Quiz Guy John Chaneski has a quiz about people whose names are words. For example, if he asks, “Is the comedian who was one of the Three Amigos vertically challenged?” you’d answer with name of a funny man whose last name is also an adjective. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Names that are Words Quiz”
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 we’re joined by our quiz guy, John Chaneski.
Hi, John.
Hi, Grant.
Hi, Martha.
Hey, John.
What’s up, dude?
Hi.
Well, you know, I was talking about names with a friend of mine the other day. As a person with an uncommon last name, I’m always looking for some way to make it into an actual word so that people will be familiar with it. But some people are lucky. Their names are already words.
For example, if I asked you, is the comedian who was one of the three amigos vertically challenged? You could interpret that as, is Martin Short?
-huh.
Right?
Right.
So I’ll give you a clue, which you can paraphrase into a short question that will include the name of a famous person. Bear in mind, some of these are phonetic, so they may not be spelled the same. So question style answers a la Jeopardy, right?
Oh, a Jeopardy.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Later there are statement ones. We’ll do some question ones first. Here we go.
Is the singer-songwriter of Shake It Off able to move quickly?
Shake it off.
It’s Taylor Swift.
It’s Taylor Swift, yes.
I imagine she could move a little bit. Let’s see. Here’s the next one.
Has the author of The Importance of Being Earnest lost control of himself?
Is Oscar Wilde.
Yes.
Now, does the star of Top Gun sail about in a boat for fun?
Does Tom Cruise?
Does Tom Cruise or does he cruise?
Imagine sometimes he does.
Is an English theoretical physicist going around trying to sell trinkets?
What?
An English theoretical physicist going around selling trinkets?
Is Stephen Hawking.
Yes.
How much money can you make?
Just talking about physics.
Did the man who preceded James Buchanan as president perforate earlobes or noses so as to insert jewelry?
It is Franklin Pierce.
Does Franklin Pierce.
Did Franklin Pierce.
Yeah, he’s not around anymore. We can assume he’s not around anymore.
And what are we inserting in the holes?
Jewelry or what?
Jewelry.
You can insert whatever you like. It’s a free country.
Can you imagine a president with like an ear gauge?
Yes.
Right.
Now, the actor who starred in Body Heat and Kiss of the Spider Woman, is he okay?
Does William Hurt?
Is he all right?
William, give us a call.
Everybody hurts.
Speaking of actors, when Gladiator won Best Picture, did its star openly celebrate?
Did Russell Crowe.
Yes, he probably did because he also won Best Actor for that. So he probably, very likely, he’d find achievement.
Yeah.
Tell me the truth. That Argentinian footballer who plays for FC Barcelona. Is he a bit of a slob?
Is he messy?
Is he messy?
Yes, is Lionel Messi.
Now, the following answers will not be questions. They’ll be statements, okay, or sentences.
What does the gravelly-voiced singer-songwriter of Downtown Train and Jersey Girl do when he’s online at Trader Joe’s?
Tom Waits.
Tom Waits.
I think he’s a Whole Foods kind of guy, but yeah.
Yeah, probably Whole Foods.
Will the current Prime Minister of the UK attend the G8 Summit this year?
Theresa May.
She may.
Yeah, sure.
Theresa May.
Very good.
Okay.
And that’s it for now, guys. You were fantastic. Nicely done. Good job.
Thank you very much.
That was fun.
Thank you.
Fun with puns.
Grant and Barrett.
Yes.
Whoa.
Whoa.
So we don’t just do silly word quizzes. We talk about everything related to the language, how we speak right, and how we do them well.
Email words@waywordradio.org and talk to us on Twitter @wayword.
