Get the Chop 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 bouncing in on a pogo stick and wearing a park ranger’s outfit, it’s our quiz guy,

John Chaneski.

Oh, I’m just so lucky that these ceilings are so high.

Oh, I get it.

The kangaroos are off exhibit and you’re filling in.

Yeah, I’m trying to make them feel more at home.

You know, when you’re listening to the radio in the car, as people do, you can check the

Dashboard display to see the title of the song that’s playing and the artist and the station.

For a while, though, these displays were a kind of a digital display that would only show the

First dozen or so letters in the title. It was possible to be listening to a song and you’d check

The display and the title would say, Brother, Can You Spar? It sounds like a song about guys in a

Boxing gym, but it’s really the American standard, brother, can you spare a dime? Yes, exactly.

I always found that disconnect to be rather fun. So let’s take a drive together and listen to some

Tunes. I’ll describe the song and then what the title seems to be. See if you can deduce both the

Truncated title and the real title. Now, for our purposes, the truncated titles can be anywhere

From eight letters or longer, depending on the size of your display, of course. Ready? Here we

Go. Now, I agree with

Johnny Cash that

Love is a burning thing,

But the display says he went

Down, down, down into a circle

Of Christmas trees.

I went down,

Down, down to the burning

Ring of fur.

Burning ring of fur. Again,

Only one letter different.

Ring of fire. Ring of fire, yes.

This song from my

Wizard of Oz soundtrack sounds pretty

Straightforward, but the display

Makes it sound as if the scarecrow is in need of a support garment.

If I only had a bra.

If I only had a bra.

You know, he is made of straw.

You could just take some straw out.

I need a little lift.

Yeah.

If I only had a brain, right.

My ghost soundtrack either has this Righteous Brothers love song

Or, according to the display,

A song about movie director Brooks

Given complete creative control.

Okay, so Mel Brooks.

Right.

Oh.

Unchained Mel?

Oh.

Unchained Mel.

That’s good.

Instead of Unchained Melody.

That’s it, yes.

Oh, my love, my darling.

He was always off the chain.

Mel Brooks is off the chain, yes.

Finally, perhaps Lady Gaga is singing about your love and all your lover’s revenge,

But the display makes it seem like she’s singing about Caligula.

Ooh la la.

Okay, Caligula was little boots in Latin, but what does that have to do?

Oh, bad Roman.

Bad romance.

You and me can write a bad Roman.

Bad Roman.

Bad romance, yes.

Terrible.

This is terrible.

Very good.

Well, you know, I’m going to drive this car back to the shop and have that display looked at.

You guys did fantastic.

Well done.

Thanks, John.

All right.

Don’t forget your pogo stick.

There it is.

Got it.

Let’s go.

Bye.

Take care.

We’ll see you next week.

Well, we talk about all kinds of words, whether they’re truncated or very, very long.

And we also talk about lots of other aspects of language from grammar to slang.

And we’d love to talk with you.

So give us a call, 877-929-9673,

Or reach out to us by email, words@waywordradio.org.