Our Quiz Guy Greg Pliska invites us to play Categorical Allies, a game of two-word pairs where the last two letters of the first word lend themselves to the start of the second, and both words fit into one category. For example, what word might follow the name Job? Or the title A Christmas Carol? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Categorical Allies Word Game”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette.
And I’m Grant Barrett, and we’re joined by Greg Pliska, our quiz guy.
Hello, Greg.
Hello, Grant. Hello, Martha.
What’s happening over there?
You know, things are good. I’ve been busy, as always.
I don’t know if you know, last summer I worked with Steve Martin on writing music for Shakespeare in the Park.
Yes.
Yes, banjo music.
All banjo music, all the time.
Actually, Steve wrote the banjo music, and I did the orchestral stuff, but we crossed over a little bit and had a great time.
How was that?
How was that working with Steve Martin?
He’s great.
He’s the best.
He’s one of the best collaborators I’ve ever worked with, and he plays a mean banjo, let me tell you.
Yes, he does.
And what did you tell him about us?
I said you’re the best.
You’re some of the best collaborators I know, and you play pretty pathetic banjo.
I do, actually.
Got that right.
But you know, I can do puzzles, and if you’ve got one in your banjo case, I’d like to hear it.
Funny you should say that.
I do.
It’s called Categorical Allies.
Oh, yay.
Played it before. The way it works is this. I’ll give you a word, and you have to come up with a second word that’s in the same category as the first word, and that begins with the two letters that the first word ends with. For example? For example, if I said tuba, T-U-B-A, you might say?
Bassoon. Bassoon would be good. That’s an orchestral instrument. You could say baritone, which is a kind of brass instrument, you could also say banjo.
Of course.
Oh, banjo.
Should have thought of that right away.
Right away.
I fed it to you in the introduction.
So you see how this works, yes?
Yes.
Yes.
All right.
Well, not all the categories will be quite as obvious as that one, but I don’t want to make this too easy for you now.
No, no, no.
Sure.
All right.
Here’s your first one.
Matisse.
Matisse.
Matisse.
And that’s S-E.
Seurat.
Seurat would be exciting.
Exactly the one I was thinking of.
French painters would be the category, I think.
How about this one?
Faro, F-A-R-O.
Like a lighthouse?
No, like the game, the card game.
Yeah.
What’s a card game that begins with R-O?
Rum?
Gin Rummy?
You’re just thinking generally about entertainment?
Well, where do you play Faro?
In a casino.
Roulette.
Roulette.
Oh, they’re good.
Casino games, pharaoh and roulette.
All right.
How about this one?
Job.
Job.
Obadiah.
Obadiah.
That’s where I was going.
Obadiah.
Very good.
Books of the Bible.
All right.
How about this one?
Go to jail.
Go to jail.
Illinois.
Illinois Avenue is correct.
Spaces on the Monopoly board.
Oh, look at you.
Very good.
You could also do Community Chest and St. James Place or St. Charles Place, but I like the other one.
In this next one, just ignore leading articles.
The first item is a Christmas carol.
That’s the whole clue there.
Oh, so Oliver Twist?
Oliver Twist.
Yeah, so Dickens.
Absolutely.
You could also do Old Curiosity Shop.
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
How about Omega?
Omega.
Gamma.
There you go.
Gamma.
Greek letters.
All right.
Oh, high point.
Thanks, Greg.
That’s a wonderful quiz.
We’re out of here.
Woo-hoo.
No, we really appreciate it.
It’s awesome, dude.
It’s a pleasure.
It’s really great to be with you.
Thanks for taking the time out of your week to entertain.
Always glad to be with you.
Thanks, Greg.
Take care.
This is the show about words and language and how we use them.
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