Vaughans Vocabulary For the love of Mayberry...

December 7, 2010

One of my favorite guest stars on The Andy Griffith Show was Josie Lloyd, whose first appearance was as the daughter of Mayberry’s mayor. Later the lovely Lloyd played the role of Lydia, whom Barney Fife and his girlfriend brought by for Andy to meet.
Andy attempts a conversation by saying, “Lydia, was it?” When she explains that her name originates from ancient Greece, she is quick to point out “but that is not where I am from — I am from Greensboro.”
Lloyd made a third appearance in an episode in which Goober Pyle annoyingly appears as Andy and Barney are about to take out their dates and tags along. The next day Andy and Barney ask Goober if there isn’t someone that he would like to go out with. His first answer is Jane, from Tarzan, and his second choice is Lydia Crosswaite. A and B give Goober money to purchase a big box of chocolates, and when the two show up at Andy’s home where Andy, Barney and their dates are playing bridge, the climate changes. I love Lydia’s line “Can’t we just stay here and talk? I’m a little nauseated from all that candy I’ve been eating.”

1. Greensboro is in
A. North Carolina.
B. South Carolina.
C. Georgia
D. All of the above

2. Which one is a synonym for annoying?
A. loquacious (low-QUAY-shus)
B. vexatious (vex-A-shus)
C. loutish (LOU-tish)
D. loup garou (loo-guh-ROO)

No. 1 is D. No. 2 is B.

3. rhubarb (roo-BARB)
A. idyllic rural life
B. a type of fence designed to keep livestock confined
C. a reddish brown or golden brown color
D. edible fleshly leafstalks used in making pies and preserves

On the Griffith Show Aunt Bee’s rhubarb pie was sometimes mentioned.

4. How long has the Griffith Show been on the air?
A. 40 years
B. 46 years
C. 50 years
D. 52 years

The Andy Griffith Show first aired on October 3, 1960, and it has never been off the air.
Last week’s mystery word was leer.
This week’s mystery word to solve is one you can use to describe someone given to excessive or incessant laughter. The laughing philosopher was a native of a Thracian town, and the town’s name is where this mystery word came.

Contact Don Vaughan at dvaughan@eastms.edu