Slang Quiz with Guy Jacobson

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

It’s time for Slang This, the game where we try to stump a member of the National Puzzlers League.

Today’s contestant is the president of the National Puzzlers League. That’s Guy Jacobson from Gridgewater, New Jersey. Hi, Guy.

Well, hello, Guy. How are you doing?

Hello. Hello, Martha. Hello, Grant.

Hiya.

Is it powerful being the president of the NPL?

Oh, it’s awesome. But, you know, with great power comes great responsibility.

The million-dollar bonuses. What do you do with those?

Well, you know, since we took the bailout package, my salary has been cut down to half a million.

Oh.

And when the Sunday Times comes, you get to do the puzzle first?

Yes, I do. In fact, I get to do all the puzzles first.

Well, hey, Guy, do you have a favorite slang term for us?

Yes, I do, but it’s a little bit blue. I hope that’s all right.

All the better.

It’s a term for farting, and the term is painting the elevator.

Painting the elevator? I’ve heard of peeling the paint.

But painting the elevator?

Here’s the story I heard that went along with it.

What happens is if you enter an elevator by yourself and you happen to pass gas, then Murphy’s Law will tell you that inevitably someone will get on the very next floor.

Yeah, someone very attractive, right?

Well, probably, yes.

And they will look at you a little bit funny.

They’ll scrunch up their nose and they’ll look at you and then you’ll have to think of some kind of excuse.

So you say, they must be painting the elevator.

And then they roll their eyes, of course.

And the great thing about this expression is that you can use it sort of as a code word if your family knows about it.

So, you know, you’re in a car and you’re driving along and you say, who painted the elevator?

That’s what I love about this show, news you can use.

Well, let’s see how you do on our slang quiz.

Okay.

You ready?

I’m going to give you a clue that describes one of two possible slang words or phrases, but only one of them is correct.

If you need help, just Badger Martha and she will rise to the occasion.

I always do.

Okay.

Here we go.

Here’s the first one.

In 1926, Variety magazine, that’s the Insider’s Journal of Hollywood, wrote, a fighter with round heels along Cauliflower Alley was a dame on rockers in another circle.

What slang term were they talking about?

Is it A, pogey, or B, pushover?

So the sentence again is, a fighter with round heels along Cauliflower Alley was a dame on rockers in another circle.

Well, I mean, I’m going to have to do a little double think here, and pushover is too obvious.

You wouldn’t have asked if it was pushover, so I’m going to go with Poggy.

Do not try to get in my mind.

I don’t know.

It’s dangerous in there.

Poggy is spelled P-O-G-U-E-Y.

Okay, I have no idea what that is.

All right, well, I’m going to stick with my guns and my feelings here, because if it was simply pushover, you wouldn’t have asked a question about it.

Game theory is a great thing to study in school, because the answer is actually pushover.

It is pushover.

Oh, dear.

Yeah, it was an easy one. I gave you an easy one.

It was a real pushover.

Variety magazine is known for this really stilted style of writing, where they coin new words in practically every sentence, and sometimes it takes you a minute or two to kind of suss out what they intend.

And so I thought that sentence might be just enough to make a pretty simple question more difficult.

But a pushover is both a boxer who has a glass chin, that is one who’s easy to beat, and a woman of easy virtue.

The idea is that either one of them needs just a nudge and they’ll fall over into the position that you want them.

It’s kind of crude, I know, but it’s not my slang. I didn’t invent it.

A cauliflower alley, by the way, is a slang name of the boxing circuit.

Sure, like cauliflower ear, right?

Yeah, exactly, back in the day.

Okay.

All right, guys, let’s try another one and see how you do on this one.

In American English, we might call something lame, cheesy, or tacky if it was poorly made, unstylish, or just vulgar.

But in the United Kingdom, you could also call it what since the 1960s?

Is it A, noodles, N-O-O-D-L-E-S, or B, naff, N-A-F-F?

Well, I’ve heard naff used, but I’m not sure I remember what it means.

And again, I think that’s probably what it is.

I think naff is, I’m going to go with naff.

That’s right, exactly right. Where did you hear it?

I don’t remember. Maybe on Monty Python or somewhere.

Yeah, it’s been around long enough that you will find it in plenty of movies and books.

And even though it’s a little old-fashioned, it’s kind of like groovy in the United States.

People will still use it with the full awareness that it’s a little old-fashioned.

I first ran into it about 15 or 20 years ago in South America.

And it’s a very useful term.

It’s like the F word in that you can do all sorts of things to it and make it all sorts of parts of speech and kind of put it to work.

Well, naff and a.

Well, Guy, thank you for playing.

It’s quite a pleasure.

Likewise.

It was fun.

Okay.

Thanks, Guy.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Well, if you have a question for us about words, language, grammar, slang, or maybe even bad language, give us a call.

The number is 1-877-929-9673.

That’s 1-877-WAYWORD.

Or you can send an email to words@waywordradio.org.