Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me

Bitchin' Blog Posts

by SB Sarah | by SB Sarah | January 20, 2008 | Sunday at 4:16 am | 33 Comments

Shadow Bear and Defenders of Wildlife constituted one of the questions on NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.

The story is part of the Bluff the Listener segment, which features “three stories of plagiarism in the news.”

Filed: Cassie Edwards, The Link-O-Lator

| |

Strategerie said on 01.20.08 at 04:30 AM • [link]

Good for Paul, and good for black-footed ferrets everywhere.

This must be one of those “every cloud has a silver lining” things my mom used to tell me about.

-S
LadyRhian said on 01.20.08 at 04:34 AM • [link]

I heard it tonight when I was driving to dinner. I’m glad I was alone in the car. Anybody with me would have thought I was re-enacting the diner scene from “When Harry Met Sally”.
Jackie L. said on 01.20.08 at 04:46 AM • [link]

The SBs have truly arrived.
Ruth said on 01.20.08 at 04:56 AM • [link]

OK, that is doubly funny for me. The first story “takes place” in my hometown.

And wow. The ferrets are famous!
Wry Hag said on 01.20.08 at 05:03 AM • [link]

Oh-so-funny. I love NPR. U GO FERETZ!
Kate said on 01.20.08 at 05:53 AM • [link]

Roy Blount Jr’s delivery is so awesome. As is how funny the audience found the story.
Anna said on 01.20.08 at 06:18 AM • [link]

I listen to Wait, Wait every week, but missed this one!
Sarabeth said on 01.20.08 at 06:27 AM • [link]

She got it wrong! Oh, obviously not a Smart Bitch.

Getting a mention on NPR is definite proof of being smart.
sula said on 01.20.08 at 06:37 AM • [link]

lmao. I got in my car this morning to go shopping and JUST as I started to drive, this was on the radio. I was yelling in the car, “noooo, pick the last one!!!” Seriously though, I was disappointed that NPR didn’t take the opportunity to say the word ‘bitches’. “romance novel websites” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. *sigh*
Sarah Frantz said on 01.20.08 at 06:37 AM • [link]

This is SOOOO awesome! I was also pretty much screaming in the car when I heard it! I was so thrilled.
Lisa said on 01.20.08 at 07:32 AM • [link]

I heard it in the car and started screaming HOLY PHXCKMONKEYS!!! So cool!
Eliza said on 01.20.08 at 07:42 AM • [link]

Sweet, now I’m really looking forward to my podcast time on Monday.
Sphinx said on 01.20.08 at 08:00 AM • [link]

Dash it all! Someone on Fandom_Wank predicted this very thing would happen. I knew I should’ve gotten in on the betting pool.
Taylor Reynolds said on 01.20.08 at 10:47 AM • [link]

What a cool coincidence…a friend just introduced me to “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” a couple days ago.
ardith said on 01.20.08 at 10:48 AM • [link]

YAH!!

I looooove Wait Wait! You can get it via podcast if you missed it.

The last romance novel question on there was also on Bluff the listener. The correct answer then was the NASCAR-themed category romance novels. I only knew the answer to that one because I went to BEA that year and got an advance copy.
ardith said on 01.20.08 at 10:49 AM • [link]

Oops. My HTML didn’t work.

Here’s the link:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=121493804
lecraie said on 01.20.08 at 11:18 AM • [link]

That just totally made my day.
Sally said on 01.20.08 at 02:08 PM • [link]

Squeee! This is exciting; I’m a total “fangirl” of Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!

If you haven’t listened to a full program, run and do so, now!
Eileen said on 01.20.08 at 04:49 PM • [link]

Looks like everyone is getting some traction out of this plagiarism gig: NPR, SBTB, ferrets, even. Woo hoo! Well, the actual Evil Plagiarist is probably ready to slit her throat by now, but, hey, she did a Bad Thing and hath been pilloried and punish-ed. At least she didn’t pull a Janet Dailey and plead mental illness after lifting NR’s words. And maybe EP’s book sales are up, a sort of literary version of the Hillary Effect after getting tromped in the media. So, all’s well that ends. PS—A gentle reminder that Smart and Smartass are not synonyms. You got something to say? Just say it.
azteclady said on 01.20.08 at 05:54 PM • [link]

Eileen, it’s Sunday morning and I’m just getting my coffee, so please forgive my denseness. With that said…

Huh?
Kassiana said on 01.20.08 at 08:11 PM • [link]

Hee hee hee…too bad my mom didn’t get to be in on this one. She’s going to a taping of Wait, Wait on the 31st.

Peter Sagal is a comedy God.
spinsterwitch said on 01.20.08 at 08:22 PM • [link]

I was horribly disappointed. Clearly, my campaign to make sure everyone in the Bay Area was reading SB is not working.
Leslie Kelly said on 01.20.08 at 08:25 PM • [link]

Loved it! My only disappointment was that Paul said readers were “skipping ahead to find the next sex scene” rather than the next nipple. lol!
Jackie L. said on 01.20.08 at 08:26 PM • [link]

Not sure, but Eileen might have been reacting to the not smart crack about the contestant who somehow missed the ferret sex kerfuffle.
Liz said on 01.20.08 at 09:24 PM • [link]

I love that show!
Laura D. said on 01.21.08 at 05:07 AM • [link]

My favorite part of this was that when I was listening to this on Saturday morning and Peter Sagel just finished the part about how this week’s “Bluff the Listener” was going to be about a story of plagiarism in the news and I declared “Cassie Edwards and black-footed ferrets” without even looking up from my Sudoko. Which totally impressed the DH until he realized that it was a romance-based question, so, duh, of course I got it.
Becca said on 01.21.08 at 06:12 PM • [link]

I downloaded and listened to this segment. The good thing about this is I’ve now subscribed to the podcast and can hear it every week. The downside is that I’m beginning to feel sorry for CE, when even comedy shows mock her writing style. That’s gotta sting.
Michelle S. said on 01.21.08 at 11:05 PM • [link]

I am listening to Talk of the Nation on NPR and they announced that they are going to be talking to a scientist whose work was republished without his permission in a ... romance novel!
azteclady said on 01.21.08 at 11:20 PM • [link]

Michelle S, seriously?
geohawk said on 01.22.08 at 02:02 AM • [link]

I actually first heard about this on Wait, Wait. When they came to the Cassie Edwards story, I knew what it had to be. And then I guessed that the smart ones were probably behind this some where.

And yeah, it was on Talk of the Nation today. The three callers I heard? Male.
kate r said on 01.22.08 at 04:53 AM • [link]

I thought the whole thing reached epic proportions when it showed up in Dave Barry’s blog. This is even more epicness.
emwhist said on 01.22.08 at 07:41 AM • [link]

I work in the same microbial ecology lab at Berkeley as the unfortunate non-romance reader… she was so excited about going on the show. Oh well, had she consulted this smart bitch before appearing, perhaps Carl Kasell would greet callers on the lab answering machine.

That dream has died.
WindyV63 said on 01.22.08 at 06:10 PM • [link]

I came in to work early today, and thought I would listen to the Wait Wait Podcast while I was finishing up a project. I was really surprised to hear the bluff the listener section… but I have to admit if I hadn’t read about the Cassie Edwards plagiarism on your site, I would not have picked the ferret story as the news story that actually happened. It just sounds too ridiculous to be true - especially when they read the actual dialog from the book. Edwards’ writing just sounds so awkward.