We have words. We have all the best words. Well, we’ve got Wordy Words. Read on and you’ll see what I’m talking about. I swear, it will make sense.
When you’re done with our Wordy Words trivia, check out all our other lexicon-based episodes.
Book of the Week
Once Upon a Word
Where do words come from?–Teaching kids ages 9 to 12 vocabulary through word origins
The English language is made up of words from different places, events, and periods of time. Each of those words has an exciting story to tell us about where, when, how, and why they came about. Once Upon a Word is packed with easy-to-understand definitions and awesome word origin stories. With this dictionary for kids, you can understand the history and meaning of English words, improve your vocabulary and spelling, and learn to play with language.
Explore how weird words like gnome, fun words like zombie, and common words like caterpillar came to exist. Discover why some words sound funnier than others (like cackle, sizzle, and twang) and why some groups of words start with the same few letters (like hydrate, hydrogen, and fire hydrant). In this dictionary for kids, there’s a whole world of English words to uncover!
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Episode Intro
It’s a word-filled Wednesday, my friends. This episode is Wordy Words. I’ve got Compound words, Portmanteaus, and Words about Words.
As always, it’s three rounds of ten questions each.
I’m your host, Brian Rollins and this episode 399 of the Dorky Geeky Nerdy trivia podcast. Let’s go.
The Dorky Round
Compound Word Trivia
- Van Gogh was fond of painting what flora?
a. Sunflowers - What Kenny Loggins took to the Danger Zone.
a. Highway - What you discard when making an omelet?
a. Eggshell - A swing in tennis or a compliment that’s not a compliment
a. Backhand - A type of portable computer like the one I used to record this episode
a. Laptop - Lumiere or a weapon in Clue
a. Candlestick - Finish the Hitchcock title, “North by”
a. Northwest - Where you might sit your kid for meals
a. Highchair - A nickname used by American revolutionaries for the British Army Redcoats
- A Ford F-150 or Toyota Tacoma
a. Pickup
The Geeky Round
Portmanteaus
- Another name for the smiley face you sent your partner in a text
a. Emoticon - When the UK left the EU
a. Brexit - The haze you see over big cities like Los Angeles or Beijing
a. Smog - Billy Banks was the man behind what fitness crazy in the 1990s?
a. Tae Bo - An annual event to raise awareness of men’s health issues
a. Movember - When a product gets smaller but the price stays the same
a. Shrinkflation - A nickname given to the Affordable Care Act in the US
a. Obamacare - We can grab mimosas during what midmorning meal?
a. Brunch - TV shows like Friends, The Office, and Abbott Elementary
a. Sitcom - Movies like This is Spinal Tap or What We Do in Shadows
a. Mockumentary
The Nerdy Round
Words About Words
- A word or phrase that reads the same forwards or backwards like Kayak or Race Car
a. Palindrome - A word that imitates the sound it denotes, like Bang or Boom
a. Onomatopoeia - A word that takes on a different pronunciation when capitalized like polish and Polish.
a. Capitonym. - An assumed name or pen name, like Mark Twain or George Orwell
a. Pseudonym - An explicit comparison between two things using the word like or as.
a. Simile - The juxtaposition of incongruous or contradictory terms. Like Jumbo shrimp or Living Dead
a. Oxymoron - A phrase consisting of exclamatory words such as “Ouch” or “Hey”
a. Interjection - An abbreviation formed from the initial letters of a series of words like NATO or NASA
a. Acronym - One of two (or more) words that have the same spelling, but different meaning, and sometimes different pronunciation like entrance and entrace
a. Heteronym. Homonym is close, but they can be spelled differently. - Having only one syllable.
a. Monosyllabic. I love words with built-in irony.
Episode Conclusion
And we’re done. Did your brain get a good workout? It is back to school time, so it’s good for you. Right?
Next week it’s TV trivia. Here’s a clue.
What science fiction show debuted on September 8, 1966
If you’re asking yourself, didn’t we cover that already? We did. But guess what, it’s our 400th episode next week. So I get to do whatever I want.
See you back here on Wednesday.
This was the Dorky Geeky Nerdy Trivia Podcast. If you’d like to help support the show and get extra stuff, consider becoming a patron at Patreon.com/dorkygeekynerdy.
This podcast is written, produced, and hosted by Brian Rollins. If you love audiobooks or are looking to have a book turned into an audiobook, contact me at TheVoicesInMyHead.com.
The theme music is Punchfunk by the band, Punchfunk. Listen to all their music on Spotify.
This podcast is copyright by Brian Rollins. All rights reserved.
Thanks for listening.
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Hosted & Written by Brian Rollins
Music by Punchfunk
This podcast is copyright Brian Rollins. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to redistribute but not to be altered or used for AI training.
