Lucy Vickery

Spectator competition winners: Brectitude, huwbris, posteritoys – new ways with old words

Inspiration for the latest challenge came from across the pond, courtesy of the Washington Post’s Style Invitational column, whose regular neologism-themed contests are always a blast. You were asked to take an existing word and alter it by a) adding a letter, b) changing a letter, and c) deleting a letter — and to supply definitions for all three new words. Though many entries were partially successful, few competitors managed to score a bull’s-eye in all three sections of the challenge. A fiver per definition goes to those below who hit the spot with just one or two.

Hugh King Brectitude: an exaggerated display of moral seriousness in discussion of the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union Pectitude: a posture adopted to show to greatest advantage the muscles of the anterior chest wall.

Frank Upton I-Fi: to use the internet wholly or principally for the purposes of self-aggrandisement; to construct a vainglorious virtual identity

George Simmers Bodcast: Antony Gormley statue

John O’Byrne Abbacus: a loud malediction uttered after a legendary pop group decides against a reunion tour

Jane Street Abbattoir: a place where Swedish bands are sent to be slaughtered

D.A.

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