Annual Current Events Limericks Puzzle

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 the quiz guy, the quiz guy, John Chaneski.

Hi, John.

Oh, that quiz guy.

Yeah, that’s the one.

I see him in the mirror right there.

There he is.

It’s me.

Hi, Grant.

Hi, Martha.

How are you guys?

Doing well.

We’re great.

You’ve come to stump us again?

Yes, I have.

You know what time it is?

It’s time once again for Limerick’s.

That’s right.

It’s 2019, so we’re going to look back at 2018 at things that happened, and we’re going to use everyone’s favorite poetry style, the limerick, to remember them.

You guys ready for this?

Yes.

Ready.

So we have to complete the limerick, right?

That’s right.

I’ll give you almost the entire limerick.

You give me either one or two words that will rhyme.

Here’s the first one.

When somebody says, where’s the beef?

Say, Western Australia, in brief.

Nickers, the steer, is so huge, I fear, that his photograph beggars…

Belief.

Belief, yes.

Now, that was a warm-up.

Here’s our next one.

Our fans, from Facebook to Reddit, can see where this limerick’s headed.

When I say the name Banksy, they all just say, thanks, he sold a painting that was promptly

Shredded.

Shredded.

Shredded, yes.

How could we forget?

How about this one?

Oh, Canada’s gone fully green.

Marijuana’s now legal, I mean.

How will it go?

If there’s one thing I know, they’re going to need much more.

Caffeine.

Caffeine is correct.

What did you say, Martha?

I said caffeine.

Caffeine is fine, but, yeah, I was looking for poutine, yeah.

As Jay Pritchard on Modern Family once said, I’m not poutine it in my mouth.

Oh.

Good news for a future Mars squatter or a future Mars whale or sea otter.

An ESA probe has found on that globe evidence of underground water.

Water, yes.

Nicely done.

That Spider-Verse movie cartoon had a pig Spider-Man,

But in June, in downtown St. Paul, who was crawling a wall?

Just your friendly neighborhood.

Raccoon.

Raccoon, yes.

Very good.

I forgot about that.

Thanks for reminding me.

That was back in June, yeah.

He got, it was like 25 stories, 30 stories.

I can’t believe it.

In Thailand, they had a close shave, but thanks to a team very brave, they got the kids out through a water-filled route.

Keep your soccer teams out of a…

Cave.

Cave, yes.

What?

I don’t…

I’m not sending my kids into any caves.

Let’s put it that way, okay?

Since the 80s, movie theaters were banned there.

In Saudi Arabia, a fanfare.

In 2018, on a cinema screen, folks in Riyadh got to see the…

Black Panther.

Black Panther, yes.

They finally opened a movie theater in Riyadh after 30 years, and they showed Black Panther.

Here’s the last one.

I was sent a link from Annie, sent to her from Manny.

Over this MP3, my friends disagree.

When I clicked on it, I just heard…

Yanny.

No, it was Laurel.

It was Laurel.

Sorry.

Nice setup.

So close there.

We’ll talk to you next week.

It’s always a pleasure.

See you then.

Bye-bye.

And if you want to talk to us about any aspect of language, give us a call, 877-929-9673.

Or you can send an email to words@waywordradio.org or talk to us on Twitter at Wayword.