States of MIND Quiz

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

And I’m Martha Barnette. And joining us once again is that roly-poly, lovable, cute-as-a-button quiz guy, John Chaneski.

Roly-poly?

Roly-poly. Hi, Martha. Thanks.

I just wanted to make sure you were listening.

Yeah, I’m certainly listening to that, roly-poly.

For those of you who don’t know, John is about 7 feet tall and he weighs about 130 pounds.

That’s right.

People, they usually use me if somebody gets locked out of their car.

They usually slide me in between the window to get something to lock.

If you turn him around, his back looks like a stegosaurus. It’s all bones.

Not quite that bad.

My wife likes me.

Let’s put it that way.

That’s fine.

That’s important.

Speaking of which, by the way, I wanted to tell you guys about something my wife and I are involved in,

Something you may have heard of, something called the Poetry Brothel.

Oh, I saw that in the police report.

No, it’s an actual event.

It’s sort of changing the way people do poetry readings.

Apparently.

And it was created by two of Jenny’s grad students.

And it’s in New York here.

And every month or so, they get together a different club.

And people pay money to have intimate one-on-one poetry readings.

So somebody sits across from me at the table with a little candlelight and some drinks and reads me from it.

Oh, not even a table.

Really? Lap poetry?

Just on a bench next to you on a little bit.

Yeah.

What are they wearing when this is happening?

Well, they actually try to create the brothel atmosphere.

So a lot of them are wearing corsets and lace.

There’s feathers and things around.

So I think you’ll like it a lot.

And how are you involved with this?

I am the master of ceremonies.

Oh, I see.

And that’s what they’re calling the pimp now.

No, it’s definitely, I describe myself as a poet monkey.

Oh, sure.

So I wear a monkey suit.

Okay.

A little bow tie and a tux, and I say, and I introduce the poet.

So that’s my bit.

And that’s a perfect segue.

No, it’s not.

Come on.

To my quiz today.

It’s called, something I like to call states of mind.

Okay.

And you’ll see why soon.

It’s a very simple quiz.

I’ll give you a definition of a word, and your job is to tell me the two U.S. States whose abbreviations make up that word.

For example, this word refers to your knowledge or intellectual ability, the seat of the faculty of reason.

Oh, so mind.

Mind, right, is the states of mind.

So you’d have two states.

Michigan and North Dakota.

Michigan and North Dakota, right.

Here’s the first.

These two states form a word meaning no longer do as a bill.

Pennsylvania and Idaho.

Very good.

Pennsylvania and Idaho.

Paid.

Paid, that’s right.

P-A-I-D.

P-A-I-D.

Right.

Very nice.

These two states form a word meaning very, very, very dark, like space.

Very, very, very dark?

Right.

Like space?

Right.

Or perhaps, let’s give a little more of a clue, like a dark tribal tattoo.

Really?

Oh, I see.

Indiana and Kentucky.

Indiana and Kentucky.

Martha, do you know the two?

Can you figure that one out?

Yes.

Inky.

Inky is right.

Good.

Okay.

Very good, Grant.

These two states form a word meaning refuse to recognize or acknowledge.

Refuse to recognize.

Oh, Delaware and New York.

Beautiful.

Martha?

Deny.

Deny.

Deny is right.

D-E?

And why?

I’m waiting for you to slip a Canadian province in there.

Would that I had.

Would that I had.

But you know what I’ll do?

I’ll make things a little longer.

Saskatchewan has that nice SK, though.

I know.

As in Chaneski.

You don’t see a lot of that.

These three states form a word meaning an urgent request that is not negotiable.

Oregon?

Nope.

No.

Delaware, Massachusetts, and North Dakota.

Very good.

And the word, Martha?

Demand.

Demand is right.

It’s in order, but I ran out of letters.

Let’s go even longer.

These four states form a word meaning a structure intended to honor persons or events.

Maine, Montana, Maine again, Rhode Island, and Alabama.

You got one of the states wrong.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

It’s okay.

Oh, Missouri.

That’s right.

Try it again.

Maine, Missouri, Rhode Island, Alabama.

That’s right.

Oh, great.

Good job, Grant.

Martha, can you give us the word?

Memorial.

Memorial is correct.

M-E-M-O-R-I-A-L.

Here’s the last one.

These four states form a word meaning a mixture of zinc oxide and iron oxide that is commonly used as an anti-itching agent.

Wow, that’s not helping me at all.

It’s not desitin.

This is the kind of thing you need if you’ve got sunburn or if you’ve got a bee bite or a mosquito bite or something like that.

Right, yeah.

What is that called?

It’s not cortisone.

No.

You already know it’s pink, don’t you?

Oh, it is?

Oh, now you know what it is.

Okay.

How about California, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska?

That’s right.

Calamine.

Calamine is correct.

Man.

You guys were fantastic.

Thanks, guys.

Thank you, sir.

That was a great quiz.

As always, a couple stumpers in there.

Got to have the stumpers, right?

Yes.

If you’d like to stump us with a question about language, grammar, spelling, pronunciation, slang, or what have you, we’re ready.

Give us a call.

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