385 episodes

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

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Something Rhymes with Purple Something Rhymes

    • Arts
    • 5.0 • 5 Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Wit and Wisdom A-Z: Michael Rosen

    Wit and Wisdom A-Z: Michael Rosen

    This week Susie and Gyles discuss a man with many talents...

    Michael Rosen: British children's author, poet, political columnist, and activist.

    We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us on our NEW email address here: purplepeople@somethingrhymes.com

    Don’t forget that you can join us in person at our upcoming tour, tap the link to find tickets: www.somethingrhymeswithpurple.com

    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

    Happy Birthday Gyles!

    Happy Birthday Gyles!

    This week it's about the birthday boy, as we celebrate all things Gyles Brandreth. 



    Not only does Gyles spoil us with a plethora of his famous anecdotes, but he becomes the linguistics quizmaster and places Susie in the hot seat to answer questions from his book 'Have You Eaten Grandma'.



    HAPPY BIRTHDAY GYLES! You are truly one of a kind.



    We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us on our email address here: purplepeople@somethingrhymes.com



    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.



    Enjoy Susie’s Trio for the week: 



    Galere: A coterie of undesirable people.

    Chawbacon: One uninterested in culture.

    Boulevardier: A lover of boulevards.



    Gyles' poem this week was the incredibly emotive 'Counting Backwards' by Linda Pastan.



    How did I get so old,

    I wonder,

    contemplating

    my 67th birthday.

    Dyslexia smiles:

    I’m 76 in fact.



    There are places

    where at 60 they start

    counting backwards;

    in Japan

    they start again

    from one.



    But the numbers

    hardly matter.

    It’s the physics

    of acceleration I mind,

    the way time speeds up

    as if it hasn’t guessed



    the destination—

    where look!

    I see my mother

    and father bearing a cake,

    waiting for me

    at the starting line.



    A Sony Music Entertainment production.  



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    • 43 min
    Treasure House

    Treasure House

    From the latin word dicere meaning ‘to speak, to tell or to say’. This week Susie and Gyles are looking at the ultimate word bible, the dictionary! 



    Gyles ponders the difference between a glossary and a dictionary. 



    And Susie delves into prescriptivism vs descriptivism 



    We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us on our email address here: purplepeople@somethingrhymes.com



    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'



    And now for three bite sized words from Susie in her trio:

    Thruffable: Open and transparent (through).

    Wambliness: An upheaval of the stomach.

    Boodyankers: An exclamation of surprise or delight (Northumberland).



    Gyles’s poem comes from his friend and neighbour James K Harris and is called ‘I Don’t’ 



     I don't, of course, mean everything I say. 

    I mean, sometimes, I don't know what I mean. 

    Sometimes I have a thought which goes astray. 

    I start describing blue, it turns out green. 

    The alphabet is very volatile. Its union is hard to bring to heel. It's easy to fall victim to its guile. 

    You think you're describing what you feel, but then you find the words describing you.

    And so one sees oneself in their dark light. One thinks one is describing what is true, then suddenly one sees one isn't right.

     In which case, still, it's true that one was wrong. 

    Well, truth, in some guys, always comes along.



    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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    • 31 min
    Wit and Wisdom A-Z: Quentin Crisp

    Wit and Wisdom A-Z: Quentin Crisp

    Quentin Crisp: born Dennis Charles Pratt, an English raconteur and author.

    'Fashion is what you adopt when you don't know who you are'.

    We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us on our NEW email address here: purplepeople@somethingrhymes.com

    Don’t forget that you can join us in person at our upcoming tour, tap the link to find tickets: www.somethingrhymeswithpurple.com

    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

    Cool Britannia

    Cool Britannia

    The 90s was a crazy decade, brimming with pop culture moments that defined Britain. Susie and Gyles discuss words that gained popularity in the post Cold War era, from Cool Britannia, to the Spice Girls, Dianamania to the World Wide Web... 



    We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us on our email address here: purplepeople@somethingrhymes.com



    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: 



    Solacious: Soothing or comforting.

    Soodle : To linger or dawdle.

    Splatherdab: A gossip.



    Gyles' poem this week was 'This Boy' by Leigh Lawson, who wrote it upon the birth of his first grandson, Solomon.



     He gives me joy, this boy, 

    Unspeakable, inexpressible. 

    This boy gives me joy.





    Inexplicable, unexplainable.

    This boy brings me joy.



    Let bells ring, choirs sing, 

    Chimes chime, poets rhyme, 

    Trumpets trump, drums drum, 

    Feet stamp, guitars strum.



    Higher than the moon,

    Oh, hotter than the sun,

    Deeper than the sea, 

    Is the joy this boy brings to me.



    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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    • 41 min
    Wit and Wisdom A-Z: Len Pennie

    Wit and Wisdom A-Z: Len Pennie

    Len Pennie: Scottish poet and Scots language advocate

    'Tae the wee girls, hear me say this
    In ma Mammy’s native speech:
    Know that ye can advocate,
    Inspire, craft an teach.'

    We love hearing from you, find us @SomethingRhymes on Twitter and Facebook, @SomethingRhymesWith on Instagram or you can email us on our NEW email address here: purplepeople@somethingrhymes.com

    Don’t forget that you can join us in person at our upcoming tour, tap the link to find tickets: www.somethingrhymeswithpurple.com

    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

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
5 Ratings

5 Ratings

tjwdickinson ,

Best podcast for a word nerd!

This is, undoubtedly, one of my absolute top favourite podcasts. I’d love for the eps to be a bit longer to incorporate more correspondence, but otherwise it’s perfect. I appreciate that the hosts avoid unnecessary rude language and always warn about it at the beginning so parents know to listen before sharing with their children. Gyles is always blown away by Susie’s incredible linguistic knowledge, but I think it’s just as remarkable how he’s able to ask just the right questions and make fantastic connections between words for Susie to investigate. A real top-notch podcast for everyone to enjoy.

Dodecahedrus ,

Word-nerd

Always a delight to listen to these two knowledgeable people shine a light on the lesser-know parts of the English language.

If I may make a request: the etymology of the term “to toss your cookies”.

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