Some words are both nouns and verbs depending on the context. For example, I can milk a cow,

or I can drink some milk. I can exit a room by using the exit or dust my furniture to remove

the dust. Now, if you're a fan of grammar, and really, who isn't, you'll know that a

verb that's derived from a noun is called a denominal verb. The opposite, a noun derived from a verb is

called a deverbal noun. But what do you call a word that's both a thing you say and a thing you do,

a thing you make, a state of mind, an event, a concoction,

and an expression of good health, and sometimes a reference to raucous partying.

Well, when it comes to Christmas traditions, you call it Wausale.

Nowadays, Wausale, like sugar plums or hot buttered rum, is a part of the Christmas season

that most of us experience mainly through references in songs and stories and artwork.

But this old English custom is about much more than sharing a cup of good cheer.

It's about one of the parts of Christmas that's most likely destined to remain stuck in Christmas

past, the notion of inverting the most likely destined to remain stuck in Christmas past, the notion

of inverting the normal rules of social order, and all with a little help, from alcohol.

I'm Brian Earle. This is Christmas past.

A term you don't hear a lot anymore, and certainly not when it comes to Christmas, is social

inversion. As the name suggests, it has to do with role reversals and turning social rules and

norms inside out. It was once a common theme in the ancient Roman celebration of Saturnalia.

Slaves would feast at a banquet, for example.

And social inversion was also once a major part of the Christmas celebration.

Some churches elected a child to be a boy bishop who presided over the ceremony.

Other cultures adopted a lord of misrule, a sort of jester-like figure who led the festivities.

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