Our Quiz Guy John Chaneski has an improvement on the hoary puzzle about words ending in -gry. For example, if someone has posted to Tumblr in a while, they might be feeling a bit bloggry. If you’re in the mood to do some karaoke, you might be described as singry. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “-gry Puzzle”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette. And joining us now is our quiz guy, John Chaneski.
Hiya, John.
Hi, Martha. Hi, Grant.
Hey, kid. What’s up?
It’s great to be back.
What do you have for us?
You guys both know the classic G-R-Y puzzle, the Gree puzzle?
Sure.
Oh, yeah.
There are three words in the English language that end in G-R-Y.
All right.
Hungry and angry are two of them. What is the third, right?
It’s Gree to me.
Right. The answer, of course, being…
Igree.
Well, there’s a Greek. Now, wait on that a second.
The answer being that there is no common third word in English ending in G-R-Y.
Now, you remember, thank you for remembering that Igri is the word that I’ve coined in an attempt to defuse the G-R-Y puzzle.
And do you remember what Igri stands for, what it means?
Is this when you’re kind of in a bad mood because you’re hungry?
No.
You’re irritated.
No, no, no.
It stands for, it means vicarious social embarrassment.
Like when you’re watching Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm and you just kind of feel Igri.
That’s my word.
The definition I gave was for hangry.
Hangry?
That’s when you’re hungry and angry together.
This feeds right into what I’m talking about here.
Because I know a few people, dozens actually, who actually use igry on a regular basis.
But I’ve decided that in order to completely bury the gree puzzle, the G-R-Y puzzle, a more radical approach is needed.
And we’re going to coin more words ending in G-R-Y.
Oh, okay.
Sure.
And I like hangry.
And since hungry and angry are both derived from words that end in G-E-R,
I’m going to adapt other G-E-R words to the G-R-Y team.
For example, Denise hasn’t posted anything to Tumblr in quite a while,
So she’s feeling quite…
Tumblegree?
No, what do people who post things on the internet they are?
Bloggers?
Right.
Oh, she’s a bloggery.
She’s feeling bloggery.
She’s feeling bloggery, I see.
She hasn’t done it in a while, so she’s feeling kind of…
I know that that’s an actual thing.
People feel like they haven’t posted in a while, so they’re feeling a little bloggery.
Okay, right.
Okay, so let’s see if we can do some more of these.
Okay.
Let’s see.
After a long day at work, I like to go out with my friends and hit the karaoke bar because I’m feeling what?
Singry.
Singry.
Right.
I know people who just, they just feel very singry at the end of the week.
Right, right, right.
Now, that Winnie the Pooh video made the kids bounce all around the house.
I can’t put them to bed when they’re feeling…
Tiggery.
Tiggery.
Very nice.
You know when you’re visiting a friend and it gets late,
But the company is so good you just don’t want to leave?
I love that feeling, that feeling of being…
Lingery.
Lingery.
Lingery.
Very good.
Lingery.
Not all of these are going to be useful all the time.
Yes.
Not all of these are going to come trippingly off the tongue,
But we’ll get as many as we can, okay?
Now, I love Indiana Jones movies.
I love that suspenseful feeling when I’m not sure what’s going to happen next.
I call it…
Cliffhangry?
Cliffhangry, yes.
Ooh, good.
How about this?
The texture of that dress is so inviting, I really want to touch it.
It makes me feel so…
Fingery.
Fingery, yes.
How about…
I just couldn’t bring myself to drive to work this morning, so I called in sick.
I was feeling…
Malingry.
Lalingry, nice work.
We don’t ever do that here.
Nope.
No, come in when we’re sick.
That’s right.
That’s why the microphones look like that.
Visiting day at the facility where Grandma lives is not easy for me.
All she and her friends do is talk about things that were before my time.
It leaves me feeling very…
Youngry.
Youngry.
Youngry, yeah.
Finally, Mark and I often engage in little put-down sessions.
I actually enjoy it a lot, especially when the quips are coming fast and furious and I’m feeling really…
Zingry.
Zingry, yeah.
Zingry.
Oh, man.
And on the Z ending, I will end it with a Z.
So those are my words.
Guys out there, everyone, use as many of those as you possibly can so this degree puzzle will be dead and buried, please.
Thanks a bunch, John.
Thanks, John.
Thank you, guys.
If you’ve got a question about words and language,
Well, we’re feeling diggory, 877-929-9673,
