this week's guffaws

Yes, it's only 10 pm, but I feel like the living dead, I am that exhausted. I say that as the very feeble excuse for why I am not planning on putting forth the effort to look up the exact reference to this week's guffaws. Suffice it to say, you've probably already seen it, and it is probably older than everyone thinks it is when they forward the email on to all their contacts. Regardless of its age, it's definitely a funny read, even if you have in fact seen it before. But, I fully admit to being a lover of words (I even figured out Will Shortz's challenge on Weekend Edition this morning... okay, it was an easy one...), so this kind of thing is right up my particular alley. (Which, if I did have an actual alley, would be a lot cleaner than the image one usually conjures up when that word is spoken. I'd have potpourri.)

Wow, time to get to the list, seeing as I'm feeling a little punchy here. So I present to you The Mensa Word List.

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners. Each is an artificial word with only one letter altered to form a real word. Some are terrifically innovative:

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

2. Reintarnation : Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.

7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

9. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.

10. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's, like, a serious bummer.

11. Decafalon (n.): The gruelling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

12. Glibido: All talk and no action.

13. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

14. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

15. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

16. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

And the #1 pick:
17. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and ...

Hope you enjoyed the show-- and you know you want to create some words of your own, right??

Laughing with you, of course,