And a Quiz Where the Answers Are Hard Is a Sweatshop

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Martha Barnette.

I’m Grant Barrett. Look who just popped out of a birthday cake.

It’s our quiz guy, John Chaneski.

You know, it sounds very interesting, but it’s really rather messy.

And, well, excuse me as I just slough off some whipped cream.

Now, you guys know The Enigma, the monthly newsletter of the National Puzzlers League, of which I am a member.

The Enigma has puzzles using various types of wordplay, and one of them is the false wordplay.

For example, the word checker is a false comparative.

It doesn’t mean more check.

It’s a playing piece.

So today’s quiz is what I might call a false store, a word that sounds like it describes a shop where they sell something, but it’s not real.

For example, a place where they sell baked goods is definitely a bakery, but if they sell flying mammals, you might call it a battery, but still has nothing to do with power cells, even though it sounds like it does.

Now, most of these are phonetic.

That doesn’t have two Ts.

Gotcha.

But so what?

Yeah.

All right.

So what would you call these false stores?

Now, this would be a very clever name for a blacksmith shop or any place where they mold metal parts.

It has nothing to do with printing fake banknotes.

Aha, forgery.

A forgery. Forgery, yes, very good.

Not a store. It might be a place where hardened criminals live.

Another name for a prison. It has nothing to do with a green vegetable.

Celery.

The celery.

Yes.

Place where I guess you can buy cells.

I don’t know.

Maybe it’s a, I don’t know.

They sell, I don’t know, single-celled animals or something.

I don’t know.

Now, this is an actual location that offers painting and sculpting classes.

It has nothing to do with the circulatory system.

Oh.

The artery.

The artery.

Yes.

That inspired this quiz.

Yeah.

Now, this might be one of those new age shops that spray fine particles into the air for you to inhale for aromatherapy purposes.

You know, it has nothing to do with Sherlock Holmes.

Mystery.

The mystery.

I’d wager there may even be a store called the mystery.

Probably.

Yeah.

This would be an unwise idea for a petting zoo.

Just rams and other animals that are territorial and knock you about.

It has nothing to do with churning milk or cream.

Oh, buttery.

The buttery, yes.

Again, not a good idea to bring your kids to the buttery.

Finally, this is a cute name for a spa, a place where you go to get a relaxing massage.

It has little to do with a vulcanized material.

Rubbery.

The rubbery, yes.

And on that note, I’m going to head myself down to the rubbery and maybe get a nice little shiatsu or something like that

What are we going to do with all this cake?

Eat it!

Get yourself an egg and eat it at the hatchery

Can’t you just climb back in the cake and pull it over?

That’s how I get to the rubbery, I climb back into the cake

Goodbye guys!

Alright, bye John, we’ll see you next week, take care

See you then

Well, if you would like to engage in word nerdery with us, the place to do it is right here.

Give us a call, 877-929-9673, or send those emails to words@waywordradio.org.