Because it’s the last day before s-c-h-o-o-l starts after the holidays, today is go
ing to be “blogging lite.” Today’s ten are words I like the sounds of, totally apart from their meaning.
In no particular order, here are words that I consider fun to move your mouth to [sorry, you'll have to look up the meanings yourself!]:
What are your favorites?
What do
the following words all share?
GREEN
CARBON FOOTPRINT or CARBON OFFSETTING
MAVERICK
FIRST DUDE
BAILOUT
WALL STREET/MAIN STREET
Internet and texting blues
-MONKEY
<3
ICON or ICONIC
GAME CHANGER
STAYCATION
DESPERATE SEARCH
NOT SO MUCH
WINNER OF FIVE NOMINATIONS
IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN
Lake Superior State University “maverick” word-watchers, fresh from the holiday “staycation” but without an economic “bailout” even after a “desperate search,” have issued their 34th annual List of Words to Be Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness. This year’s list may be more “green” than any of the previous lists and includes words and phrases that people from “Wall Street to Main Street” say they love “not so much” and wish to have erased from their “carbon footprint.”
Words –their abundance, their power, their generosity–fascinate me.
Bundles and baskets and bushels and bowls and barrels of letters strung together to form meaning.
Every word an act of creation.
Words are invincible, indestructible. They transport us through time, space, and feeling at snail-like measures or supersonic speeds without ever forcing us to leave our chairs for the experience they offer.
They invite us in, close us off from, wrap themselves around us.
Hovering. Waiting, perhaps, to protect us from the silence of thought. They cannot be bribed or blackmailed or seduced or ignored or kidnapped or ransomed.
They exist inside of us and beyond us.
We have died for them, fought with them, loved with them.
Fiendishly Difficult Word Game from the Oxford Word Challenge
Hermans |
‘Hermans’ are sentences that use a pun on a person’s name, modelled on the sentence: ‘She’s my woman,’ said Herman. Hermans can include more complicated examples like: ‘What comes after H?’ said I, Jay, Kay, Ella, and Emma.
Suggest appropriate female names for the speakers of the following sentences:
Example: ‘Bless this meal,’ said . . .
Answer: Grace.
1. ‘Can you see I’ve been dieting?’ said . . .
2. ‘Is that a horse I hear?’ asked . . .
3.‘Everything in the garden is lovely,’ said . . .
4.‘I’m an egotist,’ said . . .
5.‘I only just got up,’ said . . .
6.‘I’m shrinking!’ said . . .
7.‘Sing doh, ray, me, fah, soh, te, doh,’ said . . .
8.‘This house has two lavatories,’ said . . .
9.‘I’m the greatest,’ said . . .
10.‘Anna’s not going anywhere,’ said . . .
Now suggest suitable male first names for the speakers of these sentences:
11. ‘I am the winner,’ said . . .
12. ‘I cannot tell a lie,’ said . . .
13.‘That can’t be a window,’ said . . .
14.‘I’ve finished the excavation,’ said . . .
15.‘On your knees!’ shouted . . .
16.‘I’m only joking,’ said . . .
17.‘Do you like my telescope?’ said . . .
18.‘I can’t get mumps twice,’ said . . .
19.‘How does that famous soliloquy start?’ asked . . .
20.‘Over and out,’ said . . .
ANSWERS TOMORROW!
