an amusing pastime

forget fraternity-style games like flip cup, beer pong, and spin the bottle. just break out your favourite thesaurus (mine is this one) and give the following a shot:

There is a…rather amusing pastime, which involves picking a word and its opposite, and then finding a path of synonyms that leads from one to the other, using, say, Roget’s Thesaurus as arbiter. Thus a hopeful person is expectant, hence anticipating, anxious, fearful, and so in fact despairing!

and now you know the secret of how my kid sister and i passed long car rides from margate, new jersey to the nether regions of pennsylvania (we also played spin the bottle).

anyone want to take a crack at getting from impotent to potent (via synonyms NOT pills)?

UPDATE:

mumblelard cracks the code in just 3 (three (iii)) links: potent>stiff>brittle*>weak>impotent

of course, he did it backwards so his entry is invalid.

*brittle is actually listed online as a synonym for stiff. get out!

ragbag mailbag

last week, i received a non-hate letter that went something like this:

Dear Raynor,

You are the best thing that happened to the information super highway since AOL provided access to the open internet last year [a paraphrase].

I was looking up the name of a virus for work-related stuff on urbandictionary.com (gana-herpa-syphilitis-human papilloma virus) and came across this. Just a kind of creepy FYI from the internet.

—A Pseudonym [name changed to protect the identity of someone who looks up viruses for work-related stuff on, of all places, urbandictionary.com]

as it turns out, with the addition of a few cosmetic diacritics, my surname (to wit: gañán) becomes a spanish derogatory term meaning jackass. happy cinco de mayo everyone!

what does your last name mean°?

by owning this book, you agree that you are a dummy

i own 2 books in the for dummies series:

• boston
• chess (actually this is in the complete idiots series, a chief imitator)

which for dummies books do you own?

stamp collecting

i just heard a rumor that canada commemorated northrop frye with a postage stamp. a literary critic on a postage stamp?!? i totally want to put it into the wunderkammer but i can’t find an image anywhere. if you are canadian or a philatelist and you have the ability to get your grubby hands on a frye stamp, PLEASE email your good pal raynor. we can work out an “arrangement”.

see also.

UPDATE (2/10/2008): nobody has sent me nothing regarding this. more updates to come.

FURTHER UPDATE (3/31/2009): still nothing. what a freaking bummer.

ADDITIONAL FURTHER UPDATE (7/19/2009): the case has been solved by slobone in the comments. the stamp is… kinda ugly.

a request

first an update: it seems that the pink eye virus has now infiltrated my right eye (my ogling eye). it would have been nice if my immune system could have figured out the secret code for defeating the virus beforehand, but at least my eyes match now.

anywho, can anyone recommend a novel that takes place in southwestern pennsylvania (or northwestern maryland)? pittsburgh novels, while wonderful, won’t cut the mustard in this regard.

________________________

BREAKING NEWS

thanks to my internet chums notentirely, 52books, & kingmedicine for their thoughtful recommendations of fine southwest pa literature. for the record: the trials and tribulations of lucas lessar and the mothman prophecies fit the bill precisely. also, if you don’t want to use google OR your blog, librarything is a great resource for finding the right book.

additionally: ohmyword offered to throw a pair of panties at me.

and furthermore: ohmyword uses the phrase, “motorboat a dictionary.”

high treason

after watching the tom cruise eye patch movie where he hunts hitler down with a crossbow and a bucket of tarantulas (spoiler alert: he turns into a werewolf before he can get the kill shot off), i have become increasingly horny for a good coup d’état movie—something brimming with sedition and samizdat and revolution. because i like your taste, tell me, what fits the bill?