美国国家公共电台 NPR Just Saying

Just Saying

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0004:05repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser 1 to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST: 

All right. Charlotte, Lisa, we've got a trivia game for you called Just Saying. So obviously, you know, there are some expressions that we use all the time that don't make a whole lot of sense. For example, Jonathan Coulton, what does it really mean to pull out all the stops?

JONATHAN COULTON: Well, I'll tell you that is actually a reference to pipe organs. Stops are the things that you pull out.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: And there you go.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

COULTON: No, they're the things you can move in and out and it controls the flow of air through the organ's pipes. So when you pull out all the stops, you're opening up all the pipes to maximum volume. That's what that means. I'm pretty smart.

EISENBERG: I guess.

COULTON: Also, it's written on a piece of paper in front of me, so.

EISENBERG: (Laughter) So in this game, Jonathan and I will give you the supposed origin story of a commonly-used phrase. And all you have to do is tell us what the phrase is. Lisa, you won the last game. So if you win this, you're going to the final round. And, Charlotte, you need to win this or we're going to give you the cold shoulder, which is actually a reference to the practice of serving cold meat to unwanted guests.

CHARLOTTE UNDERWOOD: I'm used to it.

EISENBERG: Yeah, yeah. I want to be an unwanted guest. I love cold meat. Who doesn't love cold meat? Here we go.

COULTON: This phrase describes a crazy person. And you may think of Johnny Depp from "Alice In Wonderland," but it predates that story. Some say it's a reference to mercury poisoning that affected 2 people who make headwear.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Lisa?

LISA LOGIC 3: Mad as a hatter?

COULTON: You got it.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: That's been updated to mad as someone who eats a lot of canned tuna fish. This two-word phrase was said in each of the "Clue" movie's multiple endings. Before that, it showed up in an 1807 story about a boy who used a stinky fish to distract dogs that were chasing a rabbit.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Lisa?

LOGIC: Red herring?

EISENBERG: Red herring is correct.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: When you abruptly 4 quit a bad habit, like smoking or stalking your ex on Facebook, you might say you're doing it this way. And it may refer to the clammy look of your skin, which is like chilled poultry 6 skin.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Charlotte?

UNDERWOOD: Cold turkey?

COULTON: Oh, yeah, cold turkey.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: You might use this phrase to describe a wild night out. One English town claims it memorializes a marquis' drunken night in 1837, when he defaced buildings with crimson 7 pigments 8.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Lisa?

LOGIC: Painting the town red?

EISENBERG: Exactly. That is right.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: This is your last clue. This type of vacation may get its name from the fifth-century ritual of drinking mead 9 during your marriage's first lunar cycle.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Lisa?

LOGIC: The honeymoon 10?

COULTON: The honeymoon, you got it.

(APPLAUSE)

COULTON: Art Chung, how did our contestants 12 do?

ART CHUNG: They did great. Congratulations to Lisa. You won both rounds, so you're moving on to the final round at the end of the show.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: It's settled. Our finalists are Alan and Lisa. They'll face off in our final round at the end of the show.

And if you think you'd be as happy as a clam 5 here on stage with us, don't bark up the wrong tree or wait until the cows come home. Make a beeline for amatickets.org. Fill out a contestant 11 quiz, jump on our bandwagon and break a leg.

Coming up, the star of the TV series "Nashville." Connie Britton and her iconic hair will join us, and she'll play the mother of all trivia games. I'm Ophira Eisenberg and you're listening to ASK ME ANOTHER from NPR.