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Now that the summer is unofficially over, and we’re all wishing it wasn’t, I thought one way at least to pretend like casual Fridays are still in effect is to play a little casual word game.
For those wordies who haven’t yet had the fun of playing this one, the game is called “Paging Dr.” and goes like this:
You begin your sentence with “Paging Dr._____” and then fill in the blank with a made-up doctor’s name, using the last name first, and then the full name, like this: “Paging Dr. Pearson, Dr. Will Pearson.”
Now, the object of the game is to come up with a clever word pun in place of Will Pearson – one word that could be broken in half to form a fictitious proper name. For example: if your word is “elocution” the Paging Dr. pun would go thusly:
“Paging Dr. Cution, Dr. Ella Cution.”
Or if the word is “edifice” you have “Paging Dr. Ifice, Dr. Ed Ifice.”
Obviously this is a game best played with two or more people, out loud. Because the puns don’t work as well in print. They’re meant to be heard. And yes, the rules do permit slight alterations in pronunciation – as I changed the “elo” in “elocution” to “ella” to make the pun work. Furthermore, you should always keep the funny pronunciation of the back half of the word intact. So where you might be inclined to pronounce “Ifice” with a long I-vowel sound, it’s much funnier to keep the short I-vowel, pronouncing “Ifice” just as you do in the word “edifice.”
One of my best friends back East taught me this game some years ago and she suggests putting your best “Public Address Voice” into it for even more fun.
As always, we’d love to hear your Paging Doctors!
Comments (9)
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The Car Talk guys are famous for using names like these in their credits:
http://www.cartalk.com/content/about/credits/credits.html
Some of my favorites:
Bud Tuggli
Hugh Jass
Bea Esser
The list goes on …
posted by n2y2 on 9-8-2006 at 1:09 pm
Cute, N2! Thanks for the linkage, as well. But remember folks, unlike the Car Talk guys, the rules of Paging Dr. call for one word only, not two.
posted by David on 9-8-2006 at 1:14 pm
Paging Dr. Biosys…Paging Dr. Sam Biosys.
Paging Dr. Matic…Paging Dr. Enid Matic.
Paging Dr. Assic…Paging Dr. Thor Assic.
posted by Sheldon Siegel on 9-8-2006 at 1:38 pm
Paging Dr. Hibit, Dr. N. Hibit.
Paging Dr. Lender, Dr. Cal Lender.
Paging Dr. Fone, Dr. Telly Fone.
This is fun!
Paging Dr. Oxenfree. Olly?…Olly Oxenfree?? okay, so that one doesn’t follow the rules. Still funny, though.
posted by andi on 9-8-2006 at 3:38 pm
How about Sig Momanometer, Anna Phylaxis, Hi Ponatremia or Cy Attica?
How about I get back to work…
posted by RTfact on 9-8-2006 at 3:46 pm
Paging Dr. Vator…Dr. Ele Vator
posted by Dawn Lorraine on 9-8-2006 at 3:58 pm
Here’s a few from the dark side of medicine …
Dr Alitty; Dr Mort Alitty
Dr Rosis; Dr Neck Rosis
Dr Nage; Dr Kar Nage
Dr Talitty; Dr Fay Talitty
Dr Tillate; Dr Mew Tillate
Dr Lix; Dr Ball Lix
Dr Otter; Dr Slau Ottter
Dr Tagus; Dr Conn Tagus
posted by n2y2 on 9-8-2006 at 3:59 pm
Paging Dr. Erator…Dr. Axel Erator
Paging Dr. Bahn…Dr. Otto Bahn
Paging Dr. Basa…Dr. Kel Basa
posted by Lisa B. on 9-8-2006 at 9:47 pm
Paging Dr. Harky … Dr. Ann Harky
Paging Dr. Coe … Dr. Sy Coe
Paging Dr. Sense … Dr. Eno Sense
posted by Marcy on 9-10-2006 at 9:05 pm