Something Rhymes with Purple

This week is all about YOU the listener. We go through loads of your (much appreciated) emails to debate the origins of phrases like By Hook or By Crook, discuss the myriad alternative definitions of the word ‘growler’, and unveil the bizarre connection between lions’ teeth and wetting the bed… We also reveal the origins of the words ‘correspond’ and ‘letter’, explain what CC on an email means and...

This week we’re going hysterical for medical terms. We’ll be turning our lexicographical X-Ray machine on and diagnosing the etymology of everything from asphyxia to syringe. Join us to discover Descartes' link to the X-Ray, what a Hippocratic face looks like, and exactly where an obstetrician should stand. We also ‘toady-up’ to the quack and sing the praises of the sturdy thrush. A Somethin’ Else...

Today we’re practicing the toilet arts and taking a trip through the language of beauty. We cover up our mouse-marks and grog-blossoms with lashings of ham-fat, bicker over our bikinis, and debate whether being buxom is an upstairs or a downstairs issue. Gyles also reveals his 'Tommy Two-ways side' and Susie wraps everything up in a nutshell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices....

This week we’re going al fresco and kicking the leaves on an autumnal walk through the woods. We discuss the difference between woods and forests and the connection between forests and foreigners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today we’re shaking a leg. We’ve already talked about the language of the body from the head to the chest. Now we’re going down below. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wooooooo, it’s our Halloween Special! Susie and Gyles go on the hunt for the spooky meanings lurking beneath our language. Featuring fairies, oafs, seeing gremlins, the origin of wicked, evil spirits eating the flesh of corpses, grave robbers, the origin of abracadabra, phalluses diverting the attention of the evil eye and haunted lemurs. A Somethin’ Else production. Learn more about your ad choic...

We’re talking sports this week. What have boxing, horse racing and dart throwing done for the English language? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The words introduced to our language by poets. Featuring nerds, meeting T.S. Eliot, measuring your life in coffee spoons, runcible spoons, the bobowler, Chaucer on Twitter, pandemonium, tripping the light fantastic, limericks, fools rushing in, feeling like a gooseberry and some poetry from our listeners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The hidden vocabulary of the body (part 1: from the head to the chest). Featuring dishevelled hair, raised eyebrows, gorgeous thoats, men in bras, Frans Titslinger, hedgehog hair, the origin of the apple of your eye, the skin of your teeth, nosy park keepers, chips on your shoulder, the cold shoulder and the albatross around your neck. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adc...

We’re talking about the weather today. Not because we have nothing to say. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There’s no synonym for love. Today we’re talking about the surprisingly limited language for love. Featuring aubergine emojis, 16th Century hot cockles, enjoying some more fandango de pokum, the meaning of limerence, eloping like a thief, Gyles’s secret wedding, flirtatious talk that leads to nowhere, the ick factor, Aussie kisses, and Fanny Cradock’s contraceptive tips. A Somethin’ Else Productio...

The words of the world of work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The hidden meanings concealed beneath our clothes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Surnames: where do they come from and what do they mean? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Don't pass on, this week we’re facing up to the grim vocabulary of death. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mouse and Muscle. Négligé and Negligent. Rectum and Rectitude. This week we’re talking about words of a feather: unlikely linguistic double acts or siblings. A Somethin’ Else Production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’re nodding off talking about the language of sleep. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All the world’s a stage but how much of our language originates from the theatre? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s breakfast time! The linguistic adventures of some of our favourite foods. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Catty. Batty. Dog tired. Sick as a pig. Why are the animals we use in our language often negative? Should we be reporting the English language to the RSPCA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The language of Love Island. We’re talking about interjections and filler words. Do they get on your nerves? Or do they serve a purpose? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’re off to the pub with an episode all about the language of drinking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Don’t turn off: it’s a political language special. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A parliament of owls, a pride of lions, an odium of politicians. This week we’re talking about our favourite collective nouns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’re quids in. This week: the language of money. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices