John Hoins the Josts With a 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 coming in in a cloud of dust, wearing a 10-gallon hat and twirling a lariat, it’s our quiz guy, John Chanesky.

Hi, John.

Hello, Grant.

Hello, Martha.

Excuse me as I kick off my spurs and we get ready. They make a little too much noise as I cross my legs.

You know, we’ve covered different styles of cryptic crossword clues here. We’ve done anagrams, sound clues, charades, but this is one, a rather rare type, that is nonetheless very fun, I think. It’s the Spoonerism.

Yeah, I want a reaction from Spoonerism. You guys must love Spoonerism.

Oh, boy!

There you go. My favorite utensil.

Excellent.

Now, the Reverend William Archibald Spooner, of course, is famous for, in late 1800s London, supposedly mixing up the syllables in spoken phrases to comic effect. You have tasted two worms. Instead of, you have wasted two terms, he supposedly said to a student. It is customary to cuss the bride is alleged to have been his. You know, these are apocryphal, of course.

Now, a cryptic spoonerism clue is easy to spot because it typically references the reverend. And the clues I’m about to give you are not standard cryptic clues, but they get the idea across and down.

For example, to us it is to abruptly bring something to an end. To the reverend it is a closed trial. So to us it is cut short. And to the reverend it’s shut court.

Oh, boy.

Okay.

You’ve got two ways in on this, and there are two of you. Now, if one of you gives me the spoonerism, the other can correct it and vice versa.

Okay?

We’ll try that. We’ll see how it goes.

All right.

Here’s the first one. To us, it is a collection of an entire TV series, typically in a cardboard container. To the Reverend, it is a wager on the Boston Baseball Club.

So a socks bet.

Right, that’s the Reverend’s version.

Very good.

And a box set.

A box set, yeah. A box set and socks bet. You’ve got it right away. This is going to be great.

To us, it is soft sugar candies that resemble legumes. To the reverend, it is dungarees that cover your stomach.

Belly jeans.

And jelly beans.

Very good, yes.

To us, it is snacks taken along on a hike. To the reverend, it is illusions performed by men.

Oh, I know.

Well, on a hike, I take trail mix.

Right, and so let’s look. Take male tricks.

Male tricks.

Yes.

Very good.

I gotcha.

To us, it is a college official who has a lot of work on her plate. To the reverend, it is a legume with vertigo.

It’s not vice provost.

Vice provost.

Yeah, I guess it would be a busy dean.

Yes.

Oh, a dizzy bean.

A jumping bean.

A dizzy bean, yes. It’s a game of legumes today.

Now, Spooner supposedly said, the Lord is a shoving leopard. May sod rest his goal.

And that’s it for us today. I want to do a shout out. If the people in the unincorporated community in Indiana called Lake Bruce can hear us, I just wonder how often they break loose.

Nice.

Very good.

Very good.

Let us know, Lake Bruce.

John, thank you so much.

Thank you, guys.

And you can break loose those questions on us. Call us 877-929-9673 to talk about any aspect of language whatsoever, or send your stories about language to words@waywordradio.org.