Karzy and Low-Bush Moose

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette. And now it’s time for Slang This, the puzzle where you have to guess the meaning of some strange slang terms.

Today’s contestant is Jaime Hernandez from San Diego, California. Welcome.

Thank you. It’s great to be here.

Yeah?

As I’m really excited about participating, I’ve been looking forward to this.

All right. Well, Jaime, do you have a favorite slang term you’d like to share with us?

I do. It’s an easy one. It’s T-E-H-O.

It’s what?

T-E-H-O. T-E-H-O.

Do you know that one, Grant? I don’t.

Is that a Spanish word?

No, most people would think that.

However, we usually use it at home when we can’t decide what we want for dinner.

If one of us is not as hungry or if there are some nice leftovers from a restaurant, say, in the refrigerator.

Or we don’t feel like cooking, so we say, well, tonight let’s just T-Ho it.

And that means to each his own, so we don’t have to cook a big dinner.

That’s very nice.

Oh, that’s nice. It’s almost like T-Vo. I was confused for a second there.

T-Ho, yeah, and it works.

It’s not even gender specific because a woman could say it as well.

Well, Jaime, let’s move on to our game.

Okay.

Grant’s going to give you a slang term, and then he’ll give you three sentences that suggest what that term could mean.

Now, only one of those examples will be real, and the other two are fake.

So, Jaime, your task will be to figure out which one of those three sentences illustrates how this particular slang term is actually used.

Now, chances are you haven’t heard the word before, so the trick will be to puzzle out its meaning.

And I’ll be standing alongside you right here, okay?

Excellent.

All right, Grant?

The first word is carzy, K-A-R-Z-Y.

All right.

The first clue is, the best way to avoid getting drunk at a wine tasting is to carzy.

You sip, swish, taste, and then spit.

The second clue.

I went down to the Carsey to do my business, but some bloke had stopped up the loo with the newspaper and the place was a mess.

And the third clue.

Before the electric slide and the hokey pokey, the Carsey was the dance everybody wiggled to at weddings.

So, Jaime, is Carsey a method of wine tasting, a bathroom, or a dance that used to be a regular part of weddings?

Ooh, what do you think?

That’s a tough one. They all sound pretty good.

Have you ever done the Karzi at a wedding?

No, if I did, I probably wouldn’t remember doing it.

What about the electric slide?

Yeah, that one I can handle, yeah.

I don’t know.

My first instinct was to go with the second one.

But the first one sounds like it might be good as well.

Yeah, I know I’ve done a lot of wine tasting.

But I’ve never heard that at the winery or anywhere else.

So I’m going to follow my gut and go with the second one.

That’s right.

The answer is B, a bathroom or a loo or a lavatory.

And there were two clues in there that it’s a British word.

I used bloke and loo just so you could kind of get the idea that it’s not something that most Americans are going to know.

An interesting thing about this word is that there are a lot of spellings to it.

Tons of them.

It’s mainly an oral word, so it’s also spelled K-A-H-Z-I.

You know, because of the Brits, so they lead up the R.

And so it sounds kind of optional, K-A-R-S-E-Y, lots of different ways.

All right, so we’ve got another one for you. Are you ready?

Let’s go.

All right.

This expression is two words, and it’s low bush moose, L-O-W-B-U-S-H, one word, M-O-O-S-E, low bush moose, okay?

Okay.

And the first clue, out back of the hut were low bush moose, the rusting hulks of automobiles that had been left there long ago.

Second clue.

Police say the young hunters made sport of shooting in the direction of other hunters to scare them, jokingly referring to them as low bush moose.

And the third clue?

Buck didn’t come back with the big game we all expected.

Somebody said, it’s low bush moose again.

I’m so sick of rabbit I could eat my boots.

So there are your three clues.

Are low bush moose rusting automobiles in a field?

Hunters who were shot at on purpose by other hunters or rabbits?

The visual of the first one is making me wish that it was the correct answer.

So I’m just going to go with that.

You’re saying that it’s the rusting automobiles in a field.

They look like creatures out there in the underbrush.

What do you think, Martha?

What’s appealing to you about that?

I just saw a photograph once, and it was really, really well taken.

It was of a rusted car in a field.

And what the oxidation of the rust and the flowers growing through it.

It was just a beautiful photograph, and I remember that.

And that’s why I’m trying to make the connection.

Wow.

And then did you think, gee, that looks like lowbush moose?

No.

No, but let me analyze this.

The fact that you’re asking me, maybe that’s not the answer.

Oh, no.

Game theory is a notoriously bad way to play this quiz.

Game theory tends to be.

Well, let me just say this.

It’s been such a thrill just to be on the air with you both that whether I win or lose the second question doesn’t really matter.

This has been fun.

But am I right?

No.

Am I right?

No.

Unfortunately, it’s rabbits.

It’s a term used in Alaska to refer usually to long-eared or what is it?

Snowshoe rabbits, actually.

And you’ll find it in some cookbooks from Alaska.

And it’s kind of a joking, jocular term.

Well, the term, the idea is that, you know, low bush because rabbits are short and low bush moose.

Yeah. Sometimes when you go out with your gun, you don’t come back with a big beast.

You come back with something small but still edible.

Well, I’ve seen jackalopunny, but I’ve never seen one of those.

Yeah, there’s a term we’ve used in the past on another slang quiz that’s similar to this.

It’s the same kind of joking term, and it’s slow elk.

And these are cattle that have been rustled and shot and then carted away without the knowledge of the owner.

Okay.

Very similar, I think.

So anyway, you’re one for two, but the main thing was that we had some fun here, didn’t we?

Oh, we certainly did, yes.

This is fantastic. Thanks.

Well, Jaime, thanks so much for playing today and for playing our game today.

We’re going to send you a whole book of interesting terms that I know you’re going to love.

It’s Aaron McKean’s book, Weird and Wonderful Words.

Perfect. I’ll put it on the shelf with your books here at home. That’ll be great.

Fantastic. And if you have a question about language, give us a call.

The number is 1-877-929-9673.

Or email us. The address is words@waywordradio.org.