Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s puzzle is taking off, literally. The first half of his clue suggests something about a member of his family, and removing the first letter from that answer reveals the family member’s name. For example, his cousin is a lab assistant known for the extreme strictness with which he does his job, which means he does his job with rigor. What’s his cousin’s name? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Family Name Quiz 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 magical man of mystery, John Chaneski, our quiz guy in New York. Hi, John.
Hi, Grant. Hi, Martha. This week, I have a puzzle for you. I call it Snames. You’ll remember that a takeoff is what we call it when we remove the first letter of a word, leaving another word. Now, this time we’re going to do takeoffs in which the left behind word isn’t a word but a name. Now, I’ll describe a person in my family, and the description will clue you into the first word. You remove the first letter of that word. You get the name of the person, okay?
For example, my cousin is a lab assistant who is famous for the extreme strictness with which he does his job. He does his job with rigor, and his name is Igor. Igor. Got it? Very good. It grinds up to speed.
All right.
Here are the clues.
My other cousin is a social media legend who invented the thumbs-up feature on Facebook.
Social media legend?
We’re looking for a four-letter word related to the thumbs-up on Facebook.
Thumbs-up on Facebook?
Oh, Ike.
His name is Ike, yes, because the four-letter word is… Like.
Like, yes, very good.
Is that really your cousin?
Not really, no. Disclaimer, all of these people are fictional characters I have created.
My sister is an amazing cook. Her food is so good, it’s as if it was given to us by heaven.
Oh, given to us by her.
Oh, Nana and Anna.
Nana and Anna.
Yes, very good.
Now, my aunt or aunt, she administers polygraph tests. I don’t know what you call a polygraph administer, and that’s no lie.
Oh, Truth and Ruth.
Truth and Ruth.
Yes, my Aunt Ruth, who does not really exist.
Okay.
My nephew is a dog walker. Well, actually, he’s not a dog walker. He’s an assistant dog walker. He’s the guy who follows the dog walker and cleans up after the dogs.
Oh.
Cooper?
Yes, his name is Cooper. He’s a scooper.
Cooper’s a scooper. We’re so proud of Cooper and his scooper.
Yes.
My great-grandfather, though, he was in advertising. He wrote stuff like, Fly the Friendly Skies of United, or Maxwell House Coffee is Good to the Last Drop.
Logan?
Yes, his name was Logan.
Logan. And he wrote slogans.
And his slogans.
Engel?
Oh, Engel and his jingles, sure.
Yeah.
Finally, my great uncle made his fortune inventing medical supplies. He invented that thing that people with a hernia need to wear.
Russ.
Russ, yeah, and his truss.
Anyway, I’m glad I got to introduce you to some members of my family. You guys did fantastic.
Oh, thanks, John.
Fun, as always.
I hope the families well. Give them our best, and we’ll talk to you next week.
They’re doing very well, thanks.
You guys stay safe.
All right, bye-bye.
This show is about words and language and speech and grammar and slang and new words and old. Give us a call, 877-929-9673, or put your thoughts in email at words@waywordradio.org.
