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[00:00:00] So I have got a few interesting examples.
[00:00:02] Hit me with your anonyms. Hit me. Hit me.
[00:00:06] El Gug. So what do you think El Gug is?
[00:00:09] Google. Yes it is. It is a backward search engine.
[00:00:12] Do you know why I'm good at this? Because I'm left-handed.
[00:00:16] The Letter A.
[00:00:18] Finally we made it to the letter A.
[00:00:29] We're back here.
[00:00:30] We started at F and we're going all the way through to E.
[00:00:33] I feel like a renewed.
[00:00:34] Yeah, we've kind of switched out by not starting with the letter A
[00:00:37] and it feels like it's taking ages to get here.
[00:00:39] Thanks for listening to The Thicktionary.
[00:00:41] It is the funny side of The Dictionary.
[00:00:43] We do it in a weekly podcast, one letter per week.
[00:00:45] We're doing the letter A this week.
[00:00:47] Paul Gannon, I called you Acrapella.
[00:00:49] Yes.
[00:00:50] It is when you're singing along to your own silent disco
[00:00:52] and everyone else can hear.
[00:00:54] I love that.
[00:00:55] At every shower I've ever had.
[00:00:57] Because when I pick you up from your house, right,
[00:00:59] I imagine you're going to come out of the door with a hat on
[00:01:01] and wearing headphones.
[00:01:03] You've always got something going on listening.
[00:01:05] And you can't always be listening to us.
[00:01:07] What do you normally listen to?
[00:01:08] Well, anything quite vulgar.
[00:01:10] I usually listen to myself a lot.
[00:01:11] I'm quite vain.
[00:01:12] I go back for my favorite episodes featuring me.
[00:01:14] You're the man that Carly Simon wrote that song.
[00:01:16] Oh, and I definitely know that that song was about me.
[00:01:18] A step down from Acrapella is the iPod nod,
[00:01:21] which you should all be doing where you enjoy your music
[00:01:23] but keeping it to yourself.
[00:01:24] Yeah.
[00:01:25] Of course we all do Acrapella
[00:01:27] when our favorite TV show comes on, right?
[00:01:29] You always sing the theme tune.
[00:01:31] Like for example, Star Trek.
[00:01:37] They can hear you when you cough and sneeze, you know.
[00:01:39] I know. I'm trying not to do either of those things.
[00:01:41] See, who doesn't do that?
[00:01:51] I do that all the time with TNG.
[00:01:52] Yeah, like when Elderado comes on.
[00:01:54] It's Elderado.
[00:01:56] No.
[00:01:57] So there you go.
[00:01:58] Singing along to your own silent disco,
[00:01:59] even along to the TV theme tunes, Acrapella.
[00:02:02] Or just be careful.
[00:02:03] You could be a borderline ask-hole
[00:02:05] if you try and start up a conversation
[00:02:08] while singing Acrapella.
[00:02:10] So you might be on the bus going,
[00:02:11] yeah, yeah, Mercedes of gold.
[00:02:14] Hey, what are you doing today?
[00:02:16] Oh, no.
[00:02:18] You've got to be careful.
[00:02:19] Those people are out there.
[00:02:20] They're everywhere.
[00:02:21] Ask-hole Acrapellas.
[00:02:23] Right, what did you call me?
[00:02:25] I simply called you amazing.
[00:02:26] I'll take that. Thanks.
[00:02:27] That's it. I just wanted to be nice.
[00:02:28] That's the end of the podcast everybody.
[00:02:29] Let's end the vlog.
[00:02:30] Yeah, pretty much.
[00:02:31] Sometimes it's nice to just wear it on your sleeve
[00:02:32] and like Spider-Man.
[00:02:33] You're the amazing Damien St. John.
[00:02:34] And amazing is one of those rare words
[00:02:37] that has a Z,
[00:02:39] equidistant from the first and the last letter.
[00:02:41] Bang in the middle.
[00:02:42] Don't get many of those.
[00:02:43] Because you put the zinc in amazing.
[00:02:45] Thanks. You put the generic in genre.
[00:02:47] Yeah, I actually did write something down
[00:02:49] but then I realized I've set myself
[00:02:50] the wrong version of the form.
[00:02:53] So I don't have the notes
[00:02:54] I had written down for amazing.
[00:02:55] Here's what we'll do if you're listening.
[00:02:57] Fill in the blank now.
[00:02:59] Hey, well done. That was brilliant.
[00:03:01] And this is the Argel Bargel podcast.
[00:03:03] You've just taken a slurper of your coffee.
[00:03:04] I have to be careful
[00:03:05] because you're going to splutter it out in a minute.
[00:03:06] Argel Bargel, 19th century slang for a row.
[00:03:09] Oh yeah.
[00:03:10] He's having an Argel Bargel.
[00:03:12] I love that.
[00:03:13] Argel spell checks as Argue
[00:03:14] for very good reason
[00:03:15] because Argel is an amalgamation
[00:03:17] of Argue and Hagel.
[00:03:19] Oh, okay.
[00:03:20] Which comes from the 16th century
[00:03:21] while Bargel spell checks as Barrel
[00:03:23] but that's because Bargel
[00:03:25] is a made-up word.
[00:03:26] Okay.
[00:03:27] Designed to rhyme with Argel.
[00:03:28] So you couldn't have an Argue Barrel?
[00:03:30] No.
[00:03:31] Argel Bargel is what they technically call
[00:03:32] rejuplication.
[00:03:34] It's one of a long list of two rhyming words
[00:03:36] that are joined by hyphen.
[00:03:37] For example,
[00:03:38] willy-nilly,
[00:03:39] pigally-wiggly
[00:03:40] and boogey-woogie.
[00:03:42] I love all those words
[00:03:44] and I wish to bang them.
[00:03:45] Argel Bargel not used anymore.
[00:03:46] You know why?
[00:03:47] Because we use Argy Bargy.
[00:03:48] Yeah.
[00:03:49] Instead which is where actually it comes from.
[00:03:50] Argel Bargel is the former of Argy Bargy.
[00:03:52] We need to bring Argel Bargel back.
[00:03:54] This is a dictionary.
[00:03:55] The funny side of the dictionary,
[00:03:57] if you'd like to join in on social media,
[00:03:58] you can.
[00:03:59] We're on Twitter, at Thick Podcast.
[00:04:00] You can find us on Facebook.
[00:04:02] Every episode available at Thictionary.com.
[00:04:05] I'm going to switch up this week, Paul Gannon.
[00:04:07] Yeah, go on.
[00:04:08] With... Normally we do the word work out.
[00:04:09] Yes, we do.
[00:04:10] Like with an anagram.
[00:04:11] If you like your anagrams,
[00:04:12] previous episodes will sort that out.
[00:04:13] This is Cheat Letters.
[00:04:15] Cheat.
[00:04:16] Cheat. Cheat. Cheat. Cheat Letters.
[00:04:23] I've got a word.
[00:04:24] Letter beginning with A.
[00:04:25] Yeah.
[00:04:26] That will score you 27 points in words with friends.
[00:04:28] Okay.
[00:04:29] And 23 in Scrabble.
[00:04:30] But what does it mean?
[00:04:31] It's a Spanish word.
[00:04:32] Shall I do spell casting?
[00:04:33] Please do.
[00:04:34] Spell casting.
[00:04:35] A-Z-U-L-E-J-O.
[00:04:41] Spanish word, what does it mean?
[00:04:43] It gets you loads of points.
[00:04:44] It's the top scoring A word, actually,
[00:04:46] on words with friends.
[00:04:48] I'll tell you at the end of this episode, good luck.
[00:04:51] Time for a game.
[00:04:52] Test your knowledge...
[00:04:53] Right.
[00:04:54] ...of sports teams.
[00:04:55] Oh, balls.
[00:04:56] Before we get to our big chunky words this week.
[00:04:57] Yeah, balls is correct.
[00:04:58] This is the A team.
[00:05:04] Right, so I've got five sports teams...
[00:05:06] Okay.
[00:05:07] ...that have nicknames that begin with the letter A.
[00:05:08] Right.
[00:05:09] See if you can get any of them.
[00:05:10] Here we go.
[00:05:11] Number one, the addicts.
[00:05:12] The addicts.
[00:05:13] Is that Manchester City?
[00:05:15] Is incorrect.
[00:05:16] Shame.
[00:05:17] The answer is Charlton Athletic.
[00:05:19] Oh, why are they called the addicts?
[00:05:21] Because they're athletic.
[00:05:23] They're addicts.
[00:05:24] They are...
[00:05:25] I don't know.
[00:05:26] Number two, the aintz.
[00:05:27] The aintz.
[00:05:28] A-I-N apostrophe T-S.
[00:05:30] Like, they're nots, but they're aintz.
[00:05:32] Yeah, I aint.
[00:05:33] I am nots.
[00:05:34] It's easy actually if you think about it.
[00:05:36] It's the American team.
[00:05:37] Is it the LA Lakers?
[00:05:41] Incorrect.
[00:05:42] The answer you're looking for is the New Orleans Saints.
[00:05:45] Oh, of course.
[00:05:46] The aintz.
[00:05:47] Oh dear.
[00:05:48] Number three, the Argos.
[00:05:49] I have no idea.
[00:05:51] It's Greek.
[00:05:52] I'm going to say it's Greek United.
[00:05:54] Canadian football team.
[00:05:55] The Toronto Argonauts.
[00:05:57] Oh God.
[00:05:58] Number four, this is a hockey team.
[00:06:00] Avalanche.
[00:06:01] The Avalanche.
[00:06:02] The Avalanche.
[00:06:03] That would be hockey.
[00:06:04] So let's say that's Canada.
[00:06:06] Let's say it's Toronto.
[00:06:07] Close, but no.
[00:06:08] The Colorado Avalanche.
[00:06:10] And finally, the aintz.
[00:06:12] The aintz.
[00:06:13] This is an easy one.
[00:06:14] If you know your baseball, the aintz.
[00:06:16] That's great because I don't know my baseball.
[00:06:18] Nor football, nor American football,
[00:06:19] nor hockey, nor cricket.
[00:06:21] This has nothing to do with foms.
[00:06:22] The aintz.
[00:06:23] The aintz.
[00:06:24] What did you say?
[00:06:25] This is a baseball one.
[00:06:26] Yeah.
[00:06:27] So I'm going to say the LA Lakers.
[00:06:30] Again, not correct.
[00:06:32] The Oakland Athletics.
[00:06:34] Yay, sports.
[00:06:35] Sports are my topic of choice.
[00:06:37] So Paul Gannon on the A team,
[00:06:39] you scored 0-5.
[00:06:41] That's much better than I thought I was going to do.
[00:06:44] Time for our big four words this week on the dictionary.
[00:06:47] Would you like to go first?
[00:06:48] Yeah, shall I go first?
[00:06:49] Okay, yeah.
[00:06:50] Here we go.
[00:06:51] Okay, so my word today is anonym.
[00:06:53] Do I have a guess what anonym is?
[00:06:54] She was a woman who locked herself in a loft.
[00:06:57] Yeah.
[00:06:58] They start the 20th century.
[00:06:59] Right.
[00:07:00] Never to be found again, but wrote loads of books.
[00:07:02] You're surprising how close you are to the actual
[00:07:04] unreality of that fact.
[00:07:06] Okay, no, anonym is a word whose spelling is derived
[00:07:09] by reversing the spelling of another word.
[00:07:11] The most obvious example I can probably give you
[00:07:13] is Oprah Winfrey has a production company
[00:07:15] and it's called Harpo.
[00:07:16] And that's what Oprah is a reversal of.
[00:07:19] Is Harpo?
[00:07:20] Yeah.
[00:07:21] Yeah, so that's what anonym is.
[00:07:22] Ah!
[00:07:23] There you go.
[00:07:24] It doesn't have to have the same meaning,
[00:07:25] but like for instance there is a type of asteroid
[00:07:27] spelled backwards that I can't remember the name of now,
[00:07:29] but if you just spell asteroids backwards
[00:07:31] and say it out loud.
[00:07:32] Diorester.
[00:07:34] Something like that.
[00:07:35] That's a kind of inert asteroid
[00:07:37] that is floating too far out of the solar system
[00:07:39] to be close.
[00:07:40] Something like that.
[00:07:41] So I have got a few interesting examples.
[00:07:42] Hit me with your anonyms.
[00:07:43] Hit me.
[00:07:44] Hit me.
[00:07:45] Right, so the first one.
[00:07:47] Have a guess what you think this is, right?
[00:07:49] Good deal.
[00:07:50] Okay.
[00:07:51] Elgug.
[00:07:52] Elgug is.
[00:07:53] Google.
[00:07:54] Yes it is.
[00:07:55] It is a backwards search engine.
[00:07:56] Do you know why I'm good at this?
[00:07:57] Because I'm left handed.
[00:07:58] You've hopped the left atorium.
[00:08:00] Absolutely.
[00:08:01] Excellent.
[00:08:02] So it's a website, it's a search engine.
[00:08:03] Come on.
[00:08:04] Yeah more.
[00:08:05] Give me more.
[00:08:06] That you put things in backwards.
[00:08:07] That's all it is.
[00:08:08] So you just type in you backwards google something.
[00:08:10] Yeah.
[00:08:11] Or you put it in and it all comes out backwards.
[00:08:12] Yeah.
[00:08:13] It's just so if you want to look up the word balls
[00:08:14] you spell it S-L-L-A-B.
[00:08:15] Slab.
[00:08:16] Yeah on the website and it gives you all the options.
[00:08:18] Backwards.
[00:08:19] Slab of balls.
[00:08:20] It was obviously a gag.
[00:08:21] It was started up by a company called All Too Flat.
[00:08:23] And they found it was just a silly little thing to have a bit of fun with.
[00:08:26] And then eventually Google bought it.
[00:08:28] Brilliant.
[00:08:29] But the best part of this story is Elgug was used by people in China to get around the
[00:08:34] Chinese firewalls.
[00:08:35] Ah.
[00:08:36] Because obviously they couldn't use Google and type in free economy.
[00:08:38] Yeah.
[00:08:39] You know, get a result.
[00:08:40] So they would go to Elgug and do all their search engine stuff with that because it
[00:08:44] wasn't protected under the Chinese firewalls.
[00:08:46] Are you kidding me?
[00:08:47] No.
[00:08:48] That's brilliant.
[00:08:49] Isn't that great though?
[00:08:50] All those little kind of foibles of life and technology all collaborate to make something
[00:08:54] really nice happen.
[00:08:55] Is it on now?
[00:08:56] Does it work now?
[00:08:57] You can check out Elgug right here and now.
[00:08:58] Elgug, which sounds like some sort of Spanish chef.
[00:09:01] Yeah.
[00:09:02] The domain is blocked due to a security threat.
[00:09:04] Oh.
[00:09:05] Oh.
[00:09:06] That's just because of the system they've put into this company.
[00:09:08] Yeah.
[00:09:09] Well, they block female first here.
[00:09:10] Yeah.
[00:09:11] Like vaginas.
[00:09:12] And the lad diaries to be further than that as well.
[00:09:13] Yeah.
[00:09:14] 21st century.
[00:09:15] So yeah, I love anonyms.
[00:09:16] Fantastic.
[00:09:17] There's another one as well.
[00:09:18] One of my favorite ones.
[00:09:19] Allucard.
[00:09:20] Do you know what Allucard is?
[00:09:22] You should recognize it.
[00:09:24] Dracula.
[00:09:25] It's exactly right.
[00:09:26] I told you I'm wicking at this.
[00:09:27] Get me on a quiz show.
[00:09:28] This is a great one, isn't it?
[00:09:29] Yeah.
[00:09:30] Allucard was first used in a movie called Son of Dracula 1943 played by Lon Chaney.
[00:09:33] It's the story of a guy who's the son of Dracula who goes abroad to try and
[00:09:38] start doing more evil work and calls himself Mr. Allucard or Count Allucard
[00:09:42] to be fair.
[00:09:43] So what would your son be called?
[00:09:44] My name would be called L'Aup.
[00:09:45] L'Aup.
[00:09:46] L'Aup.
[00:09:47] Kids used to do this as code as well.
[00:09:49] I remember doing this at school.
[00:09:50] Yeah.
[00:09:51] Mine is going to be weird.
[00:09:53] Mine's Neemad.
[00:09:54] There you go.
[00:09:56] So when you tweet us at Thick Podcast, go and tweet us your anonym name.
[00:10:00] We want to know who you would be if you were the son of yourself in a
[00:10:03] parallel dimension.
[00:10:04] My word for you is Applewife.
[00:10:06] Nice.
[00:10:07] I've had a few of those in my time.
[00:10:09] Last night, you haggled an Argel Bargald like an Applewife.
[00:10:12] Wow.
[00:10:13] He wrote Robert Louis Stevenson in his 1886 novel Kidnapped.
[00:10:17] Oh.
[00:10:18] In those days, an Applewife was a costa munger who sold costard apples.
[00:10:23] You're familiar with costard apples?
[00:10:24] Custard?
[00:10:25] Yeah, costa.
[00:10:26] In fact, I have an apple.
[00:10:27] Yeah, you have one.
[00:10:28] Describe this for the listener.
[00:10:29] You didn't have to point out what an apple is to me.
[00:10:31] I know I have my moments of stupidity.
[00:10:33] I always see you eat zero out of five fruit and veg.
[00:10:35] So I thought, are you quite a lot of fruits?
[00:10:37] Just always tangerines.
[00:10:38] All right.
[00:10:39] It's an apple.
[00:10:40] It's a little bit of a orb made of water and sugar that has a little stem on it and a sticker
[00:10:44] from where you bought it.
[00:10:45] Yeah, golden delicious, four-o-two-one.
[00:10:47] Yeah, nice.
[00:10:48] So a costa apple is kind of like a Bramley slash cooking apple.
[00:10:51] OK.
[00:10:52] It's larger and it's ripped.
[00:10:53] It's a bit more bitter.
[00:10:54] But the reason why Robert Louis Stevenson mentioned like an Applewife was that they
[00:11:00] used to be foul mouth and argumentative.
[00:11:02] Like the kind of market sellers you get these days.
[00:11:05] They're very polite.
[00:11:06] Power for five apples.
[00:11:08] Oh, darling.
[00:11:09] I could eat some fruit.
[00:11:10] Can I interest you love in my plans?
[00:11:13] Yeah, so that's kind of where it comes from.
[00:11:15] That's kind of where it comes from.
[00:11:16] No street.
[00:11:17] It was kind of like Banta, which was brought about by I think sheer boredom and frustration
[00:11:22] that they knew their job would eventually be redundant thanks to the likes of Tesco's.
[00:11:27] Unless you run an orchard, you ain't going to be making much money selling apples.
[00:11:30] No.
[00:11:31] So that's the name.
[00:11:32] So Applewife is a common gutta mouthed woman.
[00:11:35] It used to be.
[00:11:36] But seeing as you can't earn a living selling apples unless you have an orchard on these days,
[00:11:40] you can't sell apples on the street.
[00:11:42] The term Applewife now is a way to describe a woman addicted to her iPhone.
[00:11:47] They're still common women.
[00:11:49] Yeah, that's what I'm saying.
[00:11:50] It's the type of woman that gets cranky when you go,
[00:11:53] you know you've been reading the Daily Mail on your iPhone 6s for the last hour.
[00:11:56] What do you mean I'm reading the Daily Mail?
[00:11:58] It's trash.
[00:11:59] I go, but it's in your bookmarks.
[00:12:00] It's in your favourites.
[00:12:01] Yeah, so Applewife in the old days, foul mouthed street seller.
[00:12:05] These days a woman hooked on her iPhone.
[00:12:07] Some things just never change no matter how you turn.
[00:12:10] That's just the way it is.
[00:12:11] All right.
[00:12:12] Diddler, diddler, diddler.
[00:12:13] Word number three is...
[00:12:15] Akam...
[00:12:16] Akam marakos.
[00:12:18] Definitely need a spellcast on this.
[00:12:21] This is spelled.
[00:12:22] Get this in your Scrabble pipe.
[00:12:24] A-C-K-A-M-A-R-A-C-K-U-S.
[00:12:31] Akam marakos.
[00:12:32] Akam marakos.
[00:12:33] And if you say it three times, he appears.
[00:12:35] He does and takes away all your clothes.
[00:12:37] Mr. Akam marakos.
[00:12:38] Wasn't he from Rent-A-Ghost?
[00:12:40] That was a lot of work.
[00:12:41] That was a lot of travel to go to that word.
[00:12:43] Wow.
[00:12:44] It is a noun and it means a meaningless activity engaged just for show
[00:12:49] or deceptive nonsense.
[00:12:50] The most obvious example will be the pata you get from a magician
[00:12:54] while he's doing a magic trick for you.
[00:12:56] Okay.
[00:12:57] So you know, he makes you look at this hand,
[00:12:58] but the magic's going on in the other hand while he directs you.
[00:13:00] Construction.
[00:13:01] Yeah.
[00:13:02] It's just, you know...
[00:13:03] Padding.
[00:13:04] Yeah.
[00:13:05] It's pseudo-Latin and it comes from...
[00:13:07] I only found this out by accident while I was doing the research,
[00:13:10] but didn't know he had this relation to it.
[00:13:12] It was coined by one of my favourite authors, Damon Runyon.
[00:13:14] Have you ever read a Damon Runyon book?
[00:13:16] Yeah, no.
[00:13:17] So first of all, this word comes from a story he wrote called
[00:13:20] The Lemon Drop Kid in 1934 about a racetrack grifter
[00:13:23] who makes money spitting tails and giving gamblers,
[00:13:26] you know, bad tips and running off with the cash and all this kind of stuff.
[00:13:29] A little grifter.
[00:13:30] He's a little bit, whee!
[00:13:31] Set America, obviously prohibition era America.
[00:13:33] In the story, The Lemon Drop Kid is trying to sell his lemon drops
[00:13:36] because he does actually own them to this horse rider
[00:13:39] who's a bit past his days, got arthritis.
[00:13:41] And he says,
[00:13:43] Now of course this is strictly the old Acomaracus as The Lemon Drop Kid
[00:13:45] cannot even spell arthritis, let alone have it,
[00:13:47] but he makes the above statements just by way of conversation
[00:13:50] and furthermore he goes on to state as follows.
[00:13:52] In fact, The Lemon Drop Kid says,
[00:13:54] I suffer so scarcely thanks to my lemon drops,
[00:13:56] but I find these remedies, fix me up and I'm as right as rain,
[00:13:59] I have no trouble whatsoever in the morning.
[00:14:02] And now that's just a very complicated way to get the point across
[00:14:04] but I like Run Your Knees.
[00:14:05] And Run Your Knees is like a mixture of formal speech and colourful slang.
[00:14:08] Okay, the best we can describe of Damon Runyon's book
[00:14:10] is imagine someone takes the characters in the world of Dick Tracy
[00:14:13] and smashes them right up against the world
[00:14:15] in like PG Woodhouse's G's and Worcester stories.
[00:14:18] They're like kind of polite farces
[00:14:20] or silly little kind of happenstance stories, shaggy dog stories.
[00:14:23] But with characters called Nathan Detroit, Benny South Street,
[00:14:28] Big Jewel, Harry the Horse, Good Time Charlie, Dave the Dude
[00:14:33] or The Seldom Scene Kid.
[00:14:35] It's like he looked out his window and just gave everyone nicknames
[00:14:38] and put them in his book.
[00:14:40] And that's what I like. So that's Acomaracus.
[00:14:42] Yeah, hit me with just one more.
[00:14:44] Hit me with Acomaracus in a modern day sentence.
[00:14:46] Sally the Psykik talks to the dead for a living
[00:14:49] but ultimately it's Acomaracus.
[00:14:52] I'm going to try and use that.
[00:14:54] Everyone should try and get the Acomaracus out.
[00:14:56] To describe the next presentation I'm in.
[00:14:58] Yes.
[00:14:59] I'll go, put man, I'll go, to be fair, but a lot of that was Acomaracus.
[00:15:02] And that's why you're fired, Damien. Get out.
[00:15:04] And I'll go, well let me tell you about this Damon Onion guy.
[00:15:07] Damon Runyon.
[00:15:09] Honestly, you uncivilized pig.
[00:15:11] It's like I wasn't listening.
[00:15:13] You're like an apple wife.
[00:15:15] Okay, word number four is Avocado.
[00:15:18] Avocado.
[00:15:19] Talk to me about your close personal relationship with Avocado.
[00:15:21] I've used it.
[00:15:22] I sometimes like to split one in half.
[00:15:24] How do you enter an avocado?
[00:15:27] Well, carefully.
[00:15:28] First of all, we have to ask for permission from their parents.
[00:15:31] Please, Mr. Cado.
[00:15:32] Can I enter?
[00:15:33] Vol.
[00:15:34] But it's like you slice it down the side.
[00:15:36] You hit it the pit, then you twist a nice stone in the middle.
[00:15:39] Okay, go slower.
[00:15:40] Break this down for me because I don't think I do it the same.
[00:15:42] I don't think I enter an avocado the same way.
[00:15:44] So, you know, it's like a pear drop shape.
[00:15:46] I know the avocado.
[00:15:47] Right, okay.
[00:15:48] So you take it on its side so it's now at the top and wide at the bottom.
[00:15:50] You take a knife, you slice it down from the narrow end to the big end.
[00:15:53] Then you run that knife along the pit on the inside.
[00:15:56] You twist both halves.
[00:15:57] You pull.
[00:15:58] One doesn't have the pit in.
[00:15:59] The other one does.
[00:16:00] You throw the knife into it, twist it, pull it out.
[00:16:02] You've got two nice halves.
[00:16:04] Then you can drizzle a little bit of balsamic and oil
[00:16:06] and a little bit of maybe olive oil on that.
[00:16:08] A bit of salt, spoon, scoop, eat.
[00:16:10] See, I'm going the other way.
[00:16:11] I'm cutting it around the waist.
[00:16:13] No.
[00:16:14] That's crazy talk.
[00:16:15] You cut it from the neck down to the belly.
[00:16:17] I've learned some of this.
[00:16:18] We need to do a whole podcast on avocados and apples.
[00:16:21] Avongard avocado.
[00:16:23] Avocado, the testicle fruit.
[00:16:25] Its name comes from the Aztec word which I can't pronounce,
[00:16:28] which later became the Spanish word, aguacate.
[00:16:31] But it's used in Aztec because they didn't have many words.
[00:16:35] So they would confuse or in fact deliberately point out through humour
[00:16:40] that your testicles were the same as a hanging fruit.
[00:16:44] I wish mine were.
[00:16:45] I'll split them down the middle.
[00:16:47] They are from Haar.
[00:16:48] The first recorded appearance of avocado on planet Earth in history
[00:16:52] since we started writing stuff down, 10,000 BC in Mexico.
[00:16:56] The first record in English was by Hans Sloane
[00:17:00] in the 1696 index of Jamaican plants.
[00:17:04] Why do avocados turn brown, red, orange, go stringy and make me fart?
[00:17:08] They're the top five why do avocado questions on Google?
[00:17:11] Good, not you personally.
[00:17:12] So why do avocados spoil so quickly?
[00:17:15] Because they react quickly to oxygen due to the enzymes in the fruit
[00:17:21] that make it more reactive.
[00:17:23] Is the correct answer?
[00:17:25] Is it?
[00:17:26] Did you just sign it?
[00:17:27] It's so not!
[00:17:28] It is?
[00:17:29] I just made up a bunch of words in a sentence.
[00:17:31] How is that accurate?
[00:17:32] An enzyme in avocados causes the flesh to oxidise when exposed to air.
[00:17:36] It's not singing a change of colour.
[00:17:39] Brilliant.
[00:17:40] You win the internet, my friend.
[00:17:42] With that enzyme bony last week, I'm on a roll!
[00:17:45] The trick is to starve your avocado of oxygen and then it will stay ripe for longer.
[00:17:49] Some people say, ah but I cut my avocado and then I put the stone in.
[00:17:52] Will that work?
[00:17:53] No, that's rubbish.
[00:17:54] Why would that work?
[00:17:55] In nut case.
[00:17:56] Like an avocado is a high maintenance fruit.
[00:17:59] It really is.
[00:18:00] It's like having a pet or a child to have an avocado.
[00:18:03] Never refrigerate hard avocados because they won't ripen in cold temperatures.
[00:18:07] But yeah, I buy mine from Co-op and they're in the fridge in Co-op.
[00:18:11] That's wrong then surely.
[00:18:12] Well because they go it's ready to eat and I go, it's ready to eat but you've got a
[00:18:16] best before date of five days.
[00:18:17] I'm in the mood for avocado today.
[00:18:19] I want avocado another weekend.
[00:18:21] Hard avocados are best stored in a cold dark place like my childhood until they have
[00:18:27] ripened.
[00:18:28] Interestingly, avocados have more potassium than a banana and of course they ripen
[00:18:32] faster too.
[00:18:33] So in your face, yellow bendy fruit.
[00:18:36] Yeah.
[00:18:37] And here's a bit of myth busting for you.
[00:18:39] You might have seen this meme on the internet.
[00:18:41] It is false.
[00:18:42] Guacamole does not mean testicle sauce.
[00:18:44] That's a shame because I give a lot of guacamole to the ladies.
[00:18:48] Nobody wants my testicle sauce.
[00:18:50] No one.
[00:18:51] Time to result so this week's cheat, cheat, cheat, cheat letters.
[00:18:57] Do you want 30 seconds to work it out?
[00:18:59] A little ponder.
[00:19:00] It all means give me 30 seconds to not figure this out.
[00:19:03] Give me 30 seconds.
[00:19:04] Here we go now.
[00:19:05] I'll have a drink now.
[00:19:13] What are you saying?
[00:19:14] What was the word again?
[00:19:15] Azalazio A-Z-U-L-E-J-O but what does it mean?
[00:19:20] 15 seconds.
[00:19:22] Azalazio.
[00:19:23] Let's see.
[00:19:25] It sounds playful.
[00:19:27] Sounds like it's a game.
[00:19:28] Azalazio.
[00:19:29] Yeah, I don't know.
[00:19:31] Five seconds.
[00:19:32] Does it mean coffee biscuits?
[00:19:35] No.
[00:19:36] That's a shame.
[00:19:37] Azalazio will score 23 points in Scrabble, 27 points in Words with Friends.
[00:19:42] The highest scoring A word in Words with Friends.
[00:19:45] Azalazio is a former Spanish and Portuguese painted, tinglazed, ceramic tilework.
[00:19:51] Yes, the answer is boring but you will storm it at your next game.
[00:19:56] So I was going to say if it's used in English Scrabble then apparently then it's used
[00:20:00] in Commonwealth and to describe something so I was thinking it has to be an item.
[00:20:04] It has to be a thing.
[00:20:05] You see these things quite a lot.
[00:20:06] Art Nouveau, Azalazios from the late 19th century can be found all over the place.
[00:20:11] Rafael Pinheiro, Juliés César de Silva and José Antonio Jorge Pinto might also be names of footballers
[00:20:19] but they're famous Art Nouveau, Azalazio artists.
[00:20:22] And they work as on churches, palaces, schools, restaurants, train stations and bars throughout Spain and Portugal.
[00:20:28] And if you go to one of those tapas places actually, a lot of those have got the same kind of style.
[00:20:32] So Azalazio, 23 points for Scrabble, 27 points in Words with Friends.
[00:20:37] We'll do another cheat letters next week.
[00:20:40] And that'll do it for this week's episode of The Thictionary, letter A.
[00:20:43] I've had a pretty good time if you've enjoyed it too.
[00:20:45] Come and share the love on Facebook, Twitter, iTunes, Audio Boom or Stitcher.
[00:20:50] To all of those through Thictionary.com.
[00:20:52] If you like us give us a review. It's okay if you don't but it's like a digital high five.
[00:20:56] Yeah, it's nice.
[00:20:57] So we'd appreciate it.
[00:20:58] I would say this week, Paul Gannon, The Thictionary has been a Kimbo.
[00:21:02] And this episode as far as I'm concerned has been my favourite Doctor Who companion, Ace.
[00:21:06] I thought you were going to say, Adric.
[00:21:08] No. No, no, no. Never.
[00:21:13] And I would say this week has been anti-social networking.
[00:21:16] A term applied to anyone who joins Facebook or Twitter but never posts a single thing.
[00:21:21] We've all got a friend who never replies, tweets, updates their profile photo.
[00:21:25] And like maybe like two years past and then you suddenly see them done a status update.
[00:21:29] I'm like, where did you come from? I thought you died.
[00:21:32] Very good.