Style Invitational Week 1514: Ask Backwards XLI
The 41st running of our 'Jeopardy!'-ish contest. Plus poems that manage to use just one of the vowels.
By Bob Staake for The Washington Post. More “answers” to ask about are in this week’s column.
—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 …
For the 41st time in The Style Invitational’s going-on-30-year history: We give you the “answers”; make up a question that one of them could humorously answer. Deadline for Week 1514 is Monday night, Nov. 21.
And we have the ingenious winners of our contest to write a poem that uses just one of the vowels A, E, I, O or U. Including an all-I rewrite of “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” and two all-E cheers for beer.
In my supplementary column The Style Conversational, I share some earlier Ask Backwards results — including those from a 1997 contest that reveals a bit of how our approach to humor has changed. And for D.C. area locals, it’s last call for Sunday’s brunch + TopGolf outing.
LINKS TO …
This week’s Invitational column, Week 1514, with the results of Week 1510
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 1514
Still running -- deadline Monday night, Nov. 14:
Week 1513, our contest to write a greeting-card rhyme for a non-greeting-card occasion. Paywall-free entry form for Week 1513)
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.