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March is Women's History Month!

Character Voices

OPHIRA EISENBERG, HOST:

All right, ready or not, we have our next two contestants. We have Liz Kash Stroppel and Barri Trott settling behind their puzzle podiums. Welcome to both of you. Liz, do you have a favorite cartoon character?

LIZ KASH STROPPEL: Let's see, I think Jessica Rabbit.

EISENBERG: Jessica Rabbit, that's a good one, yes.

STROPPEL: Yes.

EISENBERG: How about you, Barri?

BARRI TROTT: I think Wallace and Gromit, it I can do two.

EISENBERG: Sure, Wallace and Gromit. I know, delightful.

TROTT: Absolutely.

EISENBERG: And they drink a lot of tea.

TROTT: Of course.

EISENBERG: That's just lovely. Okay.

TROTT: Cheese.

EISENBERG: And cheese, that's right. Our next game is called Character Voices. John, are you hearing voices again? Is that what's going on?

JOHN CHANESKI: I seem to be hearing voices again. I'm afraid so. You see, the way some notable characters speak, it's easy to misinterpret what they mean. For example, if Count Dracula said he wanted to get some vipers for his car, he doesn't mean poisonous snakes but rather things to clear the rain off his vinshield.

Now, in this game, we're going to ask you about words that could be misunderstood based on some famous accents. For example, if Dracula said I want a glass of this, meaning a grape beverage, not what grapes grow on, the answer we're looking for is wine, which he would pronounce "vine." Got it?

STROPPEL: Got it.

CHANESKI: Good. Contestants, buzz in and give us both words if you can. Here we go. If Sylvester the cat describes the Titanic this way, he means it's incredibly safe, not too horrendous to contemplate.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

STROPPEL: It's unthinkable.

CHANESKI: Unthinkable is right, Liz.

(APPLAUSE)

EISENBERG: Liz, well done.

CHANESKI: If Elmer Fudd says he's a really big fan of this, he means an early, early Tom Cruise movie, not the industry that Seagram's is in.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

CHANESKI: Liz?

STROPPEL: Whiskey business.

CHANESKI: Whiskey business is right. Very good, Liz.

(APPLAUSE)

STROPPEL: That one was rough.

CHANESKI: If a Cockney describes his buddy like this, he means his buddy can't hurt you, not that he looks like the Venus de Milo.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

CHANESKI: Barri?

TROTT: He's armless.

CHANESKI: Armless is right.

(APPLAUSE)

CHANESKI: I like to think my Cockney was at least as good as Dick Van Dyke's in "Mary Poppins." Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

CHANESKI: If Star Trek Ensign Chekov says he'd very much like this to go with his vodka, he wants to eat the meat of a calf, not a giant round piece of cheese.

(APPLAUSE)

STROPPEL: Wheel.

CHANESKI: Yes, Liz, wheel or veal is right.

EISENBERG: Your Russian Star Trek is amazing.

STROPPEL: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

CHANESKI: If P-P-Porky Pig says he s-s-saw one of these in the woods, he means a k-k-kind of c-c-critter, not a caterpillar's construc-constuc-uh, sleeping bag.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

CHANESKI: Barri?

TROTT: Cocoon.

CHANESKI: Cocoon is right. Cocoon or coon.

(APPLAUSE)

CHANESKI: If someone from Boston says he started avoiding these on his diet, he's having hardly any what, as opposed to ears of corn?

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

CHANESKI: Liz?

STROPPEL: Cobs.

CHANESKI: Cobs is right.

(APPLAUSE)

CHANESKI: When the Swedish says yumping yiminy, my favorite desserts are all this, he's referring to the main ingredient, not the color. I sure do like that Bill Cosby.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

CHANESKI: Barri?

TROTT: Pudding.

CHANESKI: No, not pudding.

(LAUGHTER)

EISENBERG: That was a very good guess.

CHANESKI: Good guess, yeah.

EISENBERG: That was a very good guess.

(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)

CHANESKI: Yes, Liz?

STROPPEL: Black.

CHANESKI: No.

(LAUGHTER)

CHANESKI: Does anybody else out there know?

(SOUNDBITE OF AUDIENCE YELLING)

CHANESKI: Yellow, yes. The Swedish chef likes the yellow.

EISENBERG: Yeah, Liz, well done. You have won this round and you are moving on to our final showdown at the end of the program. Well done, Barri. Thank you guys so much.

(APPLAUSE) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.