He’s a Competitive Quizzer and He Does Well on Tests?

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

I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

And gliding across the ice on his trusty Zamboni that he takes everywhere is our quiz guy, John Chaneski.

Hey, John.

Hey, guys.

I enjoy the Zamboni so much. You know, Mr. Zamboni is one of the few non-hockey players or ice skaters who is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, by the way.

Is that right?

Yes, he is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, Ice Hockey Hall of Fame.

Where’s that?

Someplace cold, I imagine.

I forget where it is. Coast cold, south cold.

It’s not in Miami.

No, not in Miami, no.

So today we’re going to do something we’ve done before. Takeoffs, again, alphabetically, we’re working our way through.

You like takeoffs. That’s where we take the first letter of a word to get another word.

And this time we’re going to make two words by taking the letter R from the start of a word. Only R now.

For example, if I said, he’s a star pitcher, but he really can’t run that fast, the answer would be race for run and ace for star pitcher.

Oh, so he’s an ace pitcher.

I see.

Right. He’s a star pitcher, so he’s an ace. Or a really good pitcher, he’s an ace.

Now, so the word with the R, and it could be clued first or second. It could be either way.

Here we go.

Okay. Let’s race to the quiz.

You’re going to ace. We made a surprise attack upon the castle with the knight’s help.

Okay, so you got aid from the knight in order to make a raid.

Yes, very good. Those are the things. Surprise attack and help are basically the only three words you needed, really.

Speaking of skating, you can skate here, but you’ll have to sign your waivers first.

Oh, you’ll have to ink the forms to use the rink.

Yes, you’ll have to ink to rink, to be on the rink.

The park employee could not control his rage.

The ranger?

Yeah, that’s it. Couldn’t control his anger.

Yes, ranger and anger.

I only wish I’d seen a heron while we were out birdwatching.

Regret and egret.

Oh, nice. Regret and egret.

When I found out that James and I were cousins, we were both overjoyed.

Let me say it this way instead, by the way. When we found out that James and I were cousins, we were both overjoyed.

Were you too elated?

We were elated. You know why?

Because you were related.

Because we were related.

Yes. We were related the first time, and then we were related again.

When you put that much feeling into your acting, I promise you’ll go far.

When you emote, you’ll be remote.

Yes.

Wow. They’ll send you away.

Yes, you’ll be very far.

While I was arguing with the man taking me to my seat, the defensive end blitzed the quarterback.

Rusher?

Oh, Rusher and Usher?

Yes, that’s it. Rusher and Usher.

Shout out to Usher, wherever he is.

Those are our takeoffs for today. You guys did very, very well.

Congratulations.

Oh, that was great, John.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah, we appreciate it.

Say hello to the family for us, and we’ll see you next time.

Right back at you.

See you next time.

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And you can talk to us online. Find all of our handles and nicknames on our website at waywordradio.org.