Ho Hum 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 here he is, John Janiski, our quiz guy.

Hello, John.

Hi, Grant.

Hi, Martha.

Hi.

What’s cooking there?

What do you got in your pocket?

I thought you guys might be interested in knowing what puzzle guys do when they get bored.

We use boredom to make a puzzle.

All the answers to the following questions will begin with either ho or hum.

Okay.

Ho or hum.

Okay.

H-O or H-U-M.

For example, this is a person who, back in the day, rode the rails.

You’d say…

Hobo.

Hobo, right. There’s your ho.

And this is a flying feathered creature who apparently doesn’t know the words.

Hummingbird.

Hummingbird, right. So we got a ho, we got a hum.

All right.

This describes Marty Feldman’s character Igor in the film Young Frankenstein.

Humpback.

Humpback is correct.

A popular funny T-shirt, the title of a young adult novel, and the title of a Jimmy Buffett song all state, suppose the blank really is what it’s all about.

Hokey pokey.

Hokey pokey, yes. Very good.

A soft food from the Middle East made from mashed chickpeas and eaten cold with pita bread.

Hummus.

Hummus.

Hummus is very good. Yes, you got it. It’s very good because I like it. Yeah, I love it.

The name of this thin, unleavened food comes from the fact that it was originally baked on the blade of a farm tool over an open fire.

Ho-cake?

Yes, ho-cake.

Nice.

Could do with a ho-cake right now.

I haven’t eaten any lunch.

This is a woman who throws a party or a brand of dessert cake she might offer you.

Hostess.

Hostess is right.

He’s the main character in J.B. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye.

Holden Caulfield.

There we go.

Holden Caulfield is correct.

Holden Caulfield.

It’s nonsense or sham especially used to cloak deception or an interjection used during the same.

Hogwash.

Does it have to sound like ho when I say it?

Yeah, I picked all the hoes instead of the haws.

Humbuggery.

Humbug.

No.

Think of magic.

Yeah.

Hocus pocus.

Yes.

Hocus pocus is right.

Nicely done.

It’s when you couch your self-aggrandizement in self-deprecation.

Like when Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers tweeted, totally walked down the wrong escalator at the airport from the flashes of the cameras.

Humble brag.

Humble brag is right.

Love that one.

You know what?

You guys, you woke me up.

This is actually pretty good.

You guys did very well.

Nice job.

You always flatter us even when we do poorly.

I don’t know what to do.

I really do.

I go right ahead.

I’m shameless.

I go right ahead and do it.

Well, I’ll be back next week anyway.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Bye-bye.

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