Connecting Words - Project Summary and Grand Prize Winner

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Connecting Words - Project Summary and Grand Prize Winner

By Brad Shorr | December 11, 2007

Preliminaries
Thanks to everybody for participating in our Connecting Words project. When Joanna and I put this together, we weren’t exactly sure what we were trying to accomplish other than to have fun and strike up a few new conversations.

Well, I don’t know if Connecting Words accomplished anything, but we have more than 20 contributions. We have a most entertaining collection of family phrases, local slang, family slang, coined words, meaningful words, meaningless words, odd words, and hilarious words.

Reading all these, I’ve come to the conclusion you can learn a lot about people from the words they favor. I think I’ve gotten to know a few people, learned plenty of awesome words, and participated in several enjoyable conversations. Joanna and I hope you have, too!

Grand Prize Winner!
But enough preliminaries. One participant was lucky enough to win their choice of books (except “Tested Sentences that Sell”) from Word Sell’s Favorite Business Book list. (BTW, if anybody has a book to add, comment on that post and I’ll add it to the list with a link to your blog.)

The lucky winner, drawn at random, is …

… Drumroll …

Geranium Cat! Congratulations! Please contact me with your selection and shipping information, and I will order your book posthaste.

Collected Connected Posts
J. Eric Potter wrote about Star Trek. Trekkies have a language all their own.

Joanna Young, project co-sponsor, put on her party pants and puzzled over a Klondike Bar. Brava!

Brad Shorr (me), project co-sponsor, had but one connecting word for this project - rubbish!

Deb gave our project a big boost with a little (but well positioned) blurb. Thank you!

Deb followed with an exploration of grembling, goleor, and lammies. Go put that in your duffel bag!

Deb again with a connecting word dialog about holy days.

Rhinoa writes about British slang, one of my favorite topics. No bloody rubbish here.

Guatami Tripathy sparked an awesome conversation by listing a few bouncy conversational phrases.

Geranium Cat mused about Scottish dialect. Stop shoogling about, and read it!

Alice contributed some beautylicious portmanteau words. Fantabulous.

Mervi, another sci-fi fan, draws on the genre’s rich language for curse words. Stellar idea!

Chris put together one great list of quirky words and expressions, by!

Margaret contributed three AWESOME words - Mither, Mardy, and Pooter. Sounds like a law firm, doesn’t it?

Syaffolee is fond of “scintillating”, as am I. Howard Cosell used that word on Monday Night Football about a hundred years ago and it has fascinated me ever since.

Puss Reboots, yet another sci-fi fan, concentrated on a nifty word coined by sci-fi great Philip K. Dick, kipple. Know what it means?

Christine takes us, logically enough, from kipple to piffle.

Matt started a conversation livelier than a bag of cats.

Lisa explained her family shorthand in a post that leaves you hankerin’ for more.

Raidergirl wrote a post you can really fill your gob on. Know what I mean?

Lesley explored ~~his~~ her wonderful Australian slang, explaining among other things that daggy means naff. All I can say is, Lesley, if you come to America, don’t call anybody an overhead dick-dick.

Softdrink served up several amusing phrases, “Bob’s your uncle” being one of my project favorites.

Enna likes one of my favorite Words for Nerds words, peripatetic. Any friend of that word is a friend of mine!

Fajrdrako appeared to be adding some class to this project by citing a venerable Latin phrase, but he wound up seizing the dog. Still, his post was far from otiose.

Trisha wrote a wicked clever post about Vermont-isms, including a word Softdrink might like - bubbler.

Robert Hruzek, waxed eloquent (as always) on his four favorite phrases of all time.

Again, Joanna and I thank each of you for your time and contribution!

Related:

12 Responses to “Connecting Words - Project Summary and Grand Prize Winner”

Robert Hruzek Says:
December 11th, 2007 at 9:33 am
Well Brad, all I can say is voilá, my friend! What a wild and crazy bunch of writers we turned out to be! In fact, I would go so far as to say we are filled with so much je ne se quois it makes one want to wax even more eloquent. Ironic, huh?
Brad Shorr Says:
December 11th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Hi Robert, you said it all, and all with your favorite words and phrases. A scintillating display of wordsmithery!
Jeanne Dininni Says:
December 11th, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Brad,

I’d like to offer my congrats to Geranium Cat for winning this contest! I’m sorry I didn’t manage to find the time to participate. My apologies. Wanted to, but it’s so hard to coordinate everything sometimes! You and Joanna did an excellent job of putting together this competition, though! Hope you’ll do another very soon! (Wouldn’t it be nice if someone would reprint Tested Sentences That Sell? It’s a great book!)

Jeanne
Brad Shorr Says:
December 11th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Jeanne, you’d have come up with some winning words, without doubt! Maybe next time. I wonder why “Tested Sentences” isn’t in print. Everybody seems to regard it as a classic.
Jeanne Dininni Says:
December 11th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
That’s a very good question, Brad!

Jeanne
pussreboots Says:
December 11th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
It was fun to see what everyone came up with.
Joanna Young Says:
December 12th, 2007 at 2:05 am
Hi Brad, you made me laugh with this post - it was a great way of embedding the words, the contributions and the people wot wrote them in our consciousness…

Thanks for running this project with me - it was fun. Till next time!

Joanna
J. Erik Potter Says:
December 12th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. . .

Thanks for the link love. I enjoyed the contest.
Lesley Says:
December 13th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Hey Brad!
Glad you liked my little Aussie lexicon. It was a fun project.
One thing, though: I’m a she not a he. Lesley is the feminine spelling of Leslie, FYI! A very daggy name all round …
Brad Shorr Says:
December 13th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Lesley, my apologies! In the States, Leslie is a man or woman’s name, but I just assumed … shame on me.
GeraniumCat Says:
December 14th, 2007 at 11:35 am
Catching up a little late and goodness! (or should I say “bloody hell”) I won! I’m gobsmacked. I shall indeed contact Brad. It was really fun thinking what words I’d like to share and even more fun to read everyone else’s. It certainly added to my vocabulary.
Brad Shorr Says:
December 14th, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Hi GC, congratulations again! Your book is on the way.