Keep Calm and Word Game On

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 entering the scene from a mirage on the horizon, it’s our quiz guide, John Chanesky.

Hi, John.

Hi, Grant.

Hello, Martha.

Hey, you know, I’m just going to say, you guys, right now at this time, at this point in time, we all just need to take a second to just calm down and relax, okay?

You know, like those posters, those posters from Britain in the 1930s that advised everyone to keep calm and carry on.

I like that.

Yeah, keep calm and word on.

Yeah, exactly.

That’s very good.

That’s good.

We’ll start there.

Yeah, those are understandably, those posters. They’re very popular right now.

I’ve seen all sorts of different versions of them.

And we’re going to make some of our own.

And all we need is a three-syllable word that ends in on, O-N.

For example, if you’re sailing down the longest river in South America, you know what to do.

Just keep calm and…

Amazon.

Amazon, yes, very good.

So now you know how this is going to work.

Here’s the first one.

If you’re in math class and you’re freaking out, just draw some multi-sided plane figures.

You know what to do.

Keep calm and…

Polygon.

Or hexagon.

Or hexagon or polygon, yes.

Decagon is all good? Sure.

If you’re bird watching and you start to get antsy, just do what that famous naturalist did.

Get out your pencils and paints and just draw some birds.

You know what to do.

Keep calm and Audubon.

Yes, keep calm and Audubon. Chirp, chirp.

You say this is your premier performance ringing the bells at Westminster?

Got a little stage fright? Don’t worry. You know what to do.

Keep calm and carol on.

Paralon, yes.

Ding dong.

What?

You’ve time traveled to ancient Mesopotamia and now you’re lost?

Look, just find a capital city of a handy-dandy nearby empire and you’ll be just fine.

You know what to do.

Just keep calm in Babylon.

Yes, keep calm in Babylon.

Which is exactly what you guys do on this show.

All the time.

All the time.

In Babylon, yeah.

If you’re freaking out about life and all, just pick up some poetry, my dude.

Go with the classics.

Go with America’s Greatest Poet.

Go to Amherst and get to reading You Know What to Do.

Who is an American poet from Amherst?

Emily.

Oh, keep calm and Dickinson.

Yes, keep calm and Dickinson.

I don’t know if she’d appreciate me mangling her name like that, but let’s say she’s pretty cool.

She probably would have been okay with it.

You’ve got to finish editing an entire dictionary, and your deadline is looming?

Grab that list of words and get to work, Grant.

Or Martha.

I know.

You know what to do.

Keep calm and lexicon.

Yes, keep calm and lexicon, which is, again, one of the things we do on this show all the time.

We lexicon and babble on, and we finish our quizzes.

Way to go, guys.

Nice, nice, as he fades back into the sandy mirage in the desert.

Goodbye.

Well, John, thank you for leading us in that mental workout.

And we’d love to have you lead us in a mental workout with your questions and stories about language.

So call us 877-929-9673 or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.