I thought that was a _________

Are you quite sure? Because I’m certain that a holiday is a tall, flowering biennial.

That’s close, but

hollyhock

is the place where they make a lot of movies and TV shows

Blasphemy! Hollywood is a sacred relic of the True Cross!

Surely you can’t be trying to say

Holy Rood

because that’s what you get on top of your house after a storm with basketball sized hail (not all that often, I admit)

How did anyone measure hail before the invention of modern sports?

Alas, I must inform you that holey roof is that elite group of male singers from Yale. “We are poor little lambs who have lost our way…”

Paging Hal Briston!

I suppose they must have referenced fruits and veggies and small animals. I can just hear it now: possum sized hail.

But I must point out that

whiffenpoof

really refers to the game you see them playing on the deck of ships and also on tables in bars where you have a layout similar to curling but a smaller stone to work with

I’m so sorry to correct you, but it’s from one of my favorite books. Mayella asked Tom to bust up a shuffle board.

Well, I didn’t read the book, but I did see the movie, and

chifforobe

is one of those pesky little bugs that get on you and itch like forty hells

Oh, yeah! A definite hazard when picking blackberries. We used to paint the bites over with clear nail polish to smother them.

But you’re confused. Chigger was Roy Rogers’ horse.

I truly believe you mean well, but

Trigger

is that branch of mathematics that deals with triangles and the relationships of their various angles and such

::shudders::

OMG!!1! Trigonometry is an STD. You didn’t know that???

Relax. Don’t allow your confusion to frighten you. Surely you know that

Trichomoniasis

is nothing more than the sort of flag that France uses, although I did suspect you may have meant

chlamydia

which is closer to

Calculus than Trigonometry

No, no tricolor
Is that thing they used to take reading on planets in Star Trek. Didn’t you learn anything growing up?

I can’t say I’m reassured, when I know that so many people have died from tri-color in refugee camps and the like.

Almost, but not quite. The

tricorder

is that flutelike instrument they play at Renaissance Festivals

Ah, yes, the common misunderstanding rears its head again. You must have heard that

trichinosis

is just a fancy word for a trial

I see I’ve rejoined this game just in time to correct your misperception and to state that

recorder

is a dairy product (not technically a cheese) often used in Italian cooking.

Welcome back, Sternvogel, to the realization that

ricotta – pronounced ri-GOTT on The Sopranos

is just another name for a faucet

No, ricotta is an actor who starred in Goodfellas.

No, ma’am, a

Liotta

is a yacht race