Sound Puzzle

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

And I’m Martha Barnette. And we’re joined now by our quiz guide, John Chaneski.

John, what’s the hap?

It’s a nice, clear, cold day here in New York. Loving it. It’s really nice out.

So how are you guys?

Great. Super. Wonderful.

We’ve been jonesing for a quiz, though.

Good. That’s terrific. I happen to have one in front of me here.

You guys have seen those little wordplay puzzles that are just a bunch of letters in a box? Do you know what I’m talking about?

No.

You’ll see a little box on a piece of paper, and it’ll say the letters M-E over the letters A-L.

And the answer is square meal.

Oh, nice.

What are those called?

I forget what those little brain teasers are called.

I’m sure the games magazine people have a name for them, but it escapes me right now.

It occurred to me that I could try to do something like that for you guys.

On the radio.

Great idea, John.

On the radio, yeah.

You know, I’m always trying to, you know, outside the box, that kind of stuff.

For example, what common word or phrase is suggested by the following?

Five.

High five.

High five, right.

I like to think that if you want to congratulate someone, you can’t physically high five them, you can just say, five.

And that would do it.

I like it.

Good.

Let’s try some more.

I’ll give you the answer’s definition if you really need it.

Okay.

Here’s the first one.

Décis.

Jeune.

Indecision?

Halting decision?

No.

Split decision.

Split decision, yes.

Oh, nice, nice, nice.

Okay, we’re off to a good start.

Here’s the second one.

Spot.

Low spot?

Down spot?

No.

Spot.

Spot.

Say it again.

Spot.

Spot.

Faint spot?

I don’t know.

Like in the laundry?

Don’t know.

That one’s hard.

It’s the point in a system.

Weak spot.

Weak spot.

Yes.

Weak spot.

Very good.

Okay.

Here’s the next one.

Money.

Mad money?

Mad money.

Yes.

Good.

Here goes the next one.

Babies.

Baby’s breath?

Yes.

Oh, Lord.

Okay, let’s try this one.

This is going to take a little work.

Here we go.

Ready?

Cousins.

Distant cousins.

Yes, distant cousins.

I hope that sounded good.

Yeah, that was great.

It did.

Good.

I love this.

Cousins, cousins, cousins.

Here’s the next one.

Yeah.

O-U-T.

Spelled out.

Spelled out, yes.

Very good.

Okay.

Here’s another one.

Cavity.

Nasal cavity.

Nasal cavity, good.

Here’s another.

Pockets.

Deep pockets.

Yes, deep pockets.

Deep pockets.

This one’s similar.

I’ve got to step back a little bit.

Here we go.

Twenties!

Roaring twenties!

Yes, roaring twenties.

All right, I’ve been practicing this one.

Here we go.

Forward.

Fast forward.

Yes.

Here’s the last one.

Some people sing in the shower.

I know.

Forward.

I yell words.

Say them quickly.

Here’s the last one.

Susan.

Lazy Susan.

Yes, Lazy Susan.

Yay.

Wow, John.

That was very good.

Love that.

Encore.

Encore.

Thank you, guys.

Oh, my gosh.

That is really impressive.

It worked.

Hooray.

I loved it.

Truly amazing, John.

Save that for the clips at the end of the year.

Yeah, that’s good.

Thanks.

If you guys got a question about language, give us a call.

We’ll take just about anything, 877-929-9673, or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.

Don’t forget, we’ve got a discussion forum on our website at waywordradio.org, and we’re on Facebook and Twitter.