Test Yourself with These Canine Quiz Conundrums

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 that man of mystery, our quiz guy, John Chanesky, who has been coming up with some devious quizzes for us to do.

Well, Grant, hi, Martha, hello.

You guys have seen a picture of my dog, Goldie, before, I’m pretty sure.

Oh, beautiful creature.

I know, she’s really nice.

Anyway, people and dogs have evolved together in a unique way, so of course our language reflects that. And there are additions to English that would not have appeared without dogs. There’s even an internet language relating to dogs called, among other things, doggo lingo, or woof, or bork. Now here are a few questions about words inspired by dogs. If you boop your dog on the nose, you might say beep, but if you take the word boop and change one letter, you get a word that in doggo lingo means the action of a dog sticking out their tongue and forgetting to put it back in.

Oh, it’s blop.

It is blop, yes. B-L-O-P.

Do you know what you call it when a cat does it?

It’s a blep, B-L-E-P.

It’s a blep, yes.

It’s also mlem, M-L-E-M, which some people say, well, why do we need a word like that? Well, if you’re ever doing a crossword puzzle and you’re constructing one and you need a space for M-L-E-M. Trust me, it comes in handy. Now, somebody gifted us with a doggy DNA test, and we’ve discovered that Goldie is, as expected, a mix of beagle, golden retriever, chow-chow, and a few other breeds. But the word mutt is derived from a word for another type of animal. Do you know what it is?

Yeah, a sheep.

A sheep, yeah.

Do you know how that came about?

Oh, this is way back in my deep reaches of my memory, but it seems to me it had to do with muttonhead, didn’t it?

That’s right. Mutton or mouton.

And it became mutton.

In 1800s, people would call people muttonhead, and that was clipped to mutt to mean anybody. It’s a term of derision for two-legged as well as four-legged animals.

And then a mongrel dog.

So, yeah, a sheep. Very good.

Now, we can talk about felines for a moment because it relates to dogs. Now, there’s a small furry insect crawling around in your garden. It gets its name from a French dialect for hairy cat. You know what that is, right?

Sure.

Caterpillar.

Caterpillar, yes.

But the modern French for caterpillar must have come about because someone thought they resembled small doggies. It’s the same word for a type of fuzzy fabric whose ridges resemble the caterpillar. Do you know what that is?

Chenille.

Chenille, yes.

Chen, yes.

Chenille, small dog.

And we get a caterpillar.

Very nice.

Now, Doggo Lingo has several words for dogs. Doggo, naturally, but also pupper, pupperino.

And what word that’s also used by audiophiles?

Used by audiophiles.

How about woofer?

It is woofer, right?

Oh, woofer.

A woofer, a speaker designed to produce low-frequency sounds. It’s derived from a dog’s wolf, so what comes around? You know, there you go.

Now, there’s a term for a person’s awareness of the position and movement of their own body. Do you know what that is?

Yes.

Proprioception.

Right.

Now, you can probably figure out a term I coined. I noticed while walking Goldie, I was highly aware of the location of her relative to me and the location of other dog walkers and their dogs, so I turned proprioception into what?

Proprioception.

Proprioception.

Right.

So let’s do our best to further that word now.

Puprioception is a new word, fully coined here on Away With Words.

So now you guys have done very well.

Good dog.

Good dog.

Well done.

Thanks, John.

We’ll talk to you next week.

Thanks for the fun.

And thanks for the pets.

Talk to you then.

And you can call us anytime, 877-929-9673, with your thoughts and ideas about language.

And send us your words related to dogs or any other pet to words@waywordradio.org.