Word Challenge

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 we’re joined from New York City, our quiz guide, John Chaneski.

John, you cast a long shadow, man.

Yes, even at noon, I cast a long shadow.

It’s 6’5″.

What? How does that work?

It’s weird. I don’t know how it works. I’m just so tall.

You know, sometimes I come here and I say, here, I’ve clued a bunch of two-word phrases that all start with the same letter, blah, blah.

And we’ve been there. We’ve done that.

Let’s turn it around.

These are two word phrases that end with the same letter.

Here’s an example.

What’s fun is these all end with A, and it’s going to be like and so we can relax.

Okay.

Here’s an example.

If you mix nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, you get a yellow fuming corrosive liquid that eats metals, even gold.

Its name means king’s water.

Do you know what that is?

Aqua.

Yeah.

Aqua, yeah.

Aqua.

Close enough.

Riga Aqua.

Yeah, there we go. That’s it.

Aqua Regia.

Yes.

Okay.

Very good. Yeah. Aqua Regia.

And I promise the rest won’t be as bookish.

One advantage is that this is a very relaxing quiz.

It makes you say, okay.

So here we are.

If I asked you to name the state that is both the northernmost and westernmost, you would probably say Alaska.

And that’s close.

But suppose you lived in Mexico.

Baja, California.

Yeah, very good.

Give me a little more.

Give me a little more.

California.

California.

Very good, yeah.

Now, since you’re heading south, why not keep going and make a stop at the Central American country most visited by U.S. tourists?

Stop in the capital, beautiful San Jose.

Costa Rica.

Costa Rica.

Now, if you don’t get this answer, don’t blame yourself.

Of course, don’t blame me either.

Don’t blame anyone.

You know, according to Edie Gourmet, you should just blame this genre of Brazilian music popular in the 50s and 60s.

Samba…

Bossa Nova.

Bossa Nova.

Yes, blame the Bossa Nova.

Or perhaps you do blame me.

Perhaps this quiz is too hard.

My clues are too cryptic.

Okay, all right.

I’ll admit.

It’s my fault.

Oh, that’s a clue?

Mea culpa.

That’s the clue.

It’s mea culpa, yeah.

Mea culpa, yes.

Let’s take it easy then, shall we?

Why not get caught in the rain?

Try the feel of the ocean and the taste of champagne.

Or have a nice cocktail like Rupert Holm.

Pina colada.

Yes.

In the song Escape, yes.

Pina colada.

Then again, according to the Pina Colada song, the kind of person you’re looking for is not into a system of physical techniques based on postures, exercises, and breathing control.

Hatha yoga.

Yes, hatha yoga.

Okay, let’s come back from vacation.

Here we are on A Way with Words where we talk about English and how it’s used.

But suppose you met up with several people from several different countries and needed a way to communicate a common tongue.

What would we use?

A lingua franca.

Lingua franca.

Now, finally, you know, perhaps this quiz was to this or to that.

Perhaps I made mistakes.

You made mistakes, assumptions, whatever.

Good news is, next time, you can start over from square one without any preconceptions with minds that are free from bias.

What do you call that?

Tabula rasa.

Yes.

Very good.

Tabula rasa.

Very good.

And those are our quiz for today.

I’m relaxed.

It works.

I’m standing straighter.

I know.

Yeah.

Who needs yoga?

John, thank you so much for the quiz.

We’ll talk to you again next week.

Thank you, guys.

See you then.

Thanks, John.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

And you, the listener, can give us a call, 877-929-9673, or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.