Anagramming a Proverb Quiz

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Martha Barnette.

And I’m Grant Barrett, and we’re joined by that handsome, dashing man, John Chaneski, our quiz guy in New York City. Hi, John.

Hi, Grant. Hi, Martha. Yes, I always wear the tux every time I come into the studio.

With a little boutonniere that squirts water, right?

Well, yeah, you’ve got to add a little bit of fun in there.

Speaking of fun, you know what they say, there’s nothing like a good proverb.

I think that’s probably my favorite proverb right there.

But I think I can improve proverbs with a little wordplay.

Now, I’m not going to go too far in this quiz.

I’m just going to anagram one word of a classic proverb, okay?

For example, now I’m going to give you a description of a scene that can be illustrated with this proverb.

For example, if I stated, I had a friend who owned a string of pottery franchises, but the whole enterprise came to nothing when one of his ovens fell apart.

That would illustrate the proverb, a chain is only as strong as its weakest kiln.

Link.

Link, yeah.

Okay.

Link, that’s right.

Link and kiln, those are anagrams.

Here we go.

Here’s the first one.

A tardy lawyer I knew ran through the courthouse and finally burst into the courtroom and blindly yelled, not guilty, your honor, only to realize he was in the wrong courtroom.

Let that be a lesson to any future lawyers.

Look before you appeal.

Please.

I plead before you plea.

Martha’s got it.

Look before you plea.

Yes.

As opposed to look before you leap.

Speaking of dairy, typical family drama.

My son takes the last pint out of the fridge for himself.

When I make him pour half into a cup for his sister, he gets upset and weepy about it.

So I tells him, I tells him, don’t cry over split milk.

Yes.

Don’t cry over split milk.

Very good.

I was skateboarding the other day with Zeus and Poseidon.

They wanted me to show them how to do a frontside ollie and a backside tail slide.

And I said, you know what?

You can’t teach an old god new tricks.

That’s right.

Can’t do it.

Dog is correct, right?

Now, I’m trying this new exercise theory where you just think about working out, and it’s supposed to help you get in shape.

What I didn’t count on is how horrible it is to imagine yourself hot and wet.

You know what they say.

A mind is a…

Terrible thing to sweat.

That’s it.

Yes.

Very good.

Here’s the story of the unpopular astronaut.

Nobody liked him until he left on a trip to Mars, and suddenly the entire world liked him so much more.

I guess it’s true that…

Absence makes the…

Let’s see.

Earth.

Earth.

Yeah.

The Earth grow fonder.

Yeah.

That’s it.

Absence makes the earth grow fonder.

Now, when I was on vacation in Aruba, my so-called friends played a trick on me.

They told me I had to scuba down to some coral to find my sandwiches.

I’m so dumb.

I should have known that.

There’s no such thing as a reef lunch?

That’s it.

There’s no such thing as a reef lunch.

Boy.

Now, soccer’s Lionel Messi, the forward and captain of the football clubs Barcelona and the Argentinian national team, lives in a beautiful mansion.

However, no matter where he is, he never feels truly comfortable unless he’s got his football footwear on.

That’s why they say a man’s home is his castle.

His cleats.

His cleats, yeah.

That’s it. A man’s home is his cleats.

Nice work, you guys.

John, this was fantastic. Thank you for a really hard puzzle.

My pleasure, guys. Thank you.

If you’d like to talk with us about any aspect of language whatsoever, and that includes slang and grammar and word origins and the things you say at work, give us a call, 877-929-9673, or send us an email.

That address is words@waywordradio.org.