Style Invitational Week 1512: Alphabettering
Write something with 26 words, and every word has to begin with a different letter. Plus neologisms!
All bats can dive eagerly for gnats. However, in jungle kingdom locales, many nosh on porcupine quills — razor-sharp. The undaunted vermin wolf: xylophonically yelping zealously.
Cartoon and 26 words by Bob Staake for The Washington Post
—If you’re not yet getting this free newsletter by email (or if you got dropped because you didn’t expressly opt in since we moved over to Substack): By all means …
It’s a brand-new contest for us: For Style Invitational Week 1512, write a 26-word sentence or other passage whose words each start with a different letter — except that the X in the X-word may appear elsewhere in the word, as long as the word has an “ex” syllable. (Okay: “EXtra.” Okay: “MetroseXual.” Not okay: “FoX.”) If the X-word does start with X, that’s swell, too.
And we have a slew of Loser-coined neologisms, the results of Week 1508 and all containing the letter block ELDN, in any order. Today’s winner, SPLENDOOFEROUS — magnificently stupid — gives the perfect example for this adjective.
In my supplementary column, The Style Conversational, I talk about the new contest and share some ingenious results of two similar contests, one from 2012 and one from the election season of 2004.
LINKS TO …
This week’s Invitational column, Week 1512, with the results of Week 1508
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 1512
Still running -- deadline Monday night, Oct. 31:
Week 1511, our “air quotes” contest to find relevant words inside other ones — like the “Sty”le Invitational. Paywall-free entry form for Week 1511)
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.