Quiz Guy John Chaneski’s puzzle about synonyms might have you reaching for a thesaurus. For example, what 19th-century novel might have been titled Self-respect and Bias? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Synonymous Novel Title Word Game”
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 here he is, ducking in the doorway like Gandalf in a hobbit hole, our quiz guy, John Chaneski.
Hi, John.
That’s right.
Any six-foot-five person has to duck in this tiny little warren you call your studio, or my studio, actually, for some reason.
Okay.
How are you guys doing?
How are you this week?
Fantastic.
You?
Good.
Good.
I’m doing great.
There’s this old joke. The joke is, what’s a synonym for a thesaurus? Well, it’s a book of synonyms, of course.
Now, let’s run some common titles and phrases through a thesaurus and see what comes out the other end.
For example, if I asked you to identify the novel self-respect and bias, you would answer…
Pride and Prejudice.
Yes, Pride and Prejudice, 1813, Jane Austen. Very good. So you’re on board already.
Now, the clues coming up are a mix of titles and phrases.
Bear in mind, I’ve synonymized each word separately, and the synonym may not reflect the original intended meaning of the word.
Ready?
Okay.
Okay.
We’ll start with some easy ones.
It’s one of the most famous works of art.
The Ultimate Repast.
The Last Supper.
Yes, The Last Supper.
Good.
How about the board game, Frivolous Chase?
Does this have to do with trivia?
Yes, it does.
Trivial pursuit?
Trivial pursuit, that’s right.
I don’t think the kind of trivia I do is not frivolous. Just going to put that out there.
Now, sometimes I just synonymized the key words in a phrase.
For example, this is something you might hear regularly, though you may not believe it.
Your shout is significant to us.
Your call is important to us.
Please stay on the line.
And the representative will be with you shortly.
I don’t even believe when Grant says it.
Now, you guys are too good at this.
I’ll just give you the clue.
And if you need a category, I will provide.
Okay, here’s the first one.
The sizable blow supposition.
The name of my next album.
The sizable blow supposition by Grant Barrett.
I love it.
The big bang theory.
Theory, yeah.
Yes, to blow something is to bang, blow.
Yeah.
End of a Vendor.
Willie Loman.
Yes.
Death of a Salesman.
Death of a Salesman.
That’s right, Arthur Miller.
How about this one?
Subsist, cacinate, cherish.
Pray love.
Live, laugh, love?
It is live, laugh, love.
Live, laugh, love.
Anyway, we lived through that puzzle.
We laughed at a few of the answers.
And I just, I love you guys.
You’re fantastic.
So well done.
Oh, thanks so much, John.
Thank you.
Words and language, slang, and grammar.
Email words@waywordradio.org.
Here’s some more slang that I keep running across as I read about metal detectorists.
One of them is rhubar.
R-U-B-A-R.
Can you guess what that is?
No, I don’t.
It sounds like foobar or rebar.
It does.
But if you find something that’s metal that’s been buried for a long time, it might be rusted beyond all recognition.
Yes.
Rusted instead of fouled up.
Indeed.
