Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s puzzle Blank the Blank, also called Verb the Noun, asks for familiar three-word expressions in the pattern verb + the + noun. One clue describes someone who refuses to confront trouble, another an accountant committing fraud. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “A Puzzle about Three-Word Phrases with “the” in the Middle”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette.
And I’m Grant Barrett.
And across from me now is our quiz guy, John Chaneski.
Hi, Grant. Hi, Martha. How are you, John? How are you doing?
I’m doing just great.
I have a puzzle for you guys. Are you interested in your ideas?
Here’s a little puzzle.
I call blank the blank or verb the noun.
Some common phrases are couched in terms of verb the noun.
For example, if I said, Tony and Angela have been enemies for years, but they finally decided to blank the blank.
What would you tie the knot?
What?
Let’s say they’ve been enemies for years.
Oh, enemies.
They finally decided to.
I thought it was one of those.
End the feud?
No.
Stop the madness?
I think it’s time that we.
Quit the.
That we.
Oh, bury the hatchet.
Bury the hatchet.
Verb the noun.
Bury the hatchet.
Very good.
This is going to go swimmingly.
It’ll go fine.
It’ll be great.
Let’s try it.
You got it?
Tony and Angela have been such close friends for years that they finally decided to blank the blank.
Bury the hatchet.
No, that was my example.
They’ve been enemies.
Tie the knot.
Tie the knot is good.
There’s also another answer I’ll take for that.
Up the ante?
Oh, wow.
It’s kind of a slang term for tie the knot that comes from African-American culture.
Jump the broom.
Jump the broom, yeah.
I love that, jumping the broom.
I love when people actually do that at the weddings.
It’s beautiful.
Here’s the next one.
Tony said, I don’t believe I cheated on you, Angela. Therefore, I did not cheat on you.
But he’s just blank the blank.
This is a logic phrase, a phrase in logic.
Phrase in logic.
I got an F in that.
I don’t believe I cheated on you. Therefore, I did not cheat on you.
But that’s just blank the blank.
Begging the question?
That’s exactly it.
Begging the question.
Often used imprecisely.
In this case, I think we used it precisely.
Very good.
Nice work, Martha.
Thank you.
Here’s the next one.
If you thought cheating on Angela was bad, Tony has also been blank the blank in his job as an accountant.
Dun, dun, dun.
Oh.
Cooking the books.
Cooking the books is right.
Cooking the books.
This Tony.
Jeez, he’s got problems.
Here’s the next one.
After the way he treated her, I can’t say I’m surprised that Angela would blank the blank to the feds.
Oh, darn.
I keep thinking I know what these are.
Drop a dime?
Yeah.
I was going to say fly the coop.
Drop the dime?
Sing like a canary?
No.
Blank the blank.
You have to have the the.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It’s not fly the coop.
Spill the beans.
Spill the beans.
That’s correct.
Very good.
You wouldn’t think these would be hard, but they’re hard.
I know.
I know.
Because once they’re said, you’re like, oh, of course.
And then you’re like, but why didn’t I get them?
Here we go.
Wow.
An affair.
An indictment.
There’s nowhere for Tony to run now.
He’s just going to have to blank the blank, end the series, cancel the show.
Jump the shark?
Fly the coop?
No.
Jump the couch.
He can’t avoid his troubles now.
He’ll just have to blank the blank.
Face the music.
Face the music is right.
Here’s the next.
Wow.
It really stinks in here.
Hey, Tony, did you blank the blank?
Cut the cheese.
Cut the cheese is correct.
Suddenly I’m nine again.
There you go.
Here’s the next.
You know what? I think this whole show has finally run out of ideas, and they’re just adding dumb plot elements.
They’ve really blank the blank.
Jump the shark.
That’s jump the shark, yes.
Lost the plot.
Props to Ted McGinley, the patron saint of Jumping the Shark.
Okay, here’s the last one.
Hey, let’s turn off the TV, call a few friends, and have them come over.
We can play a naughty little game called blank the blank.
Spin the bottle.
Spin the bottle’s right.
I bet you Martha would have got that if she could have stopped laughing for a couple of seconds.
I would have.
That’s terrific.
Well, you know what? That’s all the ones I have.
I think we’ve just scratched the surface there, but it’s time to pull the plug.
So thanks very much, guys.
I’m going to hit the brakes.
Oh, man.
Before you fly the coop, John, I just want to say that was great.
Thank you very much.
John, yeah, that was fun.
Thanks.
Thank you very much.
Pleasure to be here.
If you have a question about nouns, verbs, wordplay, language, grammar, slang, regional dialects, call us.
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