.com with the subject line, ‘Is there a word for?’ Please submit entries by the 31st December.
We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us here: purple@somethinelse.com
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:
Bibacity: the quality of ‘drinking much’
Ribroast: give a good talking to
Timepleaser: one who complies with the prevailing agreements no matter what they are.
Gyles read ‘Magic’ by John K. Harris
Writing is a magic kind of caper
It really is remarkable to think
Here we have a simple piece of paper
With spells upon it, printed out in ink
To conjure up my voice inside your head
I’m speaking to you from inside your brain
Or is this your voice that you hear instead?
Or maybe, more a mixture of the twain?
For when I write down ‘I’ do I mean ‘me’?
Or reading, do you think that ‘I’ is ‘you’?
From where I sit inside your skull I see
that while I’m here you’re there, but I’m there too
So while you read this sonnet rhyme by rhyme
we’re in at least two places at one time.
A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production.
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nov 22, 2022 • 33min
AMERIGO
Come discover which Italian explorer gave his name to the continent of America, why Philadelphia is the city of brotherly love and why you “Take the T” when in Boston as we travel down the East Coast of America.
Susie shares further adventures from her time in Princeton and Gyles gives us a healthy dose of name-drops with an American flavour.
We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us here: purple@somethinelse.com
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:
Grubble: To feel around in the dark
Confabulate: To talk easily; to prattle
Sideration: A sudden paralysis or feeling of mortification
Gyles read ‘A word to husbands’ by Ogden Nash
To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it;
Whenever you're right, shut up.
A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production.
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nov 15, 2022 • 28min
Etiquette
Discover what your hands have to do with manners, how the typesetters minded their p’s and q’s, why Gyles wasn’t allowed to issue the Royal Pardon and why some greetings comes at face value.
Today, Susie and Gyles will be dissecting the language of formalities and etiquette where we will be taking a trip to court, making a few phone calls and wassailing throughout the evening.
Toodle Pip, Ciao, Adios, See ya, Sayonara!
We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us here: purple@somethinelse.com
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:
Nudiustertian: the day before yesterday.
Quomodocuncquize: to make money any way you can.
Williwaw: a sudden violent squall from the mountains.
Gyles reads ‘Who Has Seen the Wind?’ by Christina Rossetti
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by
A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production.
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices