Word Quiz: Not Me, But We

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 joining us now from New York City is John Chaneski, our quiz guy.

Hiya, John.

Hi, Martha.

Hi, Grant.

Hi, buddy.

What’s up?

Let’s use some language, like you guys are always talking about using language.

Let’s use some language.

There’s an idea.

Why not?

What you got?

I have an idea.

Let’s play pretend.

Let’s pretend that every single promise of the 1960s came true, and all of us are hippies, man.

Is the age of Aquarius and all of that?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, man, it’s the age of Aquarius.

That means that the 80s or the me decade wouldn’t have happened because, hey, man, it’s not about me.

It’s about we.

Right.

Right on, man?

Yeah.

All right.

For example, if I said, hey, man, don’t bogart that non-vegetarian cafeteria lunch staple, you’d say, yeah, man, it’s not meatloaf.

It’s wheat loaf.

Oh, wheat.

Me to we.

Okay.

From me to we.

Here’s another example.

If I said, hey man, there’s enough room for our whole commune on this strip of land between the two sides of the highway, you’d say…

It’s not a median, it’s a weedian.

It’s a weedian, dude.

Okay, all right.

Very nice.

Here we go.

Hey man, don’t just wander all around all over the place by yourself.

Include the whole commune in your circuitous journey.

Don’t meander, weander.

Weander.

It’s more inclusive that way, dude.

All right.

Right.

Hey, man, tell your pet cat he shouldn’t be so self-centered, man.

He shouldn’t meow.

He should wee-ow.

Wee-ow.

Meow.

Hey, man, you got to understand how money works, man.

Wealth, the production and consumption of goods and services.

You can make sure that stuff benefits the whole world, man.

It should be the economy, not the economy.

Yeah, dude.

I’m with you.

I’m with you.

Hey, man, when one of us gets sick, all of us get sick, especially with a contagious disease that gives you spots.

Not the measles, but the weasels.

Weasels, too.

Okay, the weasels.

That’s the last one, dudes.

That was great.

You guys are just fantastic.

You’re groovy.

You’re totally groovy.

This was far out.

I’m having a hard time keeping a straight face, people.

Thanks, John.

It was groovy.

Thanks, Grant.

Thanks, Martha.

All right.

Bye-bye.

Whether it’s from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, or the 2010s, give us a call about words and language, 877-929-9673, or email us, words@waywordradio.org.