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You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

And wafting over our heads in a giant iridescent bubble and waving his wand.

Oh, the bubble popped.

It’s our quiz guy, John Chaneski.

Catch him.

Hey, hi.

Are you a good host or a bad host?

Which guys are you?

Don’t fall on the house.

Watch the crown, will you?

Thanks.

Now, listen, you know, there’s a common form of wordplay that I don’t think we’ve talked about before.

It’s called language games.

There are lots of them, but the most well-known is probably Pig Latin.

If you don’t know it, and perhaps you’re very, very young, it’s a way to disguise English from someone who doesn’t know the rules.

Typically, you take a word’s first consonant, like B or T or K, or a consonant blend, ST, CH, GR, and you move it to the end of the word and add A-Y.

A, for example, igpe for pig and attenle for Latin.

That’s pig Latin.

Now, for quiz purposes, I’m interested in pig Latin words that sound like non-pig Latin words or phrases.

For example, assay is a real English word meaning to test metal or ore, but it sounds like the pig Latin for sass, meaning impudence or cheek.

Sass, assay.

Right?

Got it?

Got it.

Good.

I’ll give you two definitions.

One defines an English word.

The other defines the English word that the first word’s pig Latin sounds like.

And you’re going to give me both.

Okay?

Gotcha.

All right.

A feeling of surprise mixed with admiration, having started, and in progress.

Oh, underway and wonder.

Yes, very good.

Wonder and underway.

Very good.

A two-word phrase meaning cornered by pursuers, a flying mammal.

Oh, that’s a good one.

At bay.

And bat.

Yeah.

At bay and bat.

Yes, very nice.

A flying insect, essentially an online garage sale.

Oh, eBay and B.

EBay and B.

Yeah, pretty simple.

To remain beyond the limit of one’s expected time, a kind of strong, dark beer.

Outstay and stout.

Yes, outstay and stout.

Exaggerate the performance of a dramatic role, a short-billed waiting bird.

The bird is plover.

Yeah.

And overplay.

Yes, overplay.

Oh, wow.

Nicely done.

Plover.

Well, listen, that’s enough pig Latin for me.

I’m suddenly hungry for a ham sandwich, so…

We’ll see you next time.

Give our best to the family.

You too, guys.

Take care.

This show is about words and language of books and literature and jokes and puns and lots of fun and goofing off, and we would like you to be a part of it.

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All those ways to reach us are on our website and all of our past episodes at waywordradio.org.