Media Limericks

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, Greg Pliska. Greg, hi.

Hi, Martha. Hi, Grant.

Hey, buddy. How’s it going?

It’s going very well. How’s things out there?

Sunny, warm, lovely.

Finer than frog’s hair.

Do you have any puzzles there, any quizzes, or you just call the chat?

Well, both, actually. I have some limericks for you this week, actually.

Oh, okay. Great.

These are just limericks about people or things that have been in the news lately.

And as usual, I’ll read you the first four lines, and then you fill in the end of the fifth line with the subject of the limerick.

Okay.

Gotcha.

Let’s see what’s been dominating the headlines now.

Okay, go ahead.

All right.

You ready?

Here we go.

Yeah.

Of songs, we now have a plethora from polka to tango to horror.

The digital solution to this sonic confusion is a free music site called Pandora.

Pandora, exactly.

Here’s another one for you.

A stalwart but tearful campaigner, this election he was a big gainer.

Like Bela Lugosi, his fangs bit Pelosi, and he’s now known as Speaker.

John Boehner.

John Boehner, indeed.

Nice.

Here’s another one.

Cross Elton John and Sonia Braga with some props from a Bollywood saga.

Add a dash of Elan and a dollop of flan, and you’ll end up with one…

Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga, exactly.

Here’s another one for you.

This platinum blonde in mascara made a Super Bowl star-spangled error.

Our Twilight’s last gleaming got a bit of a reaming from the lips of…

Christina Aguilera.

Poor thing.

Christina Aguilera, exactly.

It could happen to us all.

Of course.

When you do the anthem for the Padres games, you’ll be screwing up the lyrics too.

For sex symbols, male, the keys, muscle.

For women, it’s bodice and bustle.

How sad that she’s dead, of whom Bob Hope once said, here’s the two and only…

Jane Russell.

Jane Russell.

Indeed.

I liked it.

That was nice.

One of the people we’ve lost this year.

Hey, look, anytime you can quote Bob Hope, you’re guaranteed to be funny.

That’s right, especially on the Oscars, right?

And another one from the World of Entertainment.

American idlers cried foul when this Britisher threw in the towel.

His talent attractors now trained on X-Factor, so we’ll soon see much more of Cowell.

Simon Cowell.

Simon Cowell, indeed.

Here’s a good one.

Keith Richards might stumble and stagger, but this bloke has not lost his swagger.

His turn on the Grammys was typically hammy.

Who’s more satisfied than…

That wrinkly rocker?

Mick Jagger.

Exactly.

And another person in the news lately.

With Vanity Fair came renown.

At the New Yorker, the talk of the town.

At Newsweek, she’ll feast like a big Daily Beast.

She’s the editor called…

Tina Brown.

Tina Brown.

Tina Brown, that’s right.

Big marriage with Newsweek and the Daily Beast.

And one more to polish our day off.

If you want a brief message transmitter, and time is what you have to fritter,

Make your messages shorty, no more than 140, and tweet till you’re tired on Twitter.

That’s right.

And you can follow Grant Barrett on Twitter.

Username Grant Barrett.

And what’s your Twitter handle?

Greg Pliska.

Oh, very good.

Not very complicated, no.

Yes, you can follow us on Twitter at WayWord.

Greg, thank you so much for the puzzle.

That was tons of fun, as always.

It’s always a pleasure to be with you.

If you’ve got a question about wordplay, language, slang, grammar,

Anything having to do with the words that come out of your mouth or out of your keyboard,

Give us a call, 877-929-9673.

Martha says, what do you mean?

They’re prying up the keys?

877-929-9673.

Or send your questions and comments and stories to us an email to words@waywordradio.org.