False Opposites Word Game

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

And I’m Martha Barnette, and we’re joined once again by our puzzle dude, Greg Pliska.

Hiya, Greg.

Hi, Martha. Hi, Grant.

Hi, Greg.

What have you brought us this week?

Well, I thought I would introduce you to a puzzle type that you might find in The Enigma, which is the monthly publication of the National Puzzlers League, and it’s a kind of puzzle we call the false opposite.

And this is how it works. I’ll give you hints to two words which are unrelated, but which might, given their prefixes, suffixes, or other parts, be construed as opposites.

Okay.

How about an example?

I’d clue the first word as forward motion and the second word as American legislative body.

Okay.

Something Congress.

Yep, so Congress is the second word.

The false opposite of Congress is progress.

Is progress.

Progress.

Yeah, there you go.

That’s an old joke.

Congress and progress are opposites.

But if that makes sense, I’ll give you a bunch of these.

You ready?

Let’s have them.

Okay, number one. To pillage or loot and a short-billed shorebird.

Short-billed shorebird is a duck, a goose.

A gull?

A gull.

It’s a less common word than those.

You probably get this.

Oh, Mr. Barrett.

Whoa, whoa.

Oh, well, if it’s not a duck or a gull, it must be a plover.

It’s a plover.

Yeah, absolutely.

Plover and plunder.

And plunder.

The false opposite of plover would be plunder because of over and under in there.

Nice.

Oh, very good.

Teamwork there.

All right, here’s a little more pop culture one.

The male performer of the Quantum of Solace theme song and the School of Rock actor.

So Jack Black is the second one.

But the first one, I don’t remember who did the theme song for that.

Was it Coldplay or something?

No.

Radiohead?

It was the false opposite of Jack Black.

Chris White.

Jack White.

Jack White.

Jack White.

Jack White.

Oh, yeah.

Sure.

Jack White.

Better clued as the guy from The White Stripes.

But you can’t say white stripes in the club.

Wouldn’t it be better as Jill White, though?

That would be the false opposite opposite.

All right.

Here’s a pair for you.

Workplace and in reserve.

How about office and on ice?

There you go.

Nice.

Well done.

Yep.

Off and on are the opposites in office and on ice.

You’re rolling now.

The New York Mets shortstop Jose and the biggest little city in the world.

Oh.

That’s what I was thinking.

I was thinking sports knowledge.

I know there’s a team called the Mets that used to play at Shea Stadium.

It’s baseball, right?

Now they’re homeless.

I don’t know.

So here’s another clue for the first word.

Lichten.

It’s a point north of San Francisco that is a national park.

Reyes.

Mm—

Yes.

And the biggest little city in the world.

The biggest little city in the world.

That’s the nickname of this Nevada town.

Oh, Reno?

Reno.

But what’s the, I don’t know what the answer is.

Oh, no and yes.

Yes, there we go.

Reyes, R-E-Y-E-S, and Reno, R-E-N-O.

I was looking at eyes and thinking, what’s the opposite of eyes?

Ears?

Point Reyes is a park in the north of the bay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It’s on the coast north of San Francisco.

Lovely place, actually.

Fired as a gun and vocal reprimand.

Shot and scold.

Yes, very good.

Hot and cold.

Hot and cold are the buried opposites in that one.

And I’ve got one more for you here.

The period between childhood and maturity and a drug slangily referred to as crystal.

Meth?

Is it the full name of meth or just meth?

No?

Well, you want me to tell you?

It’s just meth.

The period between childhood and maturity.

Yeah.

Meth, M-E-T-H.

Oh, youth.

Youth.

Oh, me and you.

Me and you.

Oh, very nice.

Greg, this was a lot of fun.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Thank you, Greg.

It’s always good to be with you guys.

And if you’d like to talk about grammar, slang, punctuation, or words and how we use them, the number to call is 1-877-929-9673.

That’s 1-877-WAYWORD.

Or send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.