Put the Bite on Someone

Hi, you’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette. And it’s time for another slang quiz.

Grant, today’s contestant for Slang This is Andrea Carla Michaels from San Francisco.

Well, hello, Andrea.

Hi.

Hi, Andrea.

Hi. How are you doing?

I’m doing fine. I understand that you’re a crossword puzzler and that you were at that national tournament this spring.

Yes, Will Shorts used one of my puzzles as the opening puzzle, the easy one to get people going.

And it was sort of the highlight of my life to watch 699 people doing my puzzle.

I had never even seen one person doing one.

So that was the highlight of your life, and it’s all downhill from here.

Until today.

Well, I was going to say.

Oh, what’s happening later?

We’re not part of your downhill slide, right?

Right.

Well, how about a slang word for us?

Your price of admission for this game, Andrea, is telling us your favorite slang word.

Oh, well, I was thinking when I was growing up in Minnesota,

I don’t know if this is technically slang, but we used to say ish.

As a euphemism for the S word?

No, no, no.

It just means ick.

Somebody would say something and we’d go, ish.

And I haven’t heard it since leaving there and only discovered as an adult that it was specific to Minnesota.

Is that right?

Well, hey, Andrea, you want to play a game?

Yes, please.

All right.

Okay, well, here’s how we play.

Grant’s going to give you a sentence with a blank in it.

Oh.

And then he’ll give you three words that might fill in that blank.

So your job is to figure out which slang word fits best, but you can’t just pick out a word.

You have to show us your work.

You have to justify it.

Yeah, right.

You have to justify your choice, just like showing your work in algebra.

Okay?

And I haven’t seen the question, so I’ll be joining you on the player side of the table so we can talk about the process.

Oh, good.

Okay?

All right.

Well, here we go.

Here’s the first sentence.

Well, doctor, your first day at County General has been a doozy.

Two births, a death, and a motorcycle accident.

What do you say to blank down at the bar?

Is the blank A, liver rounds down at the bar, B, sharp starters down at the bar, or C, monkey straps down at the bar?

I love, I mean, my first inclination, of course, is liver rounds because it has to do with drinking and destroying the liver and making rounds.

So that sounds very doctory, but that sounds like something that you would then make up.

Yeah, or give to your puppy.

Open the little plastic bag and give them a living room.

Oh, I see.

If they do a trick.

And sharp starters.

I don’t even know where to begin on that.

Monkey straps, I love.

I’m hoping that’s the answer, but I know we have to figure out why.

Martha, why would it be monkey straps?

How can we tie that into a doctor doing something?

Well, gosh, you know, monkey, I’m thinking bananas,

So I’m thinking maybe it’s some kind of drink with, you know, like a pina colada only with bananas.

I mean, do you think it could be slang for stethoscope?

You know, like it hangs around your neck.

Ooh, and you stick them in your ears and you look sort of monkey.

And if you’re wearing them, the chicks at the bar know you’re a doctor.

So I’m going to go, yes, I’m going to go with monkey straps.

Are they known to stay away?

You’re going to go with monkey straps?

Yes, I’m sticking to that inexplicably.

When I take trips, I always love to take little detours and go to the side road,

But I always get back on my road and go in the right direction,

And you should have stayed with liver rounds.

Oh.

Your logic there was impeccable.

Oh.

It’s when doctors go out for drinks with other doctors.

It’s a play on the double meaning of rounds.

You know, a doctor will do his rounds by checking on all his patients,

And then buying rounds in a bar, buying drinks for people that you’re with.

And, of course, as you said, liquor is bad for your liver.

All right.

And what is a monkey strap in real life?

A monkey strap is actually the name of those straps that you might hang on to, say, in a helicopter

Or at the top of a telephone pole when you’re repairing something up there.

They also call them jump straps.

Oh, yes.

Some cars have them, too, but usually they’re not called that in an automobile.

All right.

Well, here’s another chance.

Are you ready?

Yes.

All right.

There’s a filly in the fourth at Belmont called Sweet Mama’s Got Your Number,

And I just know she’s a winner.

I wouldn’t ordinarily try to put the blank on you,

But just this once, give me a couple hundred dollars,

And I’ll pay you back tomorrow.

So, is it A, I wouldn’t ordinarily try to put the mark on you,

Is it B, put the tail on you, T-A-I-L,

Or C, put the bite on you, B-I-T-E?

Wow.

Well, of course, gamblers use marks.

Yeah.

Maybe with horse racing, they use tails.

And put the bite on you.

Bite.

I’m going to go with monkey straps.

I wouldn’t ordinarily put the monkey straps on you, but you’re my kind of guy.

Hello.

Let’s see.

Don’t bring me into your fantasy life.

This is my same problem, that mark seems really straightforward.

And tail has a nice kind of horse thing happening.

But I guess in a gambling sense, I guess the mark makes the most sense.

So that’s your answer?

I give up.

Yeah, I’m going to say put the mark then, I guess.

It’s the bite.

Andrea, it’s the bite.

If you put the bite on somebody, you hit them up for money.

Oh, maybe because no one borrows money from me because I always have less than they do.

Well, I was hoping, Andrea, that you might be familiar with the Spanish term mordita,

Which means it’s Spanish for a bribe.

You take a little bite.

It literally translates into English as a little bite.

Oh, that’s sweet.

Yeah, and a lot of languages actually have that connotation.

It’s kind of like somebody reaching over at the restaurant in your plate

And sticking their fork in and taking some of your meal.

That’s the kind of bite we’re talking about here.

And sometimes there’s an understanding that that money is not really a loan

And actually will never be given back.

Andrea, this was great fun.

I love the way your mind works.

Oh, thank you.

That’s sweet.

I’m going to give you the opportunity to learn even more because by way of saying thanks,

We’re going to send you a copy of Grant’s book.

It’s called The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English.

That’s fantastic.

Thank you for playing with us today.

All right.

All right.

Bye-bye, Andrea.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

If you’ve got a question about how best to use English, give us a call, 1-877-929-9673.

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