Quiz Guy John Chaneski invites us to a party where all the adults have professions that match their children’s names. For example, if dad is a barber, or if mom is a recording engineer, what would they name their boys? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Professional Names 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 in the studio is John Chaneski, our quiz guy.
Hi, John.
Hi, Grant.
Hi, Martha.
Tell me darn.
What’s up, bud?
How you doing?
I’m doing great.
I’m going to tell you guys a true story.
Okay.
One time I was having dinner with some friends, my friends Blossom and Jeff.
Now, Blossom, who’s Chinese, she said, you know, in Chinese culture, it’s common when you name a child to give them a name related to your occupation.
To which Jeff replied, oh, you mean like two botanists who named their daughter Blossom?
And immediately she dropped her face to the table.
She had never realized.
Are you serious?
Yeah.
She had been going around telling people about how she realized her parents are both botanists, and so they named her Blossom.
Yeah.
Beat stamen or pistol or cotyledon.
Yeah, not that easy.
By a long shot.
Well, it’s a lovely name.
I love it, actually.
Yeah.
That’s inspired me to come up with this quiz.
I’m going to introduce you to some friends of mine.
I’ll tell you what their parents did, and you guess their names.
Quiz based in a real-life story.
How about this?
The best ones.
The best ones really are.
Here we go.
Here’s the first one.
I’d like you to meet my friend.
His mom is a recording engineer.
Mike.
Oh, good.
Very good.
Try saying, like, oh, you must be Mike.
Okay.
All the people at the party will say, wow, they must have paranormal powers.
I’d like you to meet my friend.
His dad is a probate lawyer.
Oh, Bill, it’s nice to meet you.
Will.
Oh, Will.
He’s going to ask about a legislator in a minute.
Luckily, he didn’t ruin anything with that one.
But yes, his name is Will.
Will, okay, good.
I’d like you to meet my friend.
His dad is a barber.
Hi, Harry.
That’s not bad.
That’s good.
That’s not what I was going for.
Oh, really?
His dad is a clumsy barber.
Oh, Nick.
Nice to meet you.
Very good.
Yeah.
Okay.
I’d like you to meet my friend.
His dad was a barista.
I’ve never met a frappe before.
Hi, Starbuck.
I don’t know.
You still have it.
Let’s see.
Oh, what do you know, Joe?
Very good.
Yes.
Right.
My friend’s name is Joe.
Some of these, by the way, are phonetic.
Okay?
Okay.
Don’t forget that.
I’d like you to meet my friend.
His dad was a miner.
Cole?
Yeah, that’s the one I’m looking for.
Oh, okay.
I see.
Let’s do some women.
I’d like you to meet my girlfriend.
Her mom is an astronomer.
Stella.
Stella.
Very good, Martha.
Finally, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend.
Her dad is a meteorologist.
Windy.
Breezy.
Everyone knows it’s windy.
Windy Breeze.
There’s actually a few for this one, but neither of those are on the top 100.
But the first one I have is.
Rainbow, Iris, Meteor.
Viola.
Oh, Summer.
How about Summer?
Oh, Summer’s good.
That’s not bad.
April?
I was going to take Sunny.
April Shower?
Oh, Sunny.
Or Rain.
Or Gale.
Gale.
Good.
The name that’s in the top 100 is Haley.
Oh, Haley.
Spelled how?
Oh, H-A-L-E-Y, I think.
Okay.
I know many nice Haley’s, many fine Haley’s.
Those are all my friends.
Thank you for having me over.
What a party.
Yeah, right?
A lot of good conversation there.
We’ll talk to you next week.
Talk to you next week, guys.
I’ll bring some more friends next time.
This is a show about words and language and how we use them.
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