Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s puzzle requires misreading words that begin with the letters P-R-E. For example, the word preaching could be misread as having to do with “hurting beforehand” — that is, pre-aching. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “PRE 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 guide, John Chaneski.
Hello, John.
Hi, Grant. Hi, Martha.
Hey, John. What’s up?
Well, I have a cool little puzzle for you today, a little quiz.
In this day and age, you know you have to be as speedy and efficient as possible.
For example, someone sent me a text saying he was pre-aching.
And I thought, well, sure, if you know you’re going to be running a marathon tomorrow, it would be very smart to get that out of the way today.
Then I realized he meant preaching.
Oh, okay.
Pre-aching.
Nevertheless, I’m still pre-aching the gospel of efficiency and reading things the wrong way.
I’ll describe a text.
You tell me what forward-thinking word I’ve made an error about.
Now, there should be a clue to the original word in there somewhere, too.
All right?
Mm—
Here we go.
My dad was texting me about my birthday, and as I understand it, he mailed me a gift yesterday.
That’s preposterous.
Present.
Present.
Oh.
Right.
He present it.
Oh, present.
Okay.
Very good.
Now I get how this works.
These will all begin with P-R-E.
Oh.
Okay.
Right.
My kid texted me about his field trip today to the National Archives to see the Constitution.
Now, as I understood it, they took a leisurely walk over there yesterday.
To see the president?
I don’t know.
No.
What’s the Constitution famous for?
Preamble.
They preambled over there.
Right.
They preamble.
Yeah.
Very good.
My brother was texting me something about the early ancestors of computer interfaces.
I think that’s what it was.
Something about the pointer on his computer screen from days gone by.
Precursors?
Yes, the precursor.
Very good.
Now, this is right up your alley.
My linguist friend was texting a list of word parts, and I thought, good.
You should make sure any mistakes have been rectified yesterday.
Prefixed.
Yes, prefixed.
Prefixed.
My mom was texting me something about getting ready for Thanksgiving, and I thought, well, at least you peeled the potatoes ahead of time.
Prepared.
Yes, prepared.
My doctor was texting me something about medications I was supposed to take, and I thought, well, why did he hire someone to handwrite a manuscript of these things yesterday?
Prescribe.
Prescribe, yeah, that’s weird.
Mom again texted me about canning fruits and veggies for winter, and I’m like, well, what does this have to do with you playing tennis yesterday?
Preserve.
Preserve, right.
My brother texted me about my niece playing dress-up, and I thought, well, at least she took care of her garden yesterday.
Pretend.
Yes, they pretend.
What does it have to do with the garden?
3-0?
What?
You tend to garden.
My friend was texting me about his work with the CDC, keeping people healthy, and I responded, well, good thing you expelled all that toxic gas ahead of time.
You prevent.
Pre-vent.
Oh.
Yes.
Very good.
And on that note, thank you, dude.
Wow.
I really appreciate it.
My pleasure.
I’ll see you soon.
Take care.
Bye.
Bye.
It’s a show about words and language and how we use them and some goofing around.
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