Starblossoms Word Game

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 fellow, our quiz guide, John Janeski in New York.

Hi, John.

Hi, Grant. Hi, Martha. How are you?

Hey, John. Looking good.

Thank you very much.

I’ll wager someday someone with way too much time in their hands, probably me, will compile all the quizzes I’ve created, and they’ll find that each of them falls into one of only about half a dozen different types.

Now, the following quiz is what I call a synonymic puzzle, synonyms. I’ve taken a compound word that is a word composed of two or more smaller words like sunflower, and I’ve replaced each of the two constituent words with a synonym and then used it in a sentence.

For example, if I use sunflower, the result could be something like, while pretty, the bouquet was dominated by a rather large star blossom. And we’ve got star for sun and blossom for flower. So a star blossom is a sunflower.

Got it?

Yeah.

That’s beautiful.

Good.

Thanks.

Now, I think it’ll be pretty obvious what the transformed compound word is in each sentence, and you can use textual clues to figure out the answer. Note that these are closed compound words. They do not use a space or a hyphen.

Okay?

Here we go.

During my run for state senate, I made sure to put my face on a check plank facing my opponent’s headquarters.

Check plank?

Check plank.

So that would be a billboard.

A billboard, yes.

Check for bill and plank for board.

Very good.

These wireless headphones are not working. I think there’s something wrong with the sad canine.

The sad canine.

The dog something.

These wireless, the Bluetooth.

Bluetooth, yes.

What is the matter with the Bluetooth here?

That was tricky.

Some of these are a little tricky with the way the synonyms have been chosen.

Okay.

I will always love you if you are also a fan of my favorite Kevin Costner film, The Carcass Defender.

Oh, Whitney. She was a gem.

Yeah.

The Bodyguard.

Bodyguard is right.

I’ve never told you about my three siblings. My sister is a teacher, my one brother is a pyre pugilist, and my other brother is in law enforcement.

Oh, my sister, by the way, went to Montclair University on a Fluffy Orb scholarship.

Yay, Title IX.

Fluffy Orb?

Fluffy Orb.

Fluffy Orb.

So she played on a team with eight other teammates, I guess, huh?

Yeah, she certainly did.

Yeah, on the field.

Softball.

Softball, that’s right. Fluffy orb softball. Very good.

Summer, summer fruits. It wouldn’t be summer without cantaloupe, nectar condensate, or plums.

Nectar condensate?

Oh, honeydew.

Honeydew.

Honeydew, yes. Very good.

It was May of 1983 when we all saw the dance move called the Satellite Stroll for the first time. Before that, it was called the Backslide.

The moonwalk.

The moonwalk.

The moonwalk is right.

This one now is a double.

Two words, okay?

Don’t post your gross photos on Visage Tome. I don’t want to see your weird digit, Brad.

Brad.

Visage Tome.

Visage Tome is up to Facebook.

And what’s the last one?

I don’t want to see your weird digit, Brad.

Brad.

Finger?

Yeah.

Finger Brad?

Finger nail.

Finger nail.

A fingernail, a brat is another word for a nail.

Very good.

Okay.

All right.

Those are my compound synonyms.

They sure are.

Deep dive into the mind of John Chaneski once a week on A Way with Words.

Wow.

Unfortunately.

Give our best to the family, and we’ll talk to you next week.

Thank you, guys.

You too.

Talk to you then.

Bye-bye.

We love talking with you about language as well, so call us, 877-929-9673, or send your stories to words@waywordradio.org.