Something Rhymes with Purple

By Somethin' Else / Sony Music Entertainment

Arts Education Comedy

What's Something Rhymes with Purple about?

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: [email protected]

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 Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production.

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4.9

215 ratings

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LAST EPISODE

An update from the Purple P...

09.22.2022

You heard it here first - we’re expanding our horizons here on Something Rhymes with Purple and welcome you to join us for not just 1, but 2 episodes every week. If you’re an Apple Purple Person, tap the banner ...

Something Rhymes with Purple episodes:

09.22.2022 An update from the Purple Plus Club… You heard it here first - we’re expanding our horizons here on Something Rhymes with Purple and welcome you to join us for not just 1, but 2 episodes every week. If you’re an Apple Purple Person, tap the banner ...
09.20.2022 Cobbler It’s time to take a trip to the bakery Purple People where we will run into Lords and Ladies, horses and testicles as we explore the shelves of bread. Come discover why the upper crust really is better, what bread ...
09.13.2022 Water Vessels We’ve spoken before about Susie’s, often fancy, water glasses that she sips on throughout the recordings… so this week we are pouring our thoughts into the vessels that we use to hold our drinks and have done for many centuries. ...
09.06.2022 Gymnasium We’re always impressed with how Gyles manages to hot foot around the country with such speed, what is his fitness regime? So, it is back to the gymnasium this week, fully clothed this time, to discuss the many different forms ...
08.30.2022 Barocco Building on our recent fascination with cathedrals, this week we cast our architectural net a bit wider by taking a look at the other wonderful structures we walk past every day. Eavesdrop on us as we delve beneath the facade ...
08.23.2022 kê-tsiap What’s small and red and speaks with a husky voice? A hoarse radish! (groan!) And Purple People, that’s what we have on the table for you today. We are exploring the condiments box so pull up a chair and get ...
08.16.2022 Titamatorta Susie and Gyles are going hammer and tongs at the English language today as they deconstruct the world of DIY… Come learn why the vice isn’t as vicious as it may seem, what the saxons and the saw have in ...
08.09.2022 Ultracrepidarian Put your best foot forward and join us as we march through the sole-ful language of shoes. There’s no loafing around as we find out what links your pumps to ocean liners, the beach snacks that lend their name to ...
08.02.2022 Feles Psssss psssss... Over here Purple People! It’s your weekly dose of the English language where Susie and Gyles let the cat out the bag about all those word myths you’ve always wondered about! And speaking about cats, today’s episode will ...
07.26.2022 Cackletub Recorded on the hottest day of the year where better to seek some solace than within the cool walls of a cathedral? Take a seat as we take in the nautical origins of the nave, the link between the spire ...
07.19.2022 Chiaroscuro July is the 125th anniversary of The Tate Britain, one of the UK’s most established art galleries, so today on the podcast we are going to be dedicating an episode to Art and specifically, painting . We’ll discover what the ...
07.12.2022 Googly We’re stepping up to the crease this week as we test our knowledge of the rich, and sometimes baffling, language of cricket. We discover the agricultural origins behind some of the terms, we find out the difference between the different ...
07.05.2022 Vespa We’re brushing off our entomological skills once again as we revisit the world of creepy crawlies. Find out why ants in your pants is a bad thing but the ant’s pants is quite good. We also swap nostalgic stories of ...
06.28.2022 Tantalus 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 ...
06.21.2022 Swazzle This week we’re embracing nostalgia and throwing open our trunks to skip through the wonderful world of toys. Along the way we discover the real Teddy behind the bear, where the word Muppet comes from, and why it’s not necessarily ...
06.14.2022 Phloem Here in the UK, we’re striding into summer - we’ve just celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee where people were quaffing Pimm’s at street parties up and down the country and with Wimbledon just around the corner, an episode on Summer ...
06.07.2022 Electrick We’re full of energy this week as we fuel up on petrol (or should that be gas?) and blaze through the language associated with power and resources. Pop a few coins in the meter and join us as we discover ...
05.31.2022 Chenille We are morphing from etymologists into entomologists today as we put the world of insects and other creepy crawlies under the microscope. We will find out why bees really are the busiest especially when it comes to the English language ...
05.24.2022 Furlong Hands and feet at the ready Purple People, today we are looking at the world of measurements. We’ll find out how Oxens’ shaped our measurement system, why you would have a different weight village to village and how a stick ...
05.17.2022 The Purple People Eater A highly enjoyable sift through the mountain of emails you’ve sent in over the last few weeks with some absolutely corking questions to answer. In this week’s footage we lurch from poaching to doughnuts (or should that be donuts?), we ...
05.10.2022 Ichthyologist You are in for a whale of a time today Purple People as we are jumping into the deep blue sea and meeting the fishes. We will discover why Halibut are holy, what Cod and weak beer have in common ...
05.03.2022 Best of SRWP Vol. 3 Celebrating three years of Something Rhymes With Purple here are our favourite moments from the past 12 months on the pod. Join us as we remind ourselves of the fascinating etymological tales behind words like ‘naff’ and ‘tuxedo’, we relive ...
04.26.2022 Bokeh Strike a pose with us this week as we give you a snapshot of the language behind the lens of photography. Our hosts – one camera shy, one a lover of the limelight – guide us through the whirrs and ...
04.19.2022 Tidsoptomist They say that time flies when you’re having fun, so this week’s episode should whizz by in a jiffy. Gyles and Susie tackle all things horological from clepsydras to obelisks and they reveal the musical history of the grandfather clock. ...
04.12.2022 E.T. Today, Susie and Gyles are blasting into outer space as they take a voyage into the linguistical world of extraterrestrial life. Rock bands and conspiracy theories will be involved in this episode’s lexical discovery as we fly by UFO’s, Crop ...
04.05.2022 Usquebaugh Susie and Gyles are in high spirits today as they lead us on a discovery to the essence of our souls…at least etymologically! We are delving into the world of spirits but not the religious or ghostly type… the alcoholic ...
03.29.2022 Saddle-goose Recorded in front of a live audience at London’s Cadogan Hall we’re talking all things April Fools. Expect pranks aplenty as Susie and Gyles put a whoopee cushion under the jesters and hoaxters of times gone by, unpick the foolish ...
03.22.2022 Pea Green Boat Today, Gyles compares us to a Summer’s day as he takes us on exploration of one of his favourite subjects: Poetry, and specifically, the Sonnet. Together, Susie and Gyles will uncover the A’s and B’s of this ‘little song’, deciphering ...
03.15.2022 Triskaidekaphobia For those Purple People among us who refrain from walking under ladders, avoid social engagements on the 13th or live in fear of a broken mirror than this is the episode for you, as Susie and Gyles will be discussing ...
03.08.2022 Hepeating Recorded live in front of a sell-out crowd at Newcastle’s Northern Stage theatre we’re celebrating International Women’s Day and taking a close look at how the vocabulary we use changes when talking about women as opposed to men. After delving ...
03.01.2022 Galvanise Did you know that every time you galvanise yourself to pick up the saxophone, or pop on a cardigan before sipping a glass of pasteurised milk, or you enjoy a Caesar salad and a play on a Rubik’s Cube you ...
02.22.2022 Tufty Whether you’ve had a ruff day and need a Puple style re-leash, or you have dug out a paw-fect podcast listening moment, come hear about a man’s best friend on today’s episode of the podcast. Today we will be laying ...
02.15.2022 Chatoyant Put your seatbelt on and relax in the passenger seat as we chauffeur you through the highways and byways of the language of the road. After easing the car out of the garage, we’ll cruise over the tarmac and the ...
02.08.2022 PM Good Afternoon, Purple People! This is the follow up to Episode 144, AM, where Susie took us from morning to just before lunch delivering some perfect words to get us through the day. Now it’s time for the afternoon so ...
02.01.2022 Ataraxy Recorded live at the first of our London shows at the Cadogan Hall, Susie and Gyles focus on the lost language of positivity. Susie is on a mission to bring back the orphaned partners of uncouth, unkempt, and ruthless, and ...
01.25.2022 Schuss Pop your dirtiest salopettes on and join us as we race both on-piste and off-piste through the exciting language of winter sports. Separate your luge from your skeleton, your skates from your skis, and find out who put the bob ...
01.18.2022 Foolhappy This week we’re having a much-needed sift through all your fabulous emails that came in over the Christmas period and dedicating the whole episode to your linguistic head-scratchers. We find out why lumbago no longer has our backing, the sharper ...
01.11.2022 Chum (Recorded live at Chichester Festival Theatre) It’s the second instalment from our live show at the Chichester Festival Theatre and in this episode Susie and Gyles take us through the revolving doors of the language of hotels. Gyles re-visits his days as an MP as we ...
01.04.2022 AM Rise and shine Purple People. We’re kicking off the new year with a whole host of wonderful words to carry you through every moment of the day. From getting out of bed with an expurger or a jobblyjock we’ll help ...
12.28.2021 Tipple Join us as we pop a few corks and drink deeply from various bottles of linguistic libation. Feel free to plunge your nose into the glass and discover the link between claret and clear, blackbirds and merlot, and gen up ...
12.21.2021 Gregarious This week we’re separating the wheat from the chaff and paying tribute to those hard-working folk who will be working the land over the Christmas season. So roll up your sleeves and dig in with us as we uncover the ...
12.14.2021 Hooch Recorded live in front of 1000 Purple People at the Chichester Festival Theatre, in this episode we get our claws into the rich language of the 1920s. From sipping gimlets in speakeasys to getting a shingle to go with our ...
12.07.2021 Curglaff A very special episode of the show this week as we bring you highlights of the first live show of our 2021/2022 tour. We’re in Bath where, appropriately, we were discussing the language of baths and bathing. Discover the equestrian ...
11.30.2021 Cybernetic It's time to reboot your systems as we surf the web and probe around the intricate world of computers. Join us as we discover the origins of Google (and what the founders nearly called themselves instead), what digital mediums have ...
11.23.2021 Barmpot This episode contains language that some listeners might find offensive Today we are looking inwards and taking a linguistic journey through the world of mental health; how our attitudes towards it have changed over the years and how language has ...
11.16.2021 Flenched This week we’re having a rummage through the postbag and dedicating the whole episode to questions that you, the marvellous Purple People, send in each out. We help people find out where all the different meanings of ‘mandarin’ came from, ...
11.11.2021 SRWP Live in BATH 20th November Purple People! We're so excited to be kicking off our live tour on Saturday 20th November at 3pm in BATH. We'll have all the podcast favourites as we record an extra special live episode of the show, they'll be lots ...
11.09.2021 Jerkwater All aboard Purple People because today, Susie and Gyles will be taking you on a trip on the railways! As our locomotive pulls the carriages along, we’ll see how freight trains are fraught, why university book sellers were also at ...
11.02.2021 Firgun This week we’re full of chutzpah as we schmooze our way through the fabulous words that Yiddish has given to the English language. While our resident mensches don’t pretend to be mavens, they swell with kvelling as they revel in ...
10.26.2021 Scoff Happy 175th birthday to Auguste Escoffier! In honour of the founding father of the modern restaurant we invite you Purple People, to join us in some fine dining today. Please let maitre d’hotel Brandreth sit you at your table (with ...

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