Palindromes Semordnilap

Transcript

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Say hello to our next contestants, Peter Coles and Alex Gelman.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Both of you have pretty fascinating jobs. Peter works for a tech startup that creates jewelry. That sounds amazing. Give me a current project.

PETER COLES: Yeah. So we make jewelry. It's called Ringly. It connects to your phone, so you can actually put your phone away - put it in your purse, in your bag. And then when you're hanging out with your friends, having fun and trying to not be a jerk checking your phone all the time, you can just know if you're getting phone calls or texts on your ring.

EISENBERG: Because it will light up, or?

COLES: It will do a vibration. It will do a light.

EISENBERG: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

JONATHAN COULTON, BYLINE: Do you get to say, hey, everybody, excuse me, my phone is ringing?

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Have you thought of that joke?

COLES: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: And, Alex, so you work at the Museum of Math?

ALEX GELMAN: I do.

EISENBERG: What is the exhibit that's not to be missed?

GELMAN: I would say it's the old standby at the museum, which is our square-wheeled tricycle. So there's a circular track made up of all these curves and you get on a tricycle made up of three square wheels, and you ride around, and you have a nice, smooth ride.

EISENBERG: Oh, and everybody's like how was that possible?

GELMAN: Yeah, yeah. A lot of people call me a heretic a lot, all day.

EISENBERG: Really?

(LAUGHTER)

GELMAN: Yeah, yeah. It's really rough.

EISENBERG: That says a lot about the people that to go to the math museum.

(LAUGHTER)

GELMAN: Yeah, mostly Amish.

EISENBERG: Heretic.

GELMAN: Yeah, yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

GELMAN: A lot of Puritans.

(LAUGHTER)

GELMAN: But, you know, New York, right?

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: All kinds come together.

GELMAN: You never know. Right, right.

EISENBERG: Jonathan, you've got some solid, smart contestants here.

COULTON: Yes.

EISENBERG: What are you going to do to them?

COULTON: Well, this game is called Palindromes Semordnilap.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Do you get it? Do you get it? Puzzle guru Art Chung, what could that possibly mean?

ART CHUNG, BYLINE: Well, as you know, a palindrome is a word or phrase that reads the same backwards and forwards, like noon or racecar. A semordnilap, which is palindromes backwards, actually is a word that forms a different word backwards. So the word repaid backwards is diaper.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Heretic.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Some kind of witch.

CHUNG: Its magic, word magic.

COULTON: You can't put a word backwards and make another word. That's impossible.

EISENBERG: Yes.

COULTON: In this game, we will give you mashed-up clues to a semordnilap and its reverse word, and you have to give us both words. And here's the big hint - if you know one word, you can probably figure out the other.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: All right, are you ready?

COLES: Let's do this.

GELMAN: Let's do this.

COULTON: Let's do it.

COLES: Jinx.

COULTON: It's the excessively proud soft tissue around your teeth.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Peter.

COLES: Gum, mug - your mug gum?

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: No, I'm sorry that's not what we're looking for.

COLES: Oh, oh, really? Oh.

COULTON: I know.

GELMAN: Smug gum?

COULTON: Alex?

GELMAN: Smug gums.

COULTON: Smug gums is correct.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: It's the location in a cupboard or cabinet where the dog trainers keep their Snausages. You're never going to get this in a million years.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Peter.

COLES: It's the reward drawer.

COULTON: It sure is. Wow.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: Its another name for a female opera singer or a temperamental pop star who is very enthusiastic.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Alex.

GELMAN: Avid diva?

COULTON: Avid diva. You got it.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: If you disdainfully spurn the dinner rolls, you're doing this.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Peter.

COLES: You're snubbing the buns.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: Well, yes. But just make it so that it's a palindrome and a semordnilap, please.

(LAUGHTER)

COLES: Oh, you're...

COULTON: Forget about the gerund. I shouldn't have phrased it in terms of a gerund.

(LAUGHTER)

COLES: Bun snub.

COULTON: Peter, say snub buns, say snub buns.

COLES: Snub buns.

COULTON: Snub buns is correct.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: It might be ancient Latin for therefore Shrek.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Alex.

GELMAN: Ogre.

(LAUGHTER)

GELMAN: Ergo ogre. Ergo ogre.

COULTON: Ergo ogre. You got it.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: This is your last clue, two years later.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: This sweet food course was felling a lot of pressure after dinner.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Alex.

GELMAN: Stressed dessert.

COLES: Oh, yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: That's right. Art Chung, how did our contestants do?

CHUNG: It was a tough game, but, Alex, congratulations. You're moving on.

(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.