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Buy A Vowel

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

All right, let's welcome our next two contestants: Billy Zayac and Jessica O'Connell. Welcome to ASK ME ANOTHER.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Billy Zayac, you have a degree in library science.

BILLY ZAYAC: Yes, I do.

EISENBERG: What is your dream library job?

ZAYAC: I would like to work in a special library doing something with cataloging, hopefully.

EISENBERG: That sounds reasonable. I like that.

(LAUGHTER)

ZAYAC: I'm very open.

EISENBERG: Jessica, you're a college career adviser and a bit of a pub trivia nut.

JESSICA O'CONNELL: A little bit.

EISENBERG: What's the name of your team?

O'CONNELL: You Can't Stop the Machine.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: We are paying tribute to all great TV game shows on this show. First "Jeopardy" and now we take on "Wheel of Fortune." Maybe one day we'll be an answer on their show.

So this game is called Buy a Vowel. We're going to give you clues to a pair of words and you need to add a vowel to the first clued word to get the second. For example, if we asked you to start with what's inside of a pen and turn it into a pig's grunt, you would buy an "O" and turn ink into oink. Adorable.

Okay, and just to let you know, the vowel can go anywhere in the word. Let's do this. Start with the metal used in foil, buy a vowel and turn it into the pointy end of a fork.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Jessica?

O'CONNELL: Oh, boy. I want to buy an "E" and I'm going to add it to tin.

EISENBERG: You sure are.

O'CONNELL: Yeah.

EISENBERG: And what's going to happen next?

O'CONNELL: It'll become a tine.

EISENBERG: There you go.

O'CONNELL: Yeah.

(APPLAUSE)

O'CONNELL: Sorry for the slow start.

EISENBERG: No apology needed. It felt like we were having puzzle dialogue. I kind of enjoyed it.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Start with a broad's leg, like you do. You always start with a broad's leg. Start with a broad's leg, buy a vowel and turn it into animals hunted for food.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Billy?

ZAYAC: Gam. I would like to buy an "E" and make that into game.

EISENBERG: Perfect.

(APPLAUSE)

JONATHAN COULTON: Gam. I like that. I got to bring that back.

ZAYAC: Baby got gams.

(LAUGHTER)

COULTON: A much older version of that song.

EISENBERG: Yeah, exactly. Start with the nickname for the region where you'd find Los Angeles and San Diego, buy a vowel and turn it into a type of media like Facebook.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Billy?

ZAYAC: So Cal, buy an "I" and make it into social.

EISENBERG: You are correct.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Start with a West African nation, buy a vowel and turn it into Sasha Obama's older sister.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Billy?

ZAYAC: Mali, buy an "A" and Malia.

EISENBERG: Beautiful.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: It's amazing what you can do with these words. You know, just adding letters. We really show people stuff with vowels.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: Sometimes we can make bad things really nice things, like this one. Start with a viral pandemic...

COULTON: A bad thing.

EISENBERG: Yeah, that made headlines in 2003, buy a vowel and you turn it into garments for Indian women.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Jessica?

O'CONNELL: That's Sar and I'd like to buy an "I" to turn it into a sari.

EISENBERG: Very close. And because you are so close, I just want you to notice that I said turn into garments for Indian women, which might influence your first answer slightly.

O'CONNELL: That would be Sars, buy an "I" and turn it into saris.

EISENBERG: Yes.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: I knew you meant that, Jessica. Also, I like the idea if only one person has it it's called sari.

O'CONNELL: Singular sari.

COULTON: It's a much less serious case if you get Sar.

EISENBERG: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: It's like a 24-hour Sar kind of thing.

O'CONNELL: It's a very special case of Sar.

COULTON: Twenty-four hour Sar, yeah.

EISENBERG: Start with a Neapolitan treat, buy a vowel and turn it into a city square where you might find it.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Jessica?

O'CONNELL: Neapolitan treat would be pizza, add an "A" and that would be piazza.

EISENBERG: That is perfectly correct, yes.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: All right, you guys are at a tie, with a few more questions to go. I know, feel the heat. Start with an arctic fish from the salmon family, buy a vowel and turn it into a place to sit down.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Jessica?

O'CONNELL: That would be char, add an "I" and then it's chair.

EISENBERG: Correct.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Start with some cylinders of nuclear fuel, buy a vowel, and turn them into a slang term for performance enhancing drugs.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

EISENBERG: Jessica?

O'CONNELL: Rods, add an "I", roids.

EISENBERG: You are correct.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Jessica, well done. You have done it. A couple points ahead, and you are going to move on to our Ask Me One More final round at the end of the show.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Billy, fantastic job. Thank you so much for being on our ASK ME ANOTHER stage. Well done to both of them. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.