Rhyming Doublet Word 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.

Hello, John.

Hi, Grant.

Hi, Martha.

Hi.

It’s a pleasure to be back once again.

You know, if I had a dime for every time we did a quiz based on rhymes,

I’d have enough for a subway ride, maybe.

Instead of doing rhyme time, I thought we’d try something a little different.

This is called rhyme and time.

In the following answers, the rhyming words are separated by the word and.

For example, if I gave you the clue, this is a technique for narrowing the aspect ratio of a widescreen movie so that it’ll fit on your TV screen.

You might know that that technique is called pan and scan.

Oh, yes.

Yeah, they pan the movie, they find where the action is, and that’s the part they use, pan and scan.

So it’s going to be blank and blank, and the two words will rhyme.

Here we go.

Speaking of techniques, it’s a technique for courting someone. You take them out frequently

For drinks and good food. Wine and dine. Yes, wine and dine. It’s a pretty good technique.

You’re not likely to make many friends with an attitude like this one. You’re a pessimist who

Focuses only on the negative aspects of any situation. Groan and moan, moan and groan,

Moaner groaner. That’s something, but I don’t think it’s something I’ve heard regularly.

Doom and gloom.

Yes, doom and gloom.

I would also accept gloom and doom.

Both of them are used.

Now, you won’t make many friends if you’re not there for them.

It may sound like an advantageous position to be in during a flood,

But it really means you need help.

High and dry.

Yes, high and dry.

Very good.

A better way to live your life is to be honest and straightforward when dealing with people.

Be equitable.

Be a parallelogram.

Fair and square.

Yes, fair and square.

I was going to say true and blue, but no.

Oh, that’s true and blue.

We can make that a new thing.

I like it.

This term is often used for an event where fans can encounter celebrities in person.

Now, it sounds a little redundant to me.

How can you do the first and not the second?

Meet and greet.

Meet and greet, yeah.

You meet someone and then not say hello at least.

I don’t know.

Yeah, exactly.

The internet age and spam emails, social media, fake news have given new life to a form of securities fraud.

It involves artificially inflating the price of a stock with misleading positive statements and then selling your overvalued shares.

Pump and dump.

Pump and dump.

Yes, very good.

Wall Street term.

It wasn’t until Jenny was pregnant with our firstborn that I heard this phrase.

The parents who use it are actually doing some good re-overpopulation.

One and done.

One and done.

Yes, exactly.

Whereas Jenny and I, we are two and through.

That’s something I came up with.

Now, while this rhyming term can describe several flags, including the flags of Syria, Honduras, Venezuela, Texas, even the U.S.,

It’s typically used as a nickname of the flag of the Confederate States.

Stars and bars.

Stars and bars.

Lots of flags have stars and bars, but that’s the stars and bars.

Finally, this phrase described what my genes have been through.

In some places, they’re so thin you can almost read through them.

In others, you can read through them.

Wear and tear.

Wear and tear.

Yes, and on that note, I’ve got to go buy some new jeans.

Okay, you guys were great.

Take care.

Thanks, John.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you.

We’ll talk to you next week.

Bye-bye.

See you then.

Bye-bye.

And if you’d like to talk with us about any aspect of language whatsoever,

Call us, 877-929-9673,

Or send your comments and email to words@waywordradio.org.