Beano and Macing

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette, and it’s time for Slang This, the puzzle where you have to guess the meaning of some strange slang terms.

Today’s contestant is Amber Wright from San Diego, California. Amber, welcome.

Thank you.

Say hi to Grant.

Hi, Grant.

Hello, Amber. What’s going on?

Oh, just excited to play the game.

Awesome.

Got my game shoes on.

You got your game shoes on? What do they look like?

Oh, they’re actually, embarrassingly, purple slippers.

Awesome.

Oh, purple slippers.

Amber, do you there in your slippers have a favorite slang term for us?

Oh, yes.

Well, I often use the term foobard to explain something that is, you know, all messed up.

Such as in the phrase, oh, my gosh, this is such a foobard situation, or that guy is so foobard.

And apparently it’s an acronym.

Is that how you say that?

That’s right.

Yes.

For.

Right.

Filed up.

F blank, blank, blank, up beyond all recognition.

Yeah.

Filed up beyond all recognition words, too.

And I grew up in a, you know, in a very conservative community.

And so it was an appropriate way for me to, you know, be naughty and say things that are inappropriate.

That’s subversive.

You’re subversive, aren’t you?

Well, you can ask my parents about that.

Okay.

All right.

Well, Amber, how about if we move on to our game?

Sure.

Okay, Grant’s going to give you a slang term, and then he’ll give you three sentences that suggest what that term might mean.

Okay.

Only one of those will be real and the other two are fake, so your task will be to figure out which of those three sentences illustrates how this particular slang term is actually used.

All right.

Now, Amber, chances are you haven’t heard the word before, so the trick will be to puzzle out its meaning.

You got it?

Got it.

Okay, Grant, take it away.

All right, here we go.

We’ve got two words today.

The first word is Beano, B-E-A-N-O.

And it’s not the trade name for the anti-gas food supplement that you take, all right?

And so the three clues.

First clue, the bloke slipped into the pub and had a roaring good Beano busting up tables and throwing their mates down the cellar stairs until the pub owner had to call in constables.

And the second clue, instead of caucuses or primaries, the citizens of colonial Rhode Island held Beanos, each participant was given 20 dried beans to divide among canisters for each of the candidates.

More beans in the can meant more delegates.

And the third clue.

New rules at Fenway Park outlaw the Beano, in which Red Sox fans cook up pots of beans behind the opponent’s dugout.

It is believed that the rich smell of mustard, cinnamon, and beans distracts players and throws them off their game.

So there are your three clues, Amber.

Is a Beano British slang for a party? A method of choosing political candidates in colonial Rhode Island, or cooking beans to distract visiting teens at Fenway Park?

Oh, Amber, what do you think?

Wow. I want it to be a British term for a party.

Why?

Because I want to use that.

Like, I’m going to throw an amazing beano this weekend.

Well, your wish is granted. It is indeed a…

Yes!

Yes, a beano is just British slang for a party.

Sweet!

Right? All right, here we go.

Here’s the second one.

The second word is mace, M-A-C-E, and it’s a verb, so to mace.

Okay.

A, the first clue.

Loss prevention managers in the retail business say that these days most shoplifters mace, their acronym for meat at counter empty-handed.

Shoplifters pick up merchandise and take it to another aisle to hide it before they reach the checkout.

B, the next clue.

To parents, macing looks like necking or making out, but to teens, macing is just the latest dance craze.

It’s the lambada of the millennial generation.

And then the third clue.

Our boss tried to force us to contribute to his political cronies, but macing is illegal.

He can’t make us give political donations at the workplace.

So which one is it?

Is TOMACE an acronym for Meat at Counter Empty Handed, a form of shoplifting?

Is it a highly sexualized dance craze, or is it being forced in the workplace to give money to a political candidate?

Wow, I’m going to go between the first one and the third one.

Why is that?

I don’t know, because I’m not too far removed from the sexual dance craving of the youth of America, and that one hasn’t popped up in my repertoire yet, so I’m not going to go with that one.

Oh, so you don’t know about grinding and freaking and joning?

I’m just old, my purple slippers, and don’t know what I’m talking about.

Okay.

But I’m going to go with the loss prevention term.

The acronym, M-A-C-E, for meet it counter empty-handed.

It sounds very law enforcement-ish.

Yeah, they’re overly fond of acronyms, right?

Yeah.

All right.

Well, unfortunately, Amber, the correct answer was C.

Oh, I’m so old.

No, no.

No, to me is not the dancing one.

But you know your sexy dances.

Yeah, you’re fine on the sexy dancing.

To mace is to force someone to give money.

Okay.

And it’s almost always these days heard in the workplace where some people still think it’s okay to try to force their employees to give money to the boss’s favorite political campaign.

Of course, it’s illegal in every state.

No, no, it’s not okay.

But, you know, all kinds of jerks everywhere, right?

Yes.

So you’re one for two, 50%, but we did have a lot of fun, and that’s actually all that matters.

Of course.

The most fun you can have without, that’s right.

Without putting shoes on.

Well, Amber, thanks so much for playing our game today.

Thank you.

It was great.

I appreciate being honored with the privilege.

Well, Amber, for playing our game today, we’re going to send you a whole book of interesting terms.

It’s a wonderful book called Weird and Wonderful Words, and it’s by our friend Erin McKean.

It’s a book that’s truly ostrabogulous.

Brilliant.

Thanks, guys.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, Amber.

Thank you, Amber.

Enjoy your day.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

We welcome your calls about anything.

If you’ve got a question about language, though, we really would like to hear from you.

The number to call is 1-877-929-9673.

Or email us. The address is words@waywordradio.org.