Slang Quiz with June Casagrande

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

And I’m Martha Barnette, and it’s time for our slang game.

Our contestant today is June Casagrande from Pasadena, California.

She’s also the author of Mortal Syntax, 101 Language Choices That Will Get You Clobbered by the Grammar Snobs, Even If You’re Right.

Ouch. June, welcome.

Hi, how are you?

I’m fine. Am I a grammar snob?

No, definitely not. You guys are the kinds of people who like to seek out answers and who take a very academic, interested, fascinated approach to the language as opposed to the people who want to take a very narrow, don’t-find-answers view.

Oh, super-dupend.

You know, I’ve read the book, and I have to say, you do a fair amount of clobbering of your own, don’t you?

I definitely walk both sides of the fence for comedic effect, but it’s all in the name of trying to promote good information.

So, yeah, I definitely cheat a bit in my approach, but it’s all to serve the reader in the end, and I hope they appreciate it.

Hey, June, speaking of words, do you have a favorite slang term for us?

You know, I think my favorite slang term of late is probably weasel.

And I don’t even know if that qualifies as slang.

It’s just a really fun word to say, and I think when I say it at least, it qualifies as slang.

Weasel?

Just a weasel.

Just he’s a weasel.

It’s better as a verb, too.

Don’t weasel out of that.

Don’t weasel out of paying the bill, that kind of thing.

Is there a song called Weasels Ate My Brain?

I don’t know, but there should be.

Sounds like a Frank Zappa song.

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

Okay.

I’ll give you a clue that describes one of two possible slang words or phrases.

Only one of them is correct, and your job is to pick the right one.

It’s pretty simple, but if you get stuck, Martha’s standing by to help, okay?

Okay.

All right, here we go.

Number one.

You could call it an airport, an aerodrome, an airstrip, or a big pain in the neck, but an undercover cop might call it A, the hot wings, or B, a bird farm.

Which one of these is another name for an airport?

Wow.

That’s tough.

My job is done.

Can I guess or should I look to my job?

Oh, yeah.

Just guess.

My slang mojo says Bird Farm.

Bird Farm, your slang mojo is on target.

It is Bird Farm.

All right.

Supposedly, Bird Farm is what police use when they’re working undercover and talking, say, on an open radio frequency or on a phone, and they don’t want people who might be listening in to know that they’re talking about an airport.

But I’ve got to tell you, to me, it seems a little transparent if you’d say, yeah, I’m going to the bird farm.

You know, unless you live in chicken territory somewhere in Arkansas, most people probably would think of an airport.

June, let’s try another one and see how this one goes, all right?

A camper carries a backpack and a mess kit.

An artist carries a portfolio.

A hobo carries a bindle.

What might a tinker carry?

You know, a tinker is someone who travels from place to place fixing things.

Does a tinker carry a budget, B-U-D-G-E-T, or a bull’s belly, B-U-L-L apostrophe S-B-E-L-L-Y, bull’s belly?

These are great questions.

I have no idea.

Oh, no!

But I have a feeling of what I’d want to carry if I were a tinker.

If I were a tinker, it sounds like I’ve got wings and I go around on tiptoes, but I would want to be tough, so I’d want to carry something really bold and tough, sounding like a bull’s belly.

That’s my guess.

Your guess? You think tinker is something related to a tinkerbell?

No, it does start with a T, right?

Yes, yes, tinker, T-I-N-K-E-R.

Tinker is someone who fixes things.

Right, but it has that connotation.

It has a delicate connotation, and if I were a tinker, I would probably want to counteract that with something kind of tough sounding.

Okay.

Okay.

But unfortunately, the answer is A, budget, B-U-D-G-E-T.

And here’s why.

Budget can mean a leather bag, pouch, a pack, something like that.

Both this meaning of budget and the budget in terms of, you know, a financial budget come from the same source, which is an old French word, budget, B-U-G-E-T-T-E, and it means a small bag.

And the history of how it came to refer to something money-related is that in the UK, at some point in the history of the country, it became custom for the government officials to be said to opening the budget, meaning kind of metaphorically opening up the money bags when they talked about financial matters.

And then by extension, budget became a way of talking about any kind of financial statement or plan.

I bet if my two and a half years of French had been three years of French, I’d have gotten that one.

No, it’s a little archaic. I think you’re fine.

You’re on good territory.

There is a line in Shakespeare’s The Winter Tale where he uses the word.

He says, if tinkers may have leave to live and bear the sowskin budget.

So maybe the Shakespearean experts who are listening caught that one.

Well, June, I thought you did really well, and I liked your reasoning.

Yeah, the reasoning is all in the fun, right?

It’s called wild guesses followed by backpedaling.

Exactly.

Well, thanks for playing.

Thank you so much for having me.

All right.

Thank you, June. Bye-bye.

Well, you can call us anytime about grammar or slang or word origins or any other aspect of language.

The number is 1-877-929-9673.

That’s 1-877-W-A-Y-W-O-R-D.

Or you can email us.

The address is words@waywordradio.org.