The Washington Post's "Style Invitational" asks readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are some recent winners:[I have exercised my editorial privilege by adding words to the definitions for added clarity]
- Foreploy
- Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of obtaining sex.
- Fortissimoe
- The musical moment produced when someone serially slaps the faces of the first-violin section.
- Tatyr
- A lecherous Mr. Potato Head.
- Doltergeist
- A spirit that decides to haunt someplace stupid, such as your septic tank.
- Giraffiti
- Vandalism spray-painted very, very high, such as the famous "Surrender Dorothy" on the Beltway overpass.
- Sarchasm
- The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the recipient who doesn't get it.
- Conratemps
- The resentment permanent workers feel toward the fill-in workers.
- Coiterie
- A very VERY close-knit group.
- Whitetater
- A [racist] political hot potato.
- Impotience
- Eager anticipation by men awaiting their Viagra prescription.
- Auto-da-feh
- The extermination of heretics via drowning in a vat of pus.
- Stupfather
- Woody Allen. [shtup = Yiddish for sexual intercourse]
- Reintarnation
- Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
- DIOS
- The one true operating system.