Hilarious internet spoof that has produced something clever: “The Washington Post’s Mensa Invitational has invited readers to take any word from the dictionary and alter it by adding, subtracting or changing one letter to supply a new definition.” While it turns out that there’s no such thing as the Washington Post’s Mensa Invitational, the list is pretty great, and it looks like the poor Washington Post receives so many unsolicited entries to this nonexistent contest that they have created something called the “Style Invitational“. This year they have entries for “prefains”; lines that might precede the first line of a book, poem or song.
My personal favorites from the hoax emails:
- Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn’t get it. (This will be making its way into my daily vernacular.)
- Arachnoleptic Fit (n): The frantic dance performed just after you’ve accidentally walked through a spider web.
- Beelzebug (n): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
From the honorable mentions in the real prefain contest this year:
“My husband? The guy over there who’s dressed as a Klingon and playing Guitar Hero.”
All children, except one, grow up.
— “Peter Pan,” by J.M. Barrie
“Congress finally managed, on the same day and with equal skill, to repair both the country’s health care system and all the clocks in the Capitol.”
— “1984,” by George Orwell
“Eventually, there were only two people left in the world who had not succumbed to the lure of the Style Invitational.”
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
— “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” by J.K. Rowling
Eight days until Christmas! Baking begins tomorrow morning.
– Momo