Style Invitational Week 1474: Hyphen the Terrible
We bring back a beloved neologism contest -- and have the results of another one.
▲ Di-rector + doz-ens: Rector-doz: A sermon so boring that even the pastor falls asleep. (Beverley Sharp)
If you’re not yet getting this newsletter by email (or if you got dropped because you didn’t expressly opt in since we moved over to Substack): By all means …
Assess-ment + in-formation: Assessin: Someone who kills good ideas by saying, “I think we need to study this more.” (Jeff Contompasis)
Hem-orrhoid + mem-oir: Hemoir: A life story that comes to a painful end. (Lawrence McGuire)
Here’s a look-through-the-paper contest that The Style Invitational used to do all the time: For Week 1474: Combine one side of a hyphenated word or phrase with one side of another such term to create a new term, then describe the result, as in the examples above.
AND! Both halves of the term must come from the same issue of a newspaper (The Post or another one) or published the same day on its website, from Feb. 3 through Feb. 14. (More details on the entry form and in The Style Conversational.)
Meanwhile, we also have some instant-classic neologisms in the results of our Week 1470 contest to add a “prefix” (a syllable or more) before a word in a name, phrase or title. Like PassWORDLE: You have to remember your login info in six tries. Or HairBALL AND CHAIN: Your emotionally demanding pet cat.
In my weekly supplementary column, The Style Conversational, I relate the sad news of one of our fine trophies, the Clowning Achievement. It involves a dog. There is a graphic photo. Also, I have that extra info you’ll need for the Hyphen the Terrible contest, plus some great winning entries from past years. (And way down at the bottom, a few neologism entries from Week 1470 that were too tasteless even for the Invite.)
LINKS TO …
This week's Invitational column, Week 1474, and results of Week 1470
No-paywall entry form for Week 1474
This week’s Style Conversational column
Still running -- Deadline Monday night, Feb. 7: It’s our contest to write a funny message for a road sign or barbecue marquee, using an optional sign-generating tool. See Week 1473 here; see the no-paywall entry form here.
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. "Like" the page to get it regularly on your news feed, or to scroll through the archives. bit.ly/inkofday.
And we're now on Season 2 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.