#44 – Pleased as Punchy Punch with a Drink & the Latest in Words You Should Know

Words You Should Know

A few stolen minutes out of your day to talk words and communication, because our daily lives are surrounded by the evolution and influence of words. Forget the grammar police. There is so much more to this conversation.

Episode #44 – Pleased as Punchy Punch with a Drink & the Latest in Words You Should Know

Approximate transcript:

Welcome to episode number 44. I’m pleased as Punch that I’m back, though I’m, of course, not nearly as aggressive as the origins of that expression. “Pleased as Punch.” Sparked from violence? From a spiked party drink? No. Well, not quite how you’d think. Punch drunk. Feeling punchy. Punch lines.

So many stories, and we’re not pulling punches in today’s conversation, but first, after such a long break, let’s dive into…

The Latest in Word, Language & Writing News

Now, you’d think when it comes to news about the English language, that a few months of summer break wouldn’t be that dramatic. This language of ours, or a version of it, has been around for an incredibly long time. Yet… we have so much to discuss.

We’ve talked about how artificial intelligence models have been advancing when it comes to natural language processing, how GPT-3 threw the world for a loop, being able to generate sentences, poetry, news articles, textbooks, and so much more. Some panicked. Many were excited. Many more were perhaps confused. Either way, GPT-3 from OpenAI will go down in the history books as a defining moment of transformation when it comes to machine-learning and language processing.

Now in August, (and I’m recording this in September 2021 so future listeners have that in perspective), in August 2021, Tel Aviv-based artificial intelligence startup AI21 Labs introduced a program they’ve named “Jurassic,” which released as an “open beta,” meaning there are far fewer restrictions for access, as compared to GPT-3, which requires wait lists and similar hurdles. With different parameters, “Jurassic” is said to have more “depth” and “expressivity,” but we’ll see what happens next.

There is so much to follow with AI language technology. Not only who the players are and what the technology can do, but what does this mean for the ease of creating fake news, the continuation of past biases captured in the many texts these systems are using as the foundation of their learning, and on the positive side, how these tools can be used to take storytelling and communication to heights not yet imagined. More on all sides of this conversation coming soon.

And speaking of discoveries that are transforming our understandings of things, did you hear that experts have recently decoded a 700-year old King Arthur manuscript, one of the earliest versions of the tales, which had its pages recycled into the bindings of four volumes of French philosophy texts?

The discovery was made in 2019, but the text has only recently been taken apart, with the roots of so much we know about Camelot, as well as some fascinating differences. A romance for Merlin? Oh yeah, that’s there and more.

There’s so much more to cover—and links to everything I’ve mentioned are in the show notes on my website—but I’ll save further explorations for the next episode. It’s time to dive into to today’s…

English Language History & Trivia

Did you know September 20^th is National Rum Punch Day? No? Well, as I’m recording this on September 20^th, maybe I’ll just have to raise a glass when I turn off my microphone—nope, no ice cubes clinking in the background at the moment, but cheers to you all the same.

The word “punch,” as in the drink, most likely comes from a Sanskrit word (pañc), meaning “five.” Why “five”? Well, it’s said the drink was originally made from five ingredients: alcohol, sugar, lemon, water, and either tea or spices, depending on the source. High five to that? Or are you now thinking about being punch drunk?

Perfect association, I know, but the expression “punch drunk” doesn’t come from drinking too much alcoholic punch at a seventeenth century British literary salon or a twentieth or twenty-first century frat party. Much like “slap happy,” which first arose in the 1930s, “punch drunk” was first coined in the 1910s, in reference to mental impairment after repeated blows to the head. Yikes. I know there’s a lot of history there, but boxing is not my sport. Not my cup of tea—or should I say, not my cup of punch?

So “punch,” the drink, comes from Sanskrit, but “punch” as in a jab, as in a one-two punch, body blow, or any other version of a forceful strike, this word comes from a Middle English word (pouncen) meaning to “emboss” or “pierce.” Think about a hole puncher, and you’ll see the connection. Then jump that forceful piercing or embossing action into a verb form with your fist, and there you go… or at least that seems to be the story.

“Punch” actually shares a similar etymological root with the word “pounce.” The feline equivalent of a punch? Maybe. There’s a linguistic connection you might not have seen coming.

Are you feeling pleased as Punch that this is coming all together? Well, me too, but that saying with “punch” adds more to the conversation.

Pleased as Punch actually has a capital “P” with “punch.” And if that’s not enough of a hint for you, let’s go back in time and back to the U.K. to talk about “Punch and Judy” shows, as in marionettes and later hand puppet shows. Punch and Judy were once named along with double-decker buses, Sherlock Holmes and bowler hats, as icons of England.

Now the character Punch is famously violent. Hilariously so? Well, I’d personally put that one up for debate, but he brought generations of audiences to laugher.

But his name, “Punch,” didn’t come from his blows. His name comes from the a popular character in Italian masked comedy shows (“Punchinello”), and this character’s name likely came from an Italian word for chicken or chick—not because of any note of cowardice but because of his beak-like nose, which did also segue over to the British puppet “Punch.”

And the idea of a “punch line,” as in the end of a joke that brings it all together with hilarity, this also comes back to Punch of “Punch and Judy” fame. Punch was the one who always got the line to end the joke, so the “punchline” has nothing to do with a thrown punch to finish the bout. It’s all about Punch the puppet getting the final word. For better or for worse.

Though perhaps Charles Dickens punched it all up a notch, because rather than writing “pleased as Punch,” in David Copperfield, he wrote the expression “proud as Punch,” which could have been his own spin or it could have been a mistake that simply stuck… but either way, he added his name into this conversation as well.

Boom. Pow.

Wow. And I think that’s all I’ve got today. Oh, it feels good to be back.

Turning to this episode’s…

Language Challenge

Let me tell you something that doesn’t jive with me…

Or should I say, let me tell you something that doesn’t jibe with me…

Oh, I could finish this sentence in so many ways! But if I was going to talk about something I just simply don’t agree with, how would I spell that word? If something doesn’t jive with you… If something doesn’t jibe with you…

I know there’s a lot of conflict in the media these days, but I’ve caught this expression wrong in more news reports and opinion pieces than I can name lately. Do you know the answer? Double-check yourself.

The answers, as always, can be found on my website, at GetAGripOnYourGrammar.com.

Personal Update:

I’ve been referencing, for a while, a big projects on the horizon, and folks, I cannot contain the excitement to announce here that my debut novel is coming in 2022 from Wyatt MacKenzie Publishing. Yes, this is my fourth book, but it’s my first in fiction. The Baba Yaga Mask is a tale of two contemporary sisters on a wild goose chase across eastern Europe to find their lost grandmother, who is obsessed with Baba Yaga folktales and how they can solve all the world’s problems, and in these sisters’ chase, they not only uncover their family’s the World War II past in Ukraine but also a greater understanding of themselves, each other, and so much more.

Everything I love is wrapped up in this novel. Language. The power of stories. Words that change the world. Family histories. Stay tuned for more details.

And no matter whether it’s National Rum Day when you hear this or not, I’m raising a glass to how powerful storytelling and communications can indeed change the world when we give it our best shot.

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Words. Language. Communications. We’ve got this.

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