National Puzzlers League Slang Quiz

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

And I’m Martha Barnette. It’s time for Slang This, the game where we try to stump a member of the National Puzzlers League.

Today’s contestant is Julia Parisi from New Rochelle, New York. Welcome, Julia.

Hello, Julia. How are you doing?

I’m doing very well, thanks.

What do you do there in New York?

Well, I work at the United Nations. I’m actually an audio engineer.

An audio engineer. Now, what does that mean you do?

That means I record any of the meetings that are happening in the building in whatever language that needs to be recorded, and then I send it out to whoever needs to listen to it.

Oh, my goodness. No pressure there.

No, no, no, no. It’s quite an easy job most of the time.

Well, you’re around all these different languages at the crossroads of all these different nationalities.

Do you have a favorite slang term?

I do, but it has more to do with the quality of where I work.

I’m very fond of referring to our esteemed cafeteria as the crappeteria.

I think it’s just been in existence too long.

And then because I have to deal with many different people of many different levels, I refer to the people who work above me as stupidvisors.

-oh.

Ooh.

Ooh.

Do they listen to this show?

I hope not.

Crappeterian stupidvisors.

Okay.

For your sake, I hope they don’t.

Well, Julius, let’s see how you do with these slang terms, all right?

Okie doke.

Here are the rules.

I’ll give you a clue that describes one of two possible slang words or phrases.

Only one is correct.

Your job is to pick it.

All right?

Okie doke.

If you get stuck, just ask Martha.

She’ll be standing by.

Got it.

Here we go.

Number one.

One bit of British rhyming slang for wife is trouble from trouble and strife, which rhymes with wife.

You might say, I’ve got to get home to me trouble.

Which of these also means wife?

Is it A, boiler house, or B, the stitches?

Ooh.

I’d have to go,

I don’t know, I’ve never heard this before, but my gut is telling me to go with the stitches because it rhymes with the witches, which if you’re referring irreverently to your spouse, that to me makes more sense.

And I can’t figure how the boiler house would work.

You’ve actually got a clue in your own answer.

Boiler house rhymes with spouse.

I went the wrong way.

You were so close.

I was sitting here going, huh, huh, huh?

But the answer is boiler house.

It’s more rhyming slang for spouse.

For some reason, it supposedly only means wife and not husband.

I don’t know why.

All right.

Let’s try another one, Julia.

See how you do.

Okie doke.

Number two.

Most people call them sweets, treats, cakes, or candy, but in prison, what do they call them when they buy them from the prison canteen?

Is it A, Chocho, or B, Grimpenmeyer?

Grimpenmeyer, spelled G-R-I-M-P-E-N-M-I-R-E.

Chocho, C-H-O hyphen C-H-O.

Once again, you’ve given me two I’ve never heard before.

Chow Chow or…

Most people call them sweets, treats, cakes, or candy.

But in prison, what do they call them when they buy them from the prison canteen?

Is it A, Chow Chow, that’s C-H-O hyphen C-H-O, or B, Grimpenmeyer, G-R-I-M-P-E-N space M-I-R-E?

Grimpen Meyer, I don’t even have a clue.

Talk it out, talk it out.

See if you can get to it.

Yeah.

I don’t know.

My gut doesn’t really seem to lead me in the correct direction.

Cho-cho sounded more correct to me.

Grimpen Meyer, I can’t see how that could relate to anything specific, but cho-cho sounds closer to choo-choo.

Or chocolate.

Or chocolate.

I was thinking of like Charleston chews, you know, candy that I’ve had in the past.

I don’t know, Martha. What do you think?

I’m with you. For some reason, chocho sounds like something you’d eat.

You ladies are correct. Indeed, it is chocho.

Oh, right.

It probably comes from a brand name of an American ice cream bar called chocho that featured a clown on the packaging.

I think the brand has since disappeared.

But there’s also a Spanish word chocho, which means sweets or candied nuts, depending on your dialect of Spanish.

Although in other dialects, the chocho means something very rude that I can’t say on the air.

The clue here was Grimpenmeyer is a place name used by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Hound of the Baskervilles.

And I hoped that you would remember reading that story and go, oh, well, since Grimpenmeyer was in the Conan Doyle story, it has to be chocho.

But you got to the correct answer anyway.

Oh, well, at least I got the right one.

Yeah, nice work.

Thank you.

Julie, I want to thank you for playing. This is always fun.

And I always enjoy listening to them.

Okay.

Well, thanks a lot, Julia.

Thank you.

Bye.

Bye-bye.

Well, if you have a question for us about words or language or grammar or slang or what have you, give us a call.

The number is 1-877-929-9673.

That’s 1-877-W-A-Y-W-O-R-D.

Or you can send an email to words@waywordradio.org.