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Word Play
A month or so ago, I received an e-mail detailing a competition which the Washington
Post held a while back. The idea was to take a word, and by adding, subtracting, or changing
one letter, make a completely new word. I thought this was pretty cute.
Some of my favorite words are: "sarchasm - the gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the
recipient who doesn't get it;" "hipatitis - terminal coolness;" and "giraffiti - vandalism spray-painted very, very high, such as the
famous "Surrender Dorothy" on the Beltway overpass."
With this in mind, I developed a little word game of my own. To play, a person takes two existing words and
combines them to create a third word, supplying the definition. Often, we
do this unwittingly in every day speech - I have heard people say "flustrated" (a combination of
"frustrated" and "flustered") and a friend has already coined the word "obnoying" (obnoxious and
annoying).
Using this game, I decided to make my part-time job a tad more creative. While I was involved
in my rote data entry or retrieval tasks, I was using my brain to create new words. I engaged
Andree and co-worker Melinda in the game as well. Below is a list of our creations.
I encourage all of you to try your hand (and your mind) at this little exercise in verbal
creativity. If you come up with something good, please send it to me so I can print it in the future.
prostituition - working your way through school
nasalacious - turned on by big noses
mennui - a fancy way to say "I am bored with the male of the species"
enchantorment - to turn someone into a fly, then pull his wings off
somnambucolic - sleepwalking cows
flanorexia - eating disorder characterized by excessive consumption of caramel custard
chompion - prizefighter who attempts to win fights by biting off opponents' ears
(see also chewgilist)
unimbibited - someone who has given up drinking and makes up for it by accosting everyone
in the room
no-seeyums - bugs you accidentally ingest while riding a bicycle at high speed, breathing through your mouth
applet crisp - what happens when your java applet accidentally toasts your browser
behoover - it's good to vaccuum once in a while
persimmonious - stingy with fruit
relaxative - ironically, something that makes you get up and go again
cigarbage - butts, caps, bands and wrappers left over after cigar smoking
disadearance - having a fight with your mate and then hiding from her/him
peas de resistance - those last few legumes that refuse to be picked up with a fork
decapitulate - to talk about cutting it off again
dessart - a food sculpture too pretty to eat
larynguytis - man's obsession with swallowing
fratulence - result of group of college age men who eat beans for dinner
defecration - to step in a pile of doggie doo, thereby ruining its symmetry
boredome - an unexciting bald man
afrodesiac - hair tonic which causes arousal
repubican - right-wing politician who wants to follow in Clinton's footsteps
bi-partisanal - a politician who likes it both ways
hirsuitable - perfect for hairy people
alcomaul - what happens when a drunk guy gets a little too friendly
inphlegmmable - combustible spit
compouter - an employee who refuses to become a part of the information age
but is forced to sit in front of a computer anyway
pumpkink - S&M with gourds
pessimister - a man who only sees the depressing sides of a situation
soxual deviant - a man who insists on wearing long black socks to bed
snobgoblin - only haunts the best places
trick-or-Treet - to request SPAM-impersonating meat-like substances door-to-door
crampire - woman with PMS dressed to bite
bewhich - confusion as to what to be on Halloween
frumpkin - a dowdily dressed Halloween symbol
slack-o-lantern - Gen X pumpkin
recidivisionary - delinquent with ideas for the future
sementality - how men think
doo process - morning ritual involving coffee and porcelain urns
it's geek to me - expressing ignorance in computer knowledge
Hardtburn - digestive pains caused by watching over-melodramatic actresses
higgles - when you laugh so hard you get hiccups
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