It's A Snap

Transcript

JONATHAN COULTON, BYLINE: From NPR and WNYC, live from The Bell House in beautiful Brooklyn, New York, it's NPR's hour of puzzles, word games and trivia, ASK ME ANOTHER. And here's your host, Ophira Eisenberg.

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OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

Thank you, Jonathan. This week's very important puzzlers are based right here in Brooklyn, but they tour the world. You may have seen them on "The Colbert Report" or "Letterman." Their new album is called "Bad Self Portraits." It's the band Lake Street Dive.

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EISENBERG: And please say hello to our one-man house band, Mr. Jonathan Coulton.

COULTON: Hello everybody.

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EISENBERG: Our first game is called "It's A Snap." And let's welcome our first two contestants, Emily Kadish and Rob Millis.

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EISENBERG: All right, do you have a skill that you would consider as easy as snapping your fingers? Rob?

ROB MILLIS: I can be a smartass pretty well.

EISENBERG: You can be a smartass? Can't wait.

MILLIS: Not a good one. I can wreck a dinner party by being a smartass.

EISENBERG: Well...

MILLIS: Pretty...

EISENBERG: I like that you can consider that a positive trait.

MILLIS: It depends - it depends on what your goals are for your party.

EISENBERG: What would be your goal with wrecking a dinner party?

MILLIS: If you want to get everybody out of your house...

EISENBERG: Oh yes.

MILLIS: ...In the next 10 minutes...

EISENBERG: Yes.

MILLIS: ...Have me, like, complement the hostess or something, yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Emily, how about you?

EMILY KADISH: Making a fool of myself in front of strangers?

EISENBERG: Oh, all right. So it's like what Rob does but you are conscious about it.

KADISH: I try.

EISENBERG: Right, OK.

COULTON: It's like what Rob does plus shame.

EISENBERG: Plus shame, exactly. All right, in this snappy game, each answer will be a word or phrase containing the word snap. But we want to challenge your coordination and dexterity, so we want you to substitute an actual snap of your fingers where the word appears. So if we said this term can describe a casual photograph you would reply (snaps fingers) shot - snapshot.

COULTON: Yeah, they look totally confused. So really - really we're serious about this. We want to hear your fingers. And if you do not snap, if you say the word snap, we will count that as a wrong answer. I'm sorry. I'm sorry but this is the radio.

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COULTON: And it's very serious.

EISENBERG: And there are rules on the...

COULTON: And there are rules on the radio.

EISENBERG: That's right.

COULTON: So the winner will move on to our "Ask Me One More" final round at the end of the show. Are you ready?

KADISH: Sure.

MILLIS: Sure enough.

COULTON: OK, here we go.

EISENBERG: That's good enough. This brand of beverages features such flavors as peach tea, kiwi strawberry and go bananas.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Rob.

MILLIS: (Snaps fingers)ple.

EISENBERG: Yeah.

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EISENBERG: Good rhythm, nice work, strong snap.

COULTON: You did snap before the bell, which is - we're not going to penalize you this time.

MILLIS: I was very confused which hand I was going with there.

COULTON: This is almost a sport the way we're doing it.

EISENBERG: Yeah, we're asking for a lot here.

COULTON: Martha Stewart recommends making this thin cookie with cinnamon and molasses, while Rachel Ray recommends making a cocktail of the same name with lemon juice and vodka. God bless you Rachael Ray.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Rob.

MILLIS: Ginger (snaps fingers).

COULTON: That's right.

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EISENBERG: God bless Rachael Ray.

COULTON: Oh, she's the best.

EISENBERG: Just by making it alcoholic.

COULTON: Somebody else - somebody else would make a cookie but she makes a cocktail.

EISENBERG: That's right. Guy Fieri or whatever his name is would like smother it in Buffalo sauce and eat it in a 7-Eleven parking lot with a guy named Stabby Jeff - something like that.

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EISENBERG: Roman encyclopedist Pliny the Elder believed that rubbing yourself with this flowering plant could improve your appearance.

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EISENBERG: Emily.

KADISH: (Snaps fingers) dragon.

EISENBERG: Yes.

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COULTON: I would say the Elder is my favorite Pliny. In 2013, the founders of this app that lets you send auto-deleting photos to friends rejected a $3 billion acquisition bid from Facebook.

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COULTON: Emily.

KADISH: (Snaps fingers) chat.

COULTON: You got it.

EISENBERG: Yes.

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EISENBERG: Snapchat rejected that offer in 10 seconds.

COULTON: That's right. Then the offer immediately disappeared.

EISENBERG: In the 1939 film "The Wizard Of Oz" the wizard calls Dorothy this name for an annoying, overconfident young person.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Emily.

KADISH: Whipper(snaps fingers)er.

EISENBERG: Yeah, incredible.

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COULTON: Surprisingly awkward to have the snap in the middle of the word like that.

KADISH: It makes it sound way dirtier.

EISENBERG: Yeah. All right, this is your last question.

COULTON: Samuel Adams brews a seasonal white ale named after this term, describing a sudden short period of chilly weather.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

COULTON: Emily.

KADISH: Cold(snaps fingers).

COULTON: That's right.

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EISENBERG: Puzzle guru Art Chung, how did our contestants do?

ART CHUNG: Well, there was some amazing snapping in that game. Congratulations Emily, you're moving on to our "Ask Me One More" final round. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.