It's the 'Sty'le Invitational! Week 1511, our 'air quotes' contest
Plus state slogans with a twist
Cartoon by Bob Staake for The Washington Post
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It’s the contest that keeps on giving, even though we do it over and over in exactly the same way. So for Style Invitational Week 1511, for the seventh time since 2000: Highlight part of a word, name or short phrase in “air quotes” to give the word a new meaning or description, as in the examples above from our 2019 contest. As always, you can enter up to 25 different words.
And we have the results of our Week 1507 contest, one for funny slogans for the various U.S. states, but with a twist: The first letters of the words of the slogans had to be the first letters of a “route,” a series of states that ventured out from the state in question. Like: “Alabama: God, Football and Guns” traces Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Georgia. The slogans range from two words (Colorado’s “We Inhale” — Wyoming, Idaho) to one that travels 29 states to describe California.
In my supplementary column, The Style Conversational, I talk about the new contest and results, link to a really helpful list for the “air quotes” contest, and note a brand-new activity on the Loser Community’s calendar.
LINKS TO …
This week’s Invitational column, Week 1511, with the results of Week 1507
The same column for non-subscribers (but do sign up — there are always great promotions going on!)
This week’s Style Conversational column
The Convo for non-subscribers
Paywall-free entry form for Week 1511
Still running -- deadline Monday night, Oct. 24:
Week 1510, our contest for poems that use only one of the vowels A, E, I, O and U. Paywall-free entry form for Week 1510)
More ways to enjoy The Style Invitational and be part of the Loser Community:
Join the Style Invitational Devotees group on Facebook and the Devs will anagram your name every which way.
Also on Facebook, the Style Invitational Ink of the Day page presents one classic entry as a colorful graphic that's easy to share. Follow the page to get it regularly on your news feed, or to scroll through the archives. bit.ly/inkofday.
And we have two seasons’ worth of the You're Invited podcast, half-hour episodes with host Mike Gips and various Invite luminaries. Catch all 18 episodes at bit.ly/invite-podcast or wherever you get your podcasts.
— Pat Myers, Empress of The Style Invitational, pat.myers@washpost.com (or just reply to this email)
*That's Loser with a capital L; named for the runner-up prizes emblazoned "LOSER," the community of regular Style Invitational entrants now proudly calls itself the Losers. If you enter the Invite, you're a Genuine Loser. But not (necessarily) a loser.