Er. Er. This Quiz is a Real Stinker of a Thinker

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette. And tiptoeing through a big old field of tulips is our quiz guide, John Chaneski.

Hi, you know what? I’m just going to put my ukulele down over here.

I’m recording today from the Brooklyn Public Library, by the way, the downtown branch, because there was too much construction outside my apartment.

And they have rooms available here, and I highly recommend if you need a room, avail yourself of your local public library. They have other stuff too, of course.

Now, recently I read the phrase hugger mugger, which means secretly or in a jumble, but it just inspired me to make a quiz full of two-word answers that end in E-R.

For example, back in the day they used glue for these, but these days they more often use magnets, so the rear of your car is much less likely to get damaged.

It’s a bumper sticker.

Bumper sticker. I thought of another one that I think will come up later, so I’ll save it.

Good, good. That’s a good instinct. I like that.

So, now, these are, by and large, a tracheic dimeter. That is, two syllable words that each have the stress on the first syllable.

All right. In any case, let’s get all hugger-mugger and answer-answer.

Here we go.

It was once used to wrap meat, but these days it’s much more common to find it as a packing material or used in art projects.

Mm—

Butcher paper.

Yes, butcher paper.

In the UK, they are more commonly known as caravans, but if you hook one up to the back of your car in the US and live in it as you cross the country, this is what we call it.

Not tractor trailer, because that’s OR, but…

Right.

It is a trailer, but it’s…

Yeah, known as caravans in the UK, something trailer.

Camper trailer?

Yes, it’s a camper trailer.

Yeah, camper trailer.

Gotcha.

I didn’t use rhyming answers because I’m allergic to them, but here’s one.

It’s too bad that car accidents are so common that they deserve their own nickname, but here we are.

Fender bender.

Fender bender, yes.

That’s the one I thought of earlier.

Yeah, there you go.

Yeah, you know when the guy came up with that, he was like, I got a good one.

Fender bender’s like, oh, Gary, please.

Right.

From its Wikipedia entry, it is widely used in applications such as radiation dosimetry, radiological protection, experimental physics, and the nuclear industry.

Ooh.

Scatter or something.

I don’t know.

No, scatter.

It’s a device, by the way.

Oh.

Geiger counter?

Yes, Geiger counter.

And, you know, this is, it’s actually a triple. It’s actually a Geiger-Muller counter.

So, thank you.

Oh, nice.

How about that?

Thank you, Hans Geiger and Walter Miller.

All right, let’s call it what it is. It’s a house that’s falling to pieces and needs too much work.

Fixer-upper.

It’s a fixer-upper.

Let’s be honest.

Now, whether you call them latkes, acara, bunuelos, or mushver, you’re going to need flour, eggs, and a few other things to coat them with.

Tater fritter.

Oh, fritters in here, yeah.

Yeah, you need some flour and eggs, and you’ve got to mix it up.

Want to coat your thing with that.

Fritter batter?

Yes, fritter batter. It’s fritter batter.

Now it’s a thing. We just made it a thing.

Listen, guys, I have to go on a cruise down the Dnieper River, so I’ll see you later, gator.

Oh, I was going to say that.

Gotcha.

You can send a message to me and Martha and John through our website at waywordradio.org, where you’ll find a toll-free number for the United States and Canada, a WhatsApp number for the rest of the world, and lots of social media handles.