full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Chris Bliss: Comedy is translation

Unscramble the Blue Letters

On the other side of the political spectrum, the first time that I heard Rush Limbaugh rfeer to pdeiitsranel hopeful John Edwards as the Breck girl I knew that he'd made a direct hit. Now it's not often that I'm going to associate the words honesty and integrity with Limbaugh, but it's really hard to augre with that pihlncnue. The drscieipotn perfectly captured Edwards' personal vanity. And guess what? That edend up being the exact personality trait that was at the core of the scandal that ended his political career.

Open Cloze

On the other side of the political spectrum, the first time that I heard Rush Limbaugh _____ to ____________ hopeful John Edwards as the Breck girl I knew that he'd made a direct hit. Now it's not often that I'm going to associate the words honesty and integrity with Limbaugh, but it's really hard to _____ with that _________. The ___________ perfectly captured Edwards' personal vanity. And guess what? That _____ up being the exact personality trait that was at the core of the scandal that ended his political career.

Solution

  1. argue
  2. punchline
  3. refer
  4. ended
  5. presidential
  6. description

Original Text

On the other side of the political spectrum, the first time that I heard Rush Limbaugh refer to presidential hopeful John Edwards as the Breck girl I knew that he'd made a direct hit. Now it's not often that I'm going to associate the words honesty and integrity with Limbaugh, but it's really hard to argue with that punchline. The description perfectly captured Edwards' personal vanity. And guess what? That ended up being the exact personality trait that was at the core of the scandal that ended his political career.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
climate change 4
opening line 2
remember thinking 2
daily show 2
great comedy 2
great joke 2
usa today 2

Important Words

  1. argue
  2. associate
  3. breck
  4. captured
  5. career
  6. core
  7. description
  8. direct
  9. edwards
  10. ended
  11. exact
  12. girl
  13. guess
  14. hard
  15. heard
  16. hit
  17. honesty
  18. hopeful
  19. integrity
  20. john
  21. knew
  22. limbaugh
  23. perfectly
  24. personal
  25. personality
  26. political
  27. presidential
  28. punchline
  29. refer
  30. rush
  31. scandal
  32. side
  33. spectrum
  34. time
  35. trait
  36. vanity
  37. words