The Round-up is an occasional anthology of pieces by writers I admire who play the daily Artwiculate word-game on Twitter.


Sward

Artwiculate-Twitter logo (Tweeting as @TSupercargo)

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Sward: (n) Turf or grass, stretch of turf or grass; (v) to cover or become covered with grass
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Today’s word produced such a fine crop of puns (and many another good tweet) that I found myself prepping an RT round-up almost subconsiously.

Today’s WOTD is one forever linked my mind with the works of Edgar Rice Buroughs (John Carter of Mars), but let’s keep it real.

Here’s @Squawkingalah’s definition to start us off

RT @Squawkingalah A sward by any other name is a patch of grass. #artwiculate

Grass, yes, and the sod of earth entangled grass roots which sparked a number of punning uses. Here’s one from @aptronym

RT @aptronym I know sod all about sward. #artwiculate

Some others with a close familiarity with the sod were @mazpowles’s rugby juniors

RT @mazpowles The under 8 junior team is pretty bad at rugby but they’re expert sward swallowers.

Gulp.

At this time of the year in the northern hemisphere, and for some of us for pretty much the whole summer too, hayfever is an issue

RT @Qyntara Just the sight of the word sward gives me hay fever and yes, it is all in the head.

@Qyntara, I feel your pain! (He sneezes & coughs but pushes on.)

Grass, lawns and mowing received a good deal of attention today, as well they might.

RT @smeedha Sward? Gimme mow!

Indeed we shall, @smeedha! Here’s @AequoEtBono remaking a well-known expression

RT @AequoEtBono The peasant finished the mowing in record time, thus proving that the peon is mightier than the sward #artwiculate

And here’s another from @steveandhens

RT @steveandhens My neighbour at I are very competitive about our lawns. As for which is better, it’s just his sward against mine. #artwiculate

@Ameeee gave us a quick extract from her forthcoming account of a territorial dispute

RT @Ameeee The Sward had difficulty establishing themselves after the turf war with The Herbicides.

And I shall segue out of this section with one the few serious snatches of poetry I came across today, it’s from @therevmountain

RT @therevmountain The pride of the work in the gardener’s ward, is the crisp clipped green of the garden sward. #artwiculate

Another poem that was not setting out to make comedy from the word is this gogyohka from @dsceiorg

RT @dsceiorg Soiree on the sward / Heels sink / So barefoot they dance / As the night goes by / Green grass between their toes

A poem about dancing on the lawn … well, that takes me back to comedy. Here’s @JonPowles

RT @JonPowles There was a horny Frenchman ~ whose morals were deplor’d ~ he’d take girls up the garden path ~ and lay them on his sward.

Which I have to pair with this limerick from @spikelynch

RT @spikelynch There was a most liberal Lord Who said “I have always abhorred The conventions of class Anyone fond of grass May gambol about on my sward.”

As I’ve said before, I think getting a successful limerick into a tweet is a technical achievement in itself. Kudos @spikelynch!

Poetry and feet on grass takes us to this contribution from @LBY3

RT @LBY3 @Artwiculate Wear shoes while walking across a vorpal sward. Snicker-snack!

Sword and Sward are an inevitable combo – here are few more of the serious and the funny I particuly liked from today’s harvest.

@ourmancanberra reported from the golf course

RT @ourmancanberra “Putt” said Davina “stop fussing over pebbles.” “At the Royal” said Tarquin “it’s tradition to remove the stone from the sward” #artwiculate

While @clintonducas gave us a nice new definition from the cricket ground

RT @clintonducas Sheathing the sward – what happens when they cover the cricket pitch during rain. #artwiculate

@lagadu123 picked up a line from Blake’s perennially popular poem/song (heard at a recent wedding event, for example)

RT @lagadu123 Watch out for the lie of England’s green and pleasant land. And never believe for a moment that the sward shall sleep in the hand.

And I am going to pair that with @elenoreally’s sombre little history

RT @elenoreally From words to swords to wars to wards to sward – the unhappy history of violence. #artwiculate

Lightening the tone slightly here are more blades and swords and more SF references from @beezknez

RT @beezknez Blade runner ~ crosses swards ~ with the replicants #artwiculate

And then here’s @Elixir_V’s Q & A session

RT @Elixir_V Q: What was a matador doing in a meadow? A: He was crossing a sward with a charging bull. #artwiculate

Here’s another Q & A from @Ysabeluna

RT @Ysabeluna Customer: Is this milk fresh? Waiter : Mam, three hours ago it was just sward #artwiculate

And as we seem to be back on the farm, meet @dmriver’s Columbine (of the bovine ilk)

RT @dmriver Columbine paused between sward and swale, udderly bored.

Let’s move away a little from vegetation for the last few tweets. Here’s @Colvinius in the garage

RT @Colvinius I’m starting a Supergrass tribute band called Ultrasward. #artwiculate

And @marcosarroyos with a(nother) brand new car

RT @marcosarroyos The new Subaru Sward is the greenest car going.

What @brucedenby seems to have in his garage is a whole other machine

RT @brucedenby The reincarnation machine broke down and everything came back as sward.

While scientific @FrankSiddarta gave Albert a shout-out …

RT @FrankSiddarta Einstein got it right E = M C sward

… @harrarp was leading a revivalist hymn of sorts

RT @harrarp On sward Grasstian soldiers!

@nedmw reported from another one of those peculiar hotles that so populate Artwicuworld

RT @nedmw I tried to hide in the Hotel Sward but someone grassed me out

And finally (because it’s May Day) I want to share @peterjcaseytwit political tweet

RT @peterjcaseytwit I like grass roots politics, but it’s hard to get a sward in edgeways #artwiculate
And this was the tweet that ended up crowned best of the buch!

I’m thinking of calling this selection “Leaves of Grass” (What’s that sound? Walt Whitman spinning under the sward?)

It’s been such a long time since my last anthology, I don’t think I’ll try to greet “newcomers” to the RoundUp. Instead: Greetings to EVERYONE, featured or not, whose fantastic creativity playing Artwiculate gives pleasure day on day!

With which I bow out and pass you back to @TheSupercargo.

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Artwiculate is a game played on Twitter. Visit http://artwiculate.com for more information. The winning tweet and the most popular runners up for today’s word are listed at http://www.artwiculate.com/words/sward (And, for addicts, don’t forget Salon ArtWois at http://www.salonartwois.com/ )

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Dragnet

Artwiculate-Twitter logo (Tweeting as @TSupercargo)

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Dragnet: A weighted net dragged across the bottom of a pond, lake or other body of water to collect things; very thorough search by law-enforcement officers to capture suspects; the title of a long-running American TV police series.
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Artwiculati! Welcome to an RT round-up from the dragnet of @TheSupercargo’s back-brain recluse. A swan song? A flying visit? The beginning of return to form? Time will tell! The sheer volume of fun puns drags me out of my brown study for this one – and a plethora of new names too.

Even those of us (me and him) who have never seen an episode recognised the WOTD as the title of an early cop-show. I now know “Just the facts, ma’am” is a catch phrase therefrom. Once again the Artwiculati help me expand my general knowledge.

But, here’s the only direct reference to Dragnet-the-show I’m sharing tonight … from Conficus (aka @marcosarroyos)

RT @marcosarroyos Conficius say: Man who like to watch original Dragnet not need color TV.

There’s no arguing with that! Next up, here’s a police-related joke from @zladyjoker

RT @zladyjoker How many law officials does it take to dragnet? #artwiculate

This from @AaronLivingston takes us from law to pun

RT @AaronLivingston Why did the harbor patrol captain step down as a recruit trainer? He let too many flounder through their dragnet. #artwiculate

There were so many glorious puns today I was really spoiled for choice. Here comes a small selection of favourites.

Another crime related one from @folded

RT @folded APB: hammerhead jimmy, tommy the loach wanted over murder of john dory. Despite massive dragnet police have turned up only red herrings.

Then this one from @SJHatzi

RT @SJHatzi Dragnet? That’s a lure ring.

Which I’ll follow with this from @drng

RT @drng The stocking thief exposed a hole in the police dragnet when he did a runner #artwiculate

Which brings us to stockings and drag queens, of which there was a plentiful crop today. Here’s @Doc_Harding

RT @Doc_Harding When dressing in drag, net stockings are de rigueur. #dragnet #artwiculate

And @Salvor_Hardin_ had a question

RT @Salvor_Hardin_ #artwiculate Do cross dressing fishermen use a dragnet?

I don’t know the answer to that, but I did like the play @kings_indian made with this theme

RT @kings_indian Count Dragula awaits victims with dragnet stalkings.

And as we’re still half in the warderobe here’re a pair of tweets from @MaltaGoddess and @Anamuk

RT @MaltaGoddess The only dragnet a girl needs is a corset, chéries.

RT @Anamuk The corset isn’t the dragnet, its the cleavage it creates @MaltaGoddess

But what IS a dragnet when it’s not a TV series? @eddroy has one suggestion

RT @eddroy Internet dragnet: Google search engine. #artwiculate

And @antipodeannemo has another (I had to check the meaning of troll before I got this one!)

RT @antipodeannemo Dragnet ~ a tweet with intention to troll #artwiculate

And then there’s the possiblity that @smeedha offers

RT @smeedha The dragon who fell in love with the dragnet… He was ensnared before he realised it.

Which leads me on to this one from @mazpowles

RT @mazpowles Puff the Magic Dragnet lived by the sea. Didn’t frolic much, but you can’t have everything.

OK, so really it’s a kind of fishing net (which if it hasn’t been banned probably ought to be) but what can the Artwiculati do with that?

There weren’t many successful poetic efforts today, I thought, but these from @Qyntara and @erinvk both came close and caught my eye

RT @Qyntara Cast the dragnet far and wide/Then let us look at what’s inside/Slime and mud, things that have died/And creatures that do wish to hide.

RT @erinvk I drew the dragnet of my mind across the ocean of my soul and to be honest, was unimpressed with what came up. Song lyrics & phone numbers.

In a completely different context I also liked @oldbankcygnet’s desperate tweet from the kitchen

RT @oldbankcygnet Tried muslin, sieve, a seine net and now resorting to dragnet – damned lumpy gravy #artwiculate

Been there, done that – no, not really, not to that extreme

Several people tried to trap Twitter in the net, but I liked @rogthewolfhound’s effort the best

RT @rogthewolfhound Yikes, is that the fail whale entangled in the dragnet? #artwiculate

Meanwhile @gavroche made elegant use of today’s birthday boy.

RT @gavroche No dragnet could catch Erich Weiss (Harry Houdini) on his 137th birthday. #artwiculate #HarryHoundFromBudapest

Then, here’s a literary reference from @AequoEtBono

RT @AequoEtBono Oberon’s search: “Dragnet by moonlight, proud Titania” (aka an APB, All Pucks Bulletin) #artwiculate

And I’ll follow that with this pop science reference from @JonPowles

RT @JonPowles “Holy Boson, Batman! Call off the dragnet; she’s trapped in this box!” “We can’t be sure, Robin. This is Schrödinger’s Catwoman”

Getting near the end now. Here’s a spoken pun from @EscapedPenguin

RT @EscapedPenguin When carryin’ it ain’t gonna work, you gots no option but dragnet #artwiculate

(Spoken pun? I must be getting tired – can’t think what this is properly called! Help anyone?)

And so, my final retweet of the night/day. I though this was brilliant – from @Colvinius

RT @Colvinius Mad fish caught by dragnet: in seine?
Clearly I wasn’t the only one who thought this was a really good play with the word. It won @Colvinius the daily crown!

Think about it!

So many new people in this round-up, I’m just going to wave a greeting to everyone generally and hope you’ll accept it in the positive spirit in which it is intended.

That’s all from me, folks. Handing back to @TheSupercargo. Ciao!

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Artwiculate is a game played on Twitter. Visit http://artwiculate.com for more information. The winning tweet and the most popular runners up for today’s word are listed at http://www.artwiculate.com/words/dragnet (And, for addicts, don’t forget Salon ArtWois at http://www.salonartwois.com/ )

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Mendacity

Artwiculate-Twitter logo (Tweeting as @TSupercargo)

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Mendacity: The fact or condition of being, or the tendency to be untruthful; Dishonesty; A lie, deceit or falsehood.
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Greetings! On a day when @artwiculate illustrated it’s own Word of the Day by lying about it @TSupercargo decides to exhibit himself as a lexophile Zealot by climbing out of the box where’s he’s been hiding to rounding up some Mendacity.

Do I hear a Yay!? No? Oh …

I found over 60 tweets to like today, and have Winnowed then down to twenty. (Did you like my nod in the direction of Loqwacious there?)

I’ll kick off with the best 3 from a subset of tweets which share more or less the same perspective, though each expresses it differently.

First is from @SJHatzi. Silia’s philosophy in a tweet, this.

RT @SJHatzi Mendacity may be an effective short cut. But not in the long run.

Next is from @rgcrockett01 (who I see has been playing since the beginning of February. Welcome, to the round-up Richard!)

RT @rgcrockett01 Your mendacity may carry the moment, but never the day. #artwiculate

And then comes @lbrowno’s take on the same idea (and Hi to you Laura!)

RT @lbrowno Mendacity has speed, but truth has endurance.

Referencing Artwiculate’s own mendacity was the theme of many tweets, especially from earlier on in the day.

Some people were perhaps covering their bases. Nothing wrong with that when it results in a tweet like this from @drng

RT @drng A man cannot have two masters, though the zealots may argue there is mendacity in that proposition. #Artwiculateinstateofquantumduality

And here’s a pertinent comment from @higg1e – and this looks like her first ever Artwicutweet, so welcome to the game Annie!

RT @higg1e Should I believe #artwiculate when they tell me the word of the day is mendacity?

The word of today gave some players an opportunity to explore for interesting rhymes. Here’s ANOTHER newcomer, @r_marce Welcome!

RT @r_marce His only veracity was his voracious capacity for pugnacious mendacity, (the wretched fellow) #myfirst #artwiculate

Capacity and veracity showed up also in this tweet from @rascality

RT @rascality Mendacity is the audacity to apply a certain opacity to the capacity for veracity. #youheardithere1st

And here’s another use of audacity from @fox2go that takes us into another thematic area

RT @fox2go #artwiculate Mendacity audacity : Lie through your teeth

Inevitably (sadly perhaps) many, many tweets coupled the word with politics. Here’s @Colvinius

RT @Colvinius Is mendacity necessary in political life? No, but it is ubiquitous. #artwiculate

But there was also the more human link to (dis)honesty in love. @FlaviaHeloisa gave us this painful poem

RT @FlaviaHeloisa At the time of our farewell, my speech is all mendacity while you play pretending sew a forced smile on your face with an invisible line.

And this tweet from @Slave_To_Coffee was, I thought, just as beautiful and uncomfortable

RT @Slave_To_Coffee Paint a smile upon my lips & wrap me in silk sheets of mendacity as I lie here bleeding reality from wounds of truth. #artwiculate

Those last two stand in good company beside this from @dsceiorg’s

RT @dsceiorg He lives by mendacity / From one victim / To another / He travels / On the trail of tears #artwiculate #gogyohka

Another way of looking at the Word of the Day is syllabically. My favourite in this vein came from @osmarjardim

RT @osmarjardim How can you mend a broken heart? How can you mendacity?

And from MendaCity comes this tweet from @smeedha

RT @smeedha Mendacity: finally my city finds mention on twitter.

Still in the city, @Tralala56 found us some wheels

RT @Tralala56 The new Ford Mendacity, isn’t really an urban car, but it’s great for sales reps.

@mazpowles gave us another glimpse into her classroom reality

RT @mazpowles I teach 7 year old girls. Show and Tell is a mendacity symposium.

And @Ameeee shared this punning aphorism

RT @Ameeee Mendacity; false impressions count.

From the cultural arena, @Doc_Harding reminded us of that fine movie

RT @Doc_Harding Sex, Mendacity and Videotape. #artwiculate movies

While @LorcanDesperado revisited Tenesee Williams

RT @LorcanDesperado Brick was disgusted with the mendacity in ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’.

@ariandalen had some advice from the Realm of Faerie

RT @ariandalen I would never accuse a fairy of mendacity; however, I would take his tales with a grain of salt. #artwiculate

And I shall wind up with another pun, this one from @symphonist

RT @symphonist Mendacity Harps used to put out a great product, but recent reviews suggest nothing but a big bunch of lyres. #artwiculate

Whoa! Stop the press! This just in: another pun from @nedmw

RT @nedmw Admiral Mendacity was the most respected mariner of his time. Everyone loved the cut of his fib

There you go, folks, an RT round-up at last! I’ve said Hi to the newcomers, so I’ll just wave a general greeting to the room before handing back to @TheSupercargo. *Waves*

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Artwiculate is a game played on Twitter. Visit http://artwiculate.com for more information. The winning tweet and the most popular runners up for today’s word are listed at http://www.artwiculate.com/words/WORD (And, for addicts, don’t forget Salon ArtWois at http://www.salonartwois.com/ )

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Subterfuge

Artwiculate-Twitter logo (Tweeting as @TSupercargo)

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Subterfuge: Stratagem or deception employed to conceal something, a blind; deception; misrepresentation of the true nature of an activity.
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Ladies and Gentlemen! Your attention, please! With no further ado, no subterfuge, and no safety net, *drum roll starts* @TheSupercargo’s alter ego will now attempt our first RT round-up of 2011. Complete Silence Please! *drum roll crescendo culminating in tympanic explosion*

Was that sufficiently dramatic? Ah, let’s get on with it!

Today’s word (and indeed Artwiculate’s choice of words for the first 3 days of the year) attracted several comments. For example, @faelora

RT @faelora Is this what you want 2011 to be like, #Artwiculate? Vituperative subterfuge and an abundance of new unibrows from all that stress?

The meta game – the debate about how to win (and whether there’s a trick to) it also continues. Here’s @ruidh, then @osmarjardim

RT @ruidh If I can’t win by cleverness, it will have to be by subterfuge. #artwiculate

RT @osmarjardim Let me repeat: The RT I give to your entry is a subterfuge I use to have you RT mine.

The similarity of the WOTD to a piece of laboratory (and, I might add, laundry-room) equipment also attracted tweeters. EG @Colvinius

RT @Colvinius If that spinning machine that separates fluids from solids gets any lower, I shall call it a subterfuge. @artwiculate #artwiculate

@markreeves had the same idea, but looked at it a different way

RT @markreeves Subterfuge: n. The storage space below a centrifuge

And @JonPowles took it a step further still

RT @JonPowles A subterfuge is a device used by a spin doctor.

Those last couple of RTs were also definitions. This word seemed to inspire an unusual number of lexographical improvements. Here’s @SJHatzi

RT @SJHatzi Elegant Subterfuge: The Queen’s Gambit

And @CathieTranent

RT @CathieTranent Treason planned by a certain branch of the Queen’s Navy … subterfuge? @Artwiculate #Artwiculate

And @mazpowles

RT @mazpowles I thought a subterfuge was when the violas sabotage your premiere by coming in a bar late, in the wrong key.

The spelling similarity between (subter)FUGE and FUGUE caught other eyes as well (including mine) but @JonPowles’s piece of what I guess was PDQ Bach was the best musical contribution. However, I’ve excluded it from the round-up partly because I wanted to RT another of Jon’s, but mostly because this is a lexical not a musical game, dammit!
[I guessed wrong. The Bach fugue pastiche that @JonPowles posted was, he tells me, his own work - though inspired by PDQ Bach. I suggested "What shall we do with the drunken Johan" as a title. :-) ]

Moving from definition to illustration, here’s @shivanishah

RT @shivanishah Subterfuge used to placate impatient patients ~ placebo!

@helacious made a point I remember puzzling over myself “On first looking into Homer’s Iliad”

RT @helacious The Trojan horse, unwieldy, huge/Seems a terribly unlikely subterfuge.

(And even more unlikely in Monty Python’s interpretation on the quest for the Holy Grail)

The history teacher in me was also drawn to this next thematic tweet from @I2Haiku

RT @I2Haiku Our Little Miss Subterfuge Doll comes dressed as Mata Hari. #Artwiculate

While @LorcanDesperado managed to press three other of my buttons: fantasy, @loqwatious and science fiction

RT @LorcanDesperado Nobody else knew the cotillion was a subterfuge for alien abduction. Now they are all awa’ wi’ the faeries. #lqw

There were some enjoyable puns today too. From @Qyntara

RT @Qyntara My dog resorted to subterfuge when she pretended to be a subwoofer.

And this piece of hagiography from @TiddK

RT @TiddK St.Ratagem, patron saint of subterfuge (“Let us prey…”) . #artwiculate

@harrarp took us back to thinking about the new year

RT @harrarp “Cut the subterfuge”, the new year said, “I’m three days old. How am I doing?” “So far, so good”, I mumbled.

And @lagadu123 shared another of her observations of teenagers

RT @lagadu123 Ever noticed how teenagers employ subterfuge by masquerading as babies for a while?

Have to say from my own observations it’s not just teenagers that employ this subterfuge. Grown men and women do it to. Tho’ more often men.

Rather to my surprise that leaves me with three poems to conclude with. Let’s take the funny one first – from @Ysabeluna

RT @Ysabeluna ~i’d rather cherish openly mon chère ~with poetic truth ~than be subtle & ruse ~or confuse ~with prosaic subterfuge~ #artwiculate #gogyohka
And this won Del the crown!

Now @19ish with a fine descriptive haiku

RT @19ish Quiet gray whispers / secrets & subterfuge reign / hiding in the fog // #haiku #artwiculate

And finally back to children with this from @ariandalen

RT @ariandalen Face changes swiftly ~ No subterfuge in child’s eyes ~ Two year old wants, NOW! #artwiculate #senryu

Thank you! Thank you! That was the first RT round-up of 2011. Hope you enjoyed it.

Special greetings to new-comers to the round-up @Colvinius and @Qyntara who seem to have been playing since early in December. And greetings also to @CathieTranent who doesn’t yet have herself an Artwiculate profile page.
[She does now.]

That’s it, good people. Handing you back to @TheSupercargo now.

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Artwiculate is a game played on Twitter. Visit http://artwiculate.com for more information. The winning tweet and the most popular runners up for today’s word are listed at http://www.artwiculate.com/words/subterfuge (And, for addicts, don’t forget Salon ArtWois at http://www.salonartwois.com/ )

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Selcouth

Artwiculate-Twitter logo (Tweeting as @TSupercargo)

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Selcouth : (obsolete) Strange, unusual, rare; marvellous, wondrous.
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Greeting’s Artwiculati and welcome to what will probably the last RT round-up of 2010. Which gives me a good reason to start by retweeting @shivanishah’s greeting …

RT @shivanishah @artwiculate A Selcouth New Year to all the Artwiculati!

… and following it up with @Ameeee’s words of praise for our game

RT @Ameeee Selcouth doesn’t even begin to describe how wonderful this game is.

Today’s word was a perfect example of itself – and of @osmarjardim, obviously

RT @osmarjardim Selcouth. Yes, we are! Here: Strange, unusual, rare; marvellous, wondrous…

I believe @osmarjardim is speaking not (merely) of himself, but also of everyone of us who plays the game.

Of course, as @LorcanDesperado reminds us

RT @LorcanDesperado Selcouth was the sort of man you would not see every day.

But no doubt he was as @mashulya_prilly describes him

RT @mashulya_prilly Too wild to live, too selcouth to die…

If people in general can be selcouth then why not youths? Both @sevenofdays and @Goleudy examined this possibility

RT @sevenofdays Today’s strong minded youth, are seldom couth. That’s why good mannered youngsters, are so selcouth. #artwiculate

RT @Goleudy Uncouth youth is not a selcouth thing, but selcouth rather is. #Artwiculate

You may have to think about @Goleudy’s – I certainly did. Here’s another thought provoking use from @SJHatzi

RT @SJHatzi The ordinary lived in an extraordinary way is selcouth.

Which I feel was an idea also illuminated in this tweet from @Anamuk

RT @Anamuk The fire and candlelight transform the quotidian to the selcouth.

Meanwhile @minibtweet chose to look on the bright side … and the even brighter side.

RT @minibtweet Every cloud has a sliver lining but a selcouth cloud belongs to dreams #Artwiculate

We had our usual share of definitions (and definitions of sorts). @bjornelvin managed to include yesterday’s WOTD too.

RT @bjornelvin hoarder : a collector of selcouth tchotchke. #artwiculate

@marcosarroyos channeled his ancient occidental sage

RT @marcosarroyos Conficius say: One man’s selcouth is another man’s wife.

And in a reference to the Great Family Nightmare – excuse me – Dream @dsceiorg gave us another collective noun

RT @dsceiorg Collective nouns: An exasperation of parents; A clatter of children; A selcouth of silence #artwiculate

But the strange and mysterious nature of the WOTD was also an influence on our tweets today – even setting aside multiple references to that nameless horse (including one from me). Here’s @JonPowles with a strange portent

RT @JonPowles Levitycus 3:21 “And there were at that time selcouth signs and strange portents: floods and locusts and Englishmen who could bat”

And after @JonPowles’s biblical quote, @rowemag shared a snip from what might very well have been the Morte d’Arthur

RT @rowemag @helacious: “‘A selcouth novelty,’ muttered the knight, ‘to advance to storm such a castle without pennon or banner displayed.’”

@lagadu123 reached back to Greek mythology … with a French touch

RT @lagadu123 It’s no wonder Cassandra / who was compelled to tell truth / earned herself the nickname / of Mademoiselcouth

And @helacious revealed an arcane and esoteric musical instrument


RT @helacious That “secret chord” you keep hearing about? It can only be played on the selcouth.
[And in the event, this was the one that took home the crown.]

I’m not sure if @mazpowles is referring to @helacious’s instrument in this next

RT @mazpowles I’m pretty sure I just saw a Selcouth. But no one’s going to believe me.

I suppose she could be talking about that animal, King of the Social Networks that @bripowles tweeted about

RT @bripowles Unlike his better known cousin, the Selcouth Tiger was not the king of the jungle. He did, however, have a lot more friends on Facebook.

@shakwrites told us of the terrible dental problems incurred by people speaking the WOTD

RT @shakwrites The last time he tried saying something selcouth/He’d ended up losing his wisdom tooth. #artwiculate

And I worry about what’s going on in the vegetable market @kings_indian frequents
[After I published the above, @kings_indian tweeted to assure me "I eat only the healthiest fruit and veg.Just ask my local McGrocer." :) ]

RT @kings_indian I only buy Selcouth potatoes; even after their expiry dates, you can use them….as tomatoes!

Perhaps that’s what @harrarp was talking about?

RT @harrarp Selcouth? I have it for breakfast!

@zladyjoker seemed a bit puzzled by all this

RT @zladyjoker Can you sell couth? I guess money can buy anything. #artwiculate (Selcouth)

While @TiddK had a medical observation

RT @TiddK common sense is not ~ and genius is close to madness ~ selcouth DNA . #haiku #artwiculate

To wind up, here are my two most favourite uses of the word today. First, from @BurningHawk1969

RT @BurningHawk1969 We are the pioneering youth, gone forth seeking splendor and selcouth; no cry calls us home from the stars; no light reaches us out this far

I loved that – it touches the SF corner in my soul and summons up my sense-o-wonder.

But my final retweet today has to be this riddle from @19ish

RT @19ish Forsooth, in my youth, I was thought to be selcouth; but alas, in old age, it is time to turn the page. Who am I?#artwiculate

I think I know the answer. Do you?
[The day after @19ish tweeted: "Yesterday's riddle answer: Father Time. Did you guess it, or did I bamboozle you?" She bamboozled me. I thought it was "2010" or "The Old Year" :) ]

Special greetings to the following people who all are new to the round-up:

@shivanishah who has been playing the game since August and @mashulya_prilly who started playing at the beginning of December

@Goleudy who’s been an irregular player for more than a year and @rowemag who doesn’t yet have an Artwiculate profile page.

And that concludes my business for this word and (most likely) for this year. Hoping to be back in January.

Happy New Year one and all! Passing back to @TheSupercargo
—————————————————————–
Artwiculate is a game played on Twitter. Visit http://artwiculate.com for more information. The winning tweet and the most popular runners up for today’s word are listed at http://www.artwiculate.com/words/selcouth (And, for addicts, don’t forget Salon ArtWois at http://www.salonartwois.com/ )

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Replete

Artwiculate-Twitter logo (Tweeting as @TSupercargo)

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Replete: (often followed by ‘with’) Copiously supplied with, abounding in; completely satisfied, gorged, filled to the point of bursting, satiated
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Greetings, Artwiculati! Here is the resident of @TheSupercargo’s back-brain to bring you an round-up replete with “replete”.

Unusually, I found on investigation that my initial shortlist contained very few double tweets from the same keyboards.

A couple or three tweets by @sevenofdays and @emmaexpress ad the odd extra tweet from the likes of @BurningHawk1969 and @Schnicka but on the whole each tweet I picked blind turned out to be by a different author.

Consequently it feels right to share as many off the list as I can – so here come no less than thirty!

Personally, I found the Word of Today minimally inspiring, despite recognising myself in this tweet from @sevenofdays

RT @sevenofdays #Artwiculate is replete, with the wannabe literary elite.

To judge by some of the Artwicutweets, I wasn’t alone in being less than thrilled. I’m not re-tweeting any wailings about the word that do nothing more than wail. But how about these ‘complaints’? First from @Schnicka

RT @Schnicka Artwiculate’s choice of words this week are NOT replete with Christmas spirit… #artwiculate

True – a disappointment by comparison with last year I think. @TiddK was on a similar wavelength with this

RT @TiddK Give us a break, Artwiculate! Replete, already? I haven’t even bought the turkey yet.. #artwiculate

But there always seem to be people with a contrary opinion. @sthcrft, for example

RT @sthcrft If the in-laws keep this up I will be the size of a hippo by the end of the week. Is it ironic that today’s artwiculate is ‘replete’?

@mazpowles is in a similar situation – or imagines herself to be so to give us this play on the definition of the WOTD

RT @mazpowles Replete? Enough already!

And @osmarjardim twisted another idiom

RT @osmarjardim I´m fed up with replete.

while @soarski shared this little rhyme

RT @soarski The repast is complete, I’m feeling replete, then someone asks whether a little Jello-O would be surfeit. I say what color?

Dinner was served in the Artwicutrain’s dining car; @emmaexpress reported

RT @emmaexpress The artwiculate train was full when it left Replete. Next stop Belch.

And at the All-You-Can-Eat Buffet, @TOCSY1 was suffering

RT @TOCSY1 Another night at the All-You-Can-Eat Buffet. And I sprawl in my booth, a replete offender.

@markreeves did the only thing one can ever do under the circumstances

RT @markreeves When I hear the word replete I reach for my gut

while @bumfuzzled2004 retorted

RT @bumfuzzled2004 you say I’m fat. I’m not fat. my pants are replete #artwiculate

and @Squawkingalah’s Mother Troll carried on with the work that is never done

RT @Squawkingalah The tiny troglodyte burped, replete. Mother swung her breasts back over her shoulders and began the vacuuming.

Perhaps she should take some advice from @MaltaGoddess?

RT @MaltaGoddess No woman’s wardrobe is replete without the requisite corsets, chéries. Six. That’s right: six.

Although to be sure, I didn’t see @MaltaGoddess having anything to say about bras … Still on the subject of clothes, here’s @runheidi

RT @runheidi My closet’s replete w/ clothes, and yet I have nothing to wear. Being a woman ain’t easy, but whoever said life was fair? #artwiculate

It’s not just the women who have clothing difficulties though. @languagenhumor reminded us of Ian the Scotsman

RT @languagenhumor Old Ian the Scotsman could eat/And always surpassed mere replete/He couldn’t say nae/So his tailor he’d pay/To give all his kilts a repleat

And @LorcanDesperado told us of Father Ted

RT @LorcanDesperado Father Ted is back from Italy and is replete with reet pleats, sable drapes, and gangsta shoulders, looking sabbatarian. #lqw

On a completely different tack, @Doc_Harding shared a grammatical perspective I particularly liked

RT @Doc_Harding If it were a verb, replete would be full of passion. “Come, replete me!”

From one lover to another, that’s how I read this from @I2Haiku

RT @I2Haiku You replete me. #Artwiculate

And @shakwrites gave us a poem that fits nicely here and feels very seasonal for those of us living at the chillier end of the northern hemisphere.

RT @shakwrites He cycles hard/Past slippery roads,frozen lakes/Holding his I LOVE YOU card/His heart now replete with a million snowflakes. #artwiculate

But, before we get too mushy, lets have this one from @JonPowles

RT @JonPowles The sequel to “Eat, Pray, Love” is out. It’s called “Replete, Cynical, Pregnant”.

The overlapping WOTD from @Loqwacious was Pasha which appeared in more than one fine tweet. This from @Anamuk for example

RT @Anamuk The pasha reclines, replete with pleasure taken in his seraglio

And down in the dungeon, this too, from @dsceiorg

RT @dsceiorg Perdiccas, make sure Pasha’s accommodations are replete with amenities. “Yes, sir, one rack and one iron maiden.” #artwiculate #lqw

But I want to wrench you back to the serious side for a few more tweets.

Both @lagadu123 and @SJHatzi gave us some very nice definitions. What is rep1ete?


RT @SJHatzi Replete is not having what one wants but, rather, wanting what one has.
[And this was a definition that clearly struck a chord with many, garnering Silia another crown!]

RT @lagadu123 Replete: the moment just before the cup runneth over.

Back to that winter theme for this poem from @ariandalen

RT @ariandalen Even in winter ~ Dawn comes far too early ~ I’m replete with sleep. #artwiculate #senryu

@BurningHawk1969 is in another part of the world, or in a summer of the mind perhaps

RT @BurningHawk1969 Replete with sunlight, / Saturated by the sky / I glow in your arms. #Haiku #Artwiculate

And in the desert, @marcosarroyos struggled on with that damn horse

RT @marcosarroyos Rain in the desert came replete with a nameless horse, but I was glad to be out of it.

Let’s wind up with @rafat4d on the subject of the Fail Whale

RT @rafat4d Tiny birds and a giant whale~every action tends to fail~when twitter is replete~head to tale. #artwiculate

@ZachTMartin with an eternal truth I think many of us will recognise

RT @ZachTMartin After Thanksgiving I am replete, but after Christmas I am insolvent.

And after all that, @amanuel187, I’m feeling replete!

RT @amanuel187 replete? you’re full of it. #artwiculate

Um …

Special greetings to @sthcrft & @markreeves who appear to be new to the game!

Special greetings also to @shakwrites, who is new to the round-up, and to @ZachTMartin who I’ve not seen around since April.

That’s it, folks! Thank you all for some fun uses of the WOTD. Handing you back to @TheSupercargo. Byeee!

—————————————————————–
Artwiculate is a game played on Twitter. Visit http://artwiculate.com for more information. The winning tweet and the most popular runners up for today’s word are listed at http://www.artwiculate.com/words/replete (And, for addicts, don’t forget Salon ArtWois at http://www.salonartwois.com/ )

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Comatose

Artwiculate-Twitter logo (Tweeting as @TSupercargo)

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Comatose: In a state of coma; unconscious; torpid, lethargic, drowsy
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Good evening/morning/afternoon, my fellow Artwiculati. Here’s @TheSupercargo’s wide-awake doppelganger with an all-new round-up. Today’s Word of the Day had many of us dropping off to sleep, while others promoted the rock band Skillet and their song/album “WOTD”.

No, of course it’s not really called WOTD. I was just making an in-joke. But I doubt many listening to it, if comatose, would remain so long.

Personally, in my afternoon, I was delighted to think of a really funny pun about Hobbits combing their toes only to discover I was being far from original. @eilonwya10 beat me by about 15 hours – and though the first she wasn’t the only one.

RT @eilonwya10 Quoth the exhausted hobbit who made pedicures a habit: “I feel comatose but cannot rest ’cause I must comb my toes.”

Any number of people offered definitions, the most serious of the witty ones being from @alex_auron

RT @alex_auron Comatose, the last point before life’s full stop.

I also liked @marcosarroyos atwiculate/loqwacious crossover which doesn’t define so much as illustrate the word

RT @marcosarroyos An overdose of his own florid prose left him comatose with his head on his escritoire. #lqw

But the alternative definitions I found funniest came from @supaRabbit @Eridanus and @sevenofdays

RT @supaRabbit comatose: a tomato recall due to salmonella outbreak.

RT @Eridanus Comatose (n.) A saccharide (q.v.) not yet postulated to exist in some comets, which is almost completely unrelated to galactose

RT @sevenofdays Comatose Cutie: Sleeping Beauty. #artwiculate

@sevenofdays’s definition uses a fairy-tale reference to comic effect; @ariandalen takes the same story and does something different with it

RT @ariandalen Sixteen years unspun ~ With single prick of spindle ~ Hundred comatose. #artwiculate #senryu

Still in literary mode, here’s @Ameeee’s homage to Aldous Huxley’s dystopia

RT @Ameeee In this, a brave new world, we travel in comatose dreams. A gramme of soma our carriage.

@Doc_Harding made use of our word’s rhyming potential in this definition

RT @Doc_Harding Cry yourself to sleep– lachrymose comatose. #artwiculate

And @emoticomma was on the same track with this re-working of an old saying

RT @emoticomma It is better to be lachrimose having loved than to be comatose never having loved at all #artwiculate #foodcomas

Since the word of the day has to do with a medical condition, a few hospital-centric tweets were only to be expected. Here’s @helacious

RT @helacious If the comatose snored, medical science would devote a lot more resources to waking them. #artwiculate

@Ysabeluna gave us a very nice, extended epitaph (with a medical twist perhaps)

RT @Ysabeluna RIP: MY Lady Comatose – she was spent , she passed out , and finally passed away , rigor mortis . #artwiculate

And, of course, the effects of alcohol played their part – in @mazpowles’s confession, for example

RT @mazpowles I go from verbose to comatose in 2.5 drinks.

And in this, from @poemblaze1

RT @poemblaze1 Warmed ~ by a bottle of vodka ~ he curled ~ into a comma, ~ comatose for hours. #artwiculate

Meanwhile, in the Artwicutrain @osmarjardim had nodded off (it’s that wild lifestyle he leads down in Brazil) :)

RT @osmarjardim Comatose in the train: missed the station.

@TiddK (and @helacious) were today’s top tweeter’s for my money. With @TiddK’s contributions, it was a difficult choice, but the historian in me plumped for this little tale

RT @TiddK Cosimo and Comatose Borgia were twins, but for some reason history only knows about Cosimo . #artwiculate

(I know “Euww it’s a sludgy day today” got a mass of retweets …)

I suppose you could see Tidd’s Borgias as examples of politics+WOTD, but there were others more direct. This from @fox2go for example

RT @fox2go #artwiculate Lethal combination: Comatose mind, bellicose mouth

And @dsceiorg had another of his appropriate collective nouns to share.

RT @dsceiorg Collective nouns: A downgrade of economies; A depression of voter turnouts; A comatose of non-voters #artwiculate

Perhaps it’s unfair to assume the comatose of mind are also the ones who complain … but that’s not quite what @bumfuzzled2004 says here

RT @bumfuzzled2004 comatose while moon is shining / sunrise brings the morning’s whining / just hit the floor and quit your pining #artwiculate #poem #poetry

Maybe I’m like @soarski ?

RT @soarski I’m comatose intolerant.

@runheidi shared a story of romance … sort of

RT @runheidi Jan & Joe are so in love; together they’re like hand in glove. While she is chronically verbose, his normal state is comatose. #artwiculate

But to wind up this round-up I can find no better tweet than the next from @FrankSiddarta who manages to weave several recent WOTDs into one Artwicutweet

RT @FrankSiddarta Hah! Supine, comatose – always on your back. You’re not going to wheedle out of this – and you can wipe that stupefied simper from your face

And that concludes the RT round-up for today!

Greetings to round-up new-comers @supaRabbit (who’s been playing Artwiculate off & on all year) & @emoticomma (an occasional player since April).

Thank you all. Hope you enjoyed the selection. Artwiculate says there’s 3 hours left, so Vote, vote, vote! Handing you back to @TheSupercargo. Bye!

—————————————————————–
Artwiculate is a game played on Twitter. Visit http://artwiculate.com for more information. The winning tweet and the most popular runners up for today’s word are listed at http://www.artwiculate.com/words/comatose (And, for addicts, don’t forget Salon ArtWois at http://www.salonartwois.com/ )

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Spoonerism

Artwiculate-Twitter logo (Tweeting as @TSupercargo)

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Spoonerism: A phrase in which the initial (usually consonantal) sounds of two or more of the main words are accidentally transposed [Artwiculate]. An error in speech or deliberate play on words in which corresponding consonants, vowels, or morphemes are switched [Wikipedia]. Named for Rev. W. A. Spooner 1844-1930 who was famous for making these verbal slips.
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Good evening, Artwiculati. Here’s @TheSupercargo’s alter ego with another round-up of the day’s tweets that caught my fancy.

The Word of the Day today had me (and I’m sure many another player) heading over to Google or Wikipedia.

You know a Spoonerism when you hear one, but composing one is not quite so easy. A point I think @MediasRes was makeing

RT @MediasRes Spoonerism remarkably steps out of the spotlight when you are forced to construct one to cleverly use it.

And @Doc_Harding also had a true observation.

RT @Doc_Harding The differences between the spitten and wroken spoonerism makes this hask all the tarder.

To add to today’s joy, a BBC radio newscaster managed a spoonerism of his own, misreferring to Britain’s Jeremy Hunt, Culture Minister. (If you don’t know, I leave you to work out which letters were transposed.)

Of course, as we all now know, a Spoonerism isn’t in fact the transposition of letters, it is the transposition of morphemes, not that the difference is necessarily obvious until you start trying to invent complex ones of your own.

Howsomever, I’m not going to let small details get in the way of sharing some of the wittier and funnier tweets today’s word inspired.

Those who read to the bottom of the appropriate Wikipedia entry will have discovered kniferism and forkerism, and these terms also featured today, though (the Artwiculati being the brilliant word-wits that they are) it wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn they were independent coinings.

@alex_auron gave us a brain-biological explanation of the difference

RT @alex_auron Spoonerisms are produced in the right side of the brain; the left side handles forkerisms.

(Knifeism may be a whole-brain activity – or perhaps is left to limbic system.)

@dsceiorg illustrated the differences in a gogyohka

RT @dsceiorg Forkerism / Riven Deep Mounter High / Spoonerism / River Heap Mountain Die / Still Gibberish #gogyohka #artwiculate

And @eilonwya10 asked a perinent question.

RT @eilonwya10 If one spoons with a nosy little cook in a cozy little nook, is this a spoonerism or a prelude to forking? #artwiculate

I suspect most of us will have first come across Spoonerisms – and been delighted by them – as children.

@soarski’s story rings so very true

RT @soarski The first Spoonerism I heard as a kid was my Sunday school teacher who said, “Beware the Diery Farts of the devil.” True story.

And @mysocalledtweet’s offering, though invented (I guess) sounds like it would delight the heart of any seven-year old

RT @mysocalledtweet Sesame Street spoonerism: Kermit loves Piss Miggy.

Of course, as kids. we’re taught not to use words like fart or piss, which makes them all the more attractive.

It’s something of the same mentality that causes us to laugh when a respected newscaster inadvertantly uses the ‘C’ word and, no doubt, explains the volume of similar tweets (some very contrived) in the stream today. Among the wittier ones I number this next from @mazpowles

RT @mazpowles Freudian Spoonerism: Father mucker

@MaxRaunchiness (well, of course) rose to the occasion.

RT @MaxRaunchiness My spoonerism introduced me to a new sexual practice when I told the blonde to heap her cat on. I needed stitches.

And @Squawkingalah and @lagadu123 had an exchange on the subject

RT @@lagadu123 Spoonerism is a tucking ferrible word. Just look where it’s dragged us to.

RT @Squawkingalah @lagadu123 That’s true. Spoonerism takes us great to the stutter.

But for me, this one from @TiddK was pure gold!

RT @TiddK As the mist rolled in, the climbers became stranded on Hucking Fell. They swore, bitterly. #spoonerism #artwiculate

(Do non-Brits need to be told that a Fell is a high, mountainous hillside in the north of England and Scotland?)

By the by, @TiddK produced some really funny tweets with the WOTD. Visit to her profile page to make sure you see them all!

Another group of people who are popularly believed – maybe with reason – to use Spoonerisms is drunks. As @Schnicka noted

RT @Schnicka You say spoonerism, I say Drunkenese! #artwiculate

Meanwhile, in another part of the world, @rafat4d shared this usage

RT @rafat4d Monsoon spoonerism~outside pouring with rain~inside roaring with pain. #artwiculate #spoonerism

I know that one is not exactly original, nor is this next from @Tralala56, but that doesn’t make them less funny.

RT @Tralala56 RIP my Lord Spooner – he was killed by a blushing crow #spoonerism

Some people sidestepped the whole “make up an illustrative Spoonerism” business and gave us wit from a different angle.

@FrankSiddarta invented a new yet somehow vaguely familiar medical condition

RT @FrankSiddarta Please don’t look at me like that – I have aspoonerismbergers syndrome

@OpelDHell expressed her personal opinion of the Word of the Day

RT @OpelDHell alliteration spanks spoonerism #artwiculate

@johnbarry343 shared a childhood moment that stretched back all the way to yesterday’s WOTD

RT @johnbarry343 My mother used to beat me with a wooden spoonerism if I got out of bedizen too early

But I think @FlaviaHeloisa gave us the best example of lateral thinking on the subject

RT @FlaviaHeloisa Spoonerism is the study, knowledge and collection of historical, rare and richly decorated spoons in antique shops around the world.

@sevenofdays cleverly coupled the word with the teenage vampire trend

RT @sevenofdays For the Spoonerism Vampire, his date’s “Might be” is all the invitation he needs. #artwiculate

And @californiakara shared a story about her goldfish that also picks up on a popular theme

RT @californiakara I had a zombie goldfish named Spoonerism, but he kept bumping out of his jowl and scewing his chales.

@JonPowles gave us a very Australian comment on current affairs

RT @JonPowles Every TV program on the Australian economy seems to suffer from acute Spoonerism. Always nothing but wool and banking.

@amanuel187 took us back to that electric fence

RT @amanuel187 spoonerism is what happens when you fee on an electric pence.

@llana pointed out a sequence of misprinted road signs

RT @llana A sleepless spoonerism proved the street signs wiser than intended. “Spork Ahead” “Feed Limit Enforced” #artwiculate

And @helacious had an historical insight

RT @helacious The first American settlers were grim pills – a spoonerism that explains much.

To conclude, almost, I give you our master of the surreal, @harrarp

RT @harrarp On this Dinter way // a bashtag heckons me // towards spoonerism #kaihu

It was “bashtag” did it for me Harry. (That and kaihu.) Great!

I want to wind up by breaking one of my rules and retweeting a second tweet from @mysocalledtweet

RT @mysocalledtweet Fast food spoonerism: Chilled grease burger

I thought that was brilliant!

Greetings to new-to-the-round-up @johnbarry343 who I think is my only newcomer today.

This will be he last round-up for a few days. So, till next week, thank you all, and goodnight! Handing back to @TheSupercargo now.

—————————————————————–
Artwiculate is a game played on Twitter. Visit http://artwiculate.com for more information. The winning tweet and the most popular runners up for today’s word are listed at http://www.artwiculate.com/words/spoonerism (And, for addicts, don’t forget Salon ArtWois at http://www.salonartwois.com/ )

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Stupefied

Artwiculate-Twitter logo (Tweeting as @TSupercargo)

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Stupefied: Past tense of stupefy. [And with the best will in the world I cannot find that this word has ever meant anything - in English - other than "make stupid or senseless". It would be nice if it had the same etymological arc as amaze, but it doesn't.]
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I cut this one far too fine and ended up with no time or enthusiasm to embed my chosen re-tweets in introductory blather. Which some readers may have appreciated, who knows? But I have the opportunity to sound off a little here and now.

After the previous day’s round-up (Bedizen) I was having a chat with @mediasres, a new player, about Artwiculate. He wrote:
what is interesting is the process of how the word inhabits you after a few run throughs. You understand it much better
The word begins to tell you what it is capable of. Where it does and does not fit. It is remarkable how demanding they R
They turn in my head all the time, non-stop, like a rubik’s cube and hand put on autopilot.

I thought that last was an excellent image and I found myself very much in tune with the way @mediasres was reacting to the game. At the same time, there was something nagging at the back of my mind. The Word of the Day for 7th December reminded me …

There are words that come and just lie there, dead on the ground. Stupified was one such. I couldn’t do anything with it. But then another great thing about Artwiculate is that, even if YOU can’t find inspiration in a particular word, OTHERS can. And some of the things they come up with can knock your socks off!

For example …

RT @Ameeee Stupefied, like an old dear seeing red lights.

RT @ariandalen Look into the ~ Dragon’s eye ~ Be stupefied by his ~ Ancient wisdom ~ Taken aback by his ~ Loneliness. #artwiculate #poetry

RT @bripowles Stymied, Stigmatised & Stupefied. They were big on the three S’s at my school.

RT @brucedenby Stupefied Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

RT @bumfuzzled2004 I’m stupefied that she cried / I thought she wouldn’t care / all I did while she slept / was steal a lock of hair #artwiculate #poem

RT @BurningHawk1969 I’m stupefied at how good it feels just to interdigitate with you on the thoroughfare. #LQW #artwiculate

RT @Doc_Harding I always thought stupefied had something to do with those little round Buddhist temples… Oooommm, guess I was wrong. How stupa-ed of me.

RT @dsceiorg Stupefied alla Romana: Bread and Circuses

RT @harrarp Stupefied to learn // that tea leaves // and never returns. #biopoetry

RT @helacious This word has left me so completely stupefied that it’s possible to knock me over with a plumule.

RT @hondaisy Waiting here. Stupefied by time. The clock ticks.

RT @JonPowles Hermione Granger has thousands of teenage boys stupefied. And without a single touch of the wand.
[Apparently some players had to be told who Hermione Granger is. So the whole world has not yet been completely stupified by Harry Potter. :-) ]

RT @Lagadu123 Despair. Words fail me / Lost in stupefied silence / Who’ll lick my wounds now?

RT @llana The adept politician stupefied listeners at will, to the envy of would-be wizards everywhere. #artwiculate

RT @makerbreaker There was a young girl from Derry/she simply loves 2get merry/dressed and beautified/vodka then stupefied/her head is away with the fairys

RT @mazpowles I’ve been through the desert on a horse named Stupefied. Didn’t get far.

RT @MediasRes The Cereal Killer stupefied the police when he moved onto the eggs and toast.

RT @Nature__Lover stupefied – the feeling you get after an episode of Eastenders. #artwiculate

RT @rafat4d Alone, abandoned, stupefied~the same table, the same coffee, the same cafe~where we parted ways. #artwiculate

RT @runheidi “I’m stupefied,” said Marie. “What’s wrong with eating cake?”"Perhaps, my dear,” said Louis, “you should have said, eat steak!” #artwiculate

RT @sevenofdays When HMS Stupefied was struck suddenly by cannon, she was left a quivering wreck. Captain’s last words: “Shiver my timbers!” #artwiculate

RT @tama001 stupefied / after lunch, / …ennui . #artwiculate

RT @TiddK Stupefied : Word Of The Daze . #artwiculate

RT @Ysabeluna ST. Unned : Patron Saint of the stupefied and stupid guys #artwiculate

There were things I wanted to say … but too tired. Greetings to @hondaisy @makerbreaker @llana New to the round-up but not the the game!

This is @TheSupercargo’s doppelganger signing off. Good night all!

—————————————————————–
Artwiculate is a game played on Twitter. Visit http://artwiculate.com for more information. The winning tweet and the most popular runners up for today’s word are listed at http://www.artwiculate.com/words/Stupefied (And, for addicts, don’t forget Salon ArtWois at http://www.salonartwois.com/ )

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Bedizen

Artwiculate-Twitter logo (Tweeting as @TSupercargo)

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Bedizen: To ornament something in showy, tasteless, or gaudy finery.
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Greetings Artwiculati! Here’s @TheSupercargo’s alternative persona with a shiny, not to say bedizened, new RT round-up for you.

And what a glittering array of wit, wisdom, wonder and downright wackyness we have shared in today’s crop.

Let’s kick off with wit and a fairly sober comment from @chemingineer

RT @chemingineer Wit is by design not bedizen. #artwiculate

Which I would like to pair with this from @kings_indian

RT @kings_indian bedizen like beckham…

But what does the WOTD mean? As ever, plenty of the Artwiculati offered definitions. Some I particularly liked came from @lagadu123 and @ultracutebot

RT @lagadu123 Bedizen: when more is somehow less

RT @ultracutebot bedizen is like a piece of lexicon bling…

Bling was definitely one of those words that many people associated with today word. @FrankSiddarta for one

RT @FrankSiddarta Bedizen – bling it on

[And with a mighty 122 points, @FrankSiddarta took the crown for this one. We've not seen a score like that since the early days of the game. Kudos, Frank!]

First sight of the WOTD seemd to cause a similar reaction in @TiddK

RT @TiddK Bedizen, Artwiculate? Oh My Gaud-y!

@19ish knows all about a girl’s best friend (and how to get a good price)

RT @19ish Huge diamond sale: Cheaper by the bedizen! #artwiculate

And the gold digger (maybe diamond digger?) is a classic type who’s story @Jazmira illustrated in this next

RT @Jazmira She loved him.His money made him so attractive.She dressed in bedizen beads, baubles.they danced.They divorced five years later #artwiculate

For @Schnicka bediz3n is just a fancy word for something else

RT @Schnicka You say bedizen, I say CAMP! #artwiculate

While @marcosarroyos thought of another related synonym

RT @marcosarroyos Billy Bedizen was so forward that on their first date he said, “Kitsch me Kate.”

(And I just want to say that I had a hard job picking just ONE of @marcosarroyos tweets today. Recommend you check his profile page!)

But decoration is not necessarily excess. Think of birds. Many people thought of the peacock, but only @TOCSY1 gave us the bower bird

RT @TOCSY1 Bedizen away, Bower bird, you Romeo.

@Doc_Harding also looked at nature and shared a little piece of classical-styled verse

RT @Doc_Harding Morning will bedizen the lilly w’ scant dozen beads of dew. Your gilding’s not needed, nor your silver chasing. More beauty it cannot imbue

As did @ariandalen in this

RT @ariandalen Overnight rainstorms ~ Dawn shows frozen branches gleam ~ Bedizen winter. #artwiculate #haiku

@CreoleEloquence was also inspired to dip into a more classical style (though on a thoroughly modern subject, miles away from nature)

RT @CreoleEloquence How Hollywood doth pour out her Bedizen citizens! Like to the goddesses, they do draw baths in poor judgement and ore. #Artw

In truth there were few of the more serious tweets that caught my fancy today. The WOTD seemed to lend itself so much better to humour.

@JonPowles continued his long-running struggle with that poetic form he loves to hate

RT @JonPowles Keep your haiku spare ~ bedizen them not a single ~ syllable more … O shit #haiku #haikuthrowdown #haikuthrowup

@sevenofdays shared an advertising slogan for this day and age

RT @sevenofdays At Bedizen Weddings, we pride ourselves on pimping your bride. #artwiculate

I imagine @sevenofdays’s pimped brides aspiring to become @CreoleEloquence’s Hollywood godesses and when they do, one of @kado56′s tourists will be sure to traipse through their home exclaiming

RT @kado56 Cor! Get a load o’ those flash satin sheets. This bedizen half trash, innit?

Very possibly @MaxRaunchiness might also be describing one of these women

RT @MaxRaunchiness Bedizen lady / Beautiful with a firm grip / My L-O-L-A #maxku

Though, I’m not dumb, I can’t understand why she walks like a woman but’s bedizened like a man :)

And speaking of old songs, @mazpowles shared the best of today’s collection of desert/horses

RT @mazpowles I’ve been through the desert on a horse named Bedizen. Bloody show-pony.

And, still in the desert, I really liked @I2Haiku’s nomads

RT @I2Haiku Bedizens roam the desert on ornately decorated camels. #Artwiculate “bedizen”

In the bar (where, of course, we want to be after we’ve gone through the desert) @helacious shared a recipe

RT @helacious No need to bedizen my martini – just give that bottle of vermouth a passing thought, and move on.

One of the wackier, and yet at the same time very true questions came from @MediasRes

RT @MediasRes 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510…why can you never bedizen Ï€

(As my fans will know, I do not count myself among the numerate, but even I get that one.)

Taking us back to winter, @dsceiorg led us down into the dungeons again

RT @dsceiorg Perdiccas, I see the dungeon still has plumules of hoarfroast. “Yes, sir, the Snow Queen still deigns to bedizen us.” #artwiculate #lqw

And @twilobite22 shared some seasonal news

RT @twilobite22 Newsflash: Rudolph to retire Dec 26. His replacement is reported to be Blitzen’s nephew, Bedizen, the newest rising star of the stable.

Several people picked up the similarity in spelling (and pronunciation?) of the WOTD to “citizen” Here’s a piece of public information from @essence_me

RT @essence_me bedizen-ship application comes in a thick envelope with hot pink, neon green, blood orange papers and a brown paper bag in case you vomit

And finally, building on that, I want to conclude with the following wonderful concatenation of puns from @brucedenby

RT @brucedenby Milly the bedbug tarted herself up for a big night out on the chair. Tonight, this bedizen would become a citizen!

Thank you! That concludes the round-up for today. There just remains the usual Greetings to newcomers to the round-up @Jazmira (who’s been an occasional player since May) and @brucedenby (an occasional player since October)

And to newcomers to the round-up and to Artwiculate @Doc_Harding (whose been playing for a week or so) and @MediasRes who’s just started.

That’s it. Thank you for your attention. Hope you enjoyed the selection. There are still “about 2 hours left to tweet” – and vote. Go do it!

Handing back to @TheSupercargo now.

—————————————————————–
Artwiculate is a game played on Twitter. Visit http://artwiculate.com for more information. The winning tweet and the most popular runners up for today’s word are listed at http://www.artwiculate.com/words/bedizen (And, for addicts, don’t forget Salon ArtWois at http://www.salonartwois.com/ )

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