# What gives? (Alphabet Game) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 19, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017 "2008-04-19T16:39:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/41 "2008-04-20T21:28:26Z")
A bilious cadaver dragged eerily forward, groping hungrily, its jaundiced knees lurching menacingly, necrotic odors permeating–quintessentially representing society’s traumatized undead victims–wretched, x-rated yowling zombies. My apologies for “duplicating” zombified. I suppose we could use zoophage (which I believe is a synonym for carnivor), but yowling zombies had such a ring to it. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/42 "2008-04-20T21:33:39Z")
[QUOTE=as\_u\_wish] A bilious cadaver dragged eerily forward, groping hungrily, its jaundiced knees lurching menacingly, necrotic odors permeating–quintessentially representing society’s traumatized undead victims–wretched, x-rated yowling zombies. My apologies for “duplicating” zombified. I suppose we could use zoophage (which I believe is a synonym for carnivor), but yowling zombies had such a ring to it. [/QUOTE] Not only that, but the theme almost begged for zombies as if the whole thing built to that climax inexorably. Well-crafted sentence. One that will be difficult to top for maintaining a theme. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/43 "2008-04-20T22:09:21Z")
[QUOTE=brujaja] scorvud, v. : to procure a desired result from someone by exploiting their own solipsism [/QUOTE] This one is tantalizing. How far from _flattery_ do you see the new word? ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/44 "2008-04-20T22:39:50Z")
Well, I got no hits on “butnionic.” **butnionic** , _adj._ Of or pertaining to an artifical butte or mesa created during the legally required environmental restoration of a quarry or sanitary landfill. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/45 "2008-04-20T22:53:40Z")
[QUOTE=as\_u\_wish] Well, I got no hits on “butnionic.” **butnionic** , _adj._ Of or pertaining to an artifical butte or mesa created during the legally required environmental restoration of a quarry or sanitary landfill. [/QUOTE] This has so many tie-ins to things like button, bionic, neon, Beatnik, and maybe even diatonic. Your definition is a scream, though! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/46 "2008-04-21T02:07:18Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] This one is tantalizing. How far from _flattery_ do you see the new word? [/QUOTE] It’s not flattery. It’s feeding a delusion. 😃 Seriously, my roommate can only process information after running it through a very **robust** self-aggrandizing filter. If you let her draw her own conclusions it can have disastrous results, so when something’s really important, it’s wise to find a reason to explain why doing the right thing makes her even more alluring, beneficent, and clever. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/47 "2008-04-21T02:09:52Z")
**Zeldar,** I must thank you for filling up an otherwise rather boring Sunday afternoon for me. I haven’t quite finished drafting a little ditty about Israeli kibbutz members new over passes … x-raying Yiddish Ziggurats. Yes, I know it needs work–help is welcome. But I think this one might be ready for prime time: Artistically boorish copycats don’t ever filch genuine holographic images, just kinky lithographs–most notably obsolete pornography; quasi respectable semanticists, they undermine values while XEROXing yellowing zincographs. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/48 "2008-04-21T05:13:39Z")
Hats off, **as\_u\_wish**!! Really topnotch writing there!! P.S. Zeldar: duxterne quiglate fitorphous colluway ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/49 "2008-04-21T05:36:23Z")
Since it’s a game thread, I’ve moved this to The Game Room. And, since the title was undescriptive, I’ve edited it to help clarify. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/50 "2008-04-21T11:41:11Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] Probably more of a Game Room thread, non? I’ll be impressed if you can do it in Cyrillic alphabet. Stranger [/QUOTE] Your wish is my command. Actually **SkipMagic** ’s. I just had a feeling it might go this way, back when. It can go one of three ways now: 1. Die as it is 2. Take off and sputter through the short life of Game Room threads 3. Require another thread to explain what’s going on and how to play whatever it is we’re playing ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/51 "2008-04-21T11:47:53Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] How far can you get in writing a sentence (or a story) with no e’s? [/QUOTE] Does [50,000 words](http://www.spinelessbooks.com/gadsby/) count? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/52 "2008-04-21T12:08:43Z")
[QUOTE=glee] Does [50,000 words](http://www.spinelessbooks.com/gadsby/) count? :eek: [/QUOTE] So, did you write that one? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/53 "2008-04-21T12:30:54Z")
[QUOTE=as\_u\_wish] **Zeldar,** I must thank you for filling up an otherwise rather boring Sunday afternoon for me. I haven’t quite finished drafting a little ditty about Israeli kibbutz members new over passes … x-raying Yiddish Ziggurats. Yes, I know it needs work–help is welcome. But I think this one might be ready for prime time: Artistically boorish copycats don’t ever filch genuine holographic images, just kinky lithographs–most notably obsolete pornography; quasi respectable semanticists, they undermine values while XEROXing yellowing zincographs. [/QUOTE] You’re quite welcome for the diversion. It helped my day pass, too. You have a real knack for this stuff. Clever sentences that would (to the casual observer not forewarned about what’s going on) pass several readings before the gimmick got spotted. The next challenge (in this particular vein of course) would be to write a poem of rhyme scheme ABAB in a 7-6-7-6 word pattern. Now \* that\* might get you published somewhere beyond Straight Dope! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/54 "2008-04-21T22:20:13Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] Your wish is my command. Actually **SkipMagic** ’s. I just had a feeling it might go this way, back when. It can go one of three ways now: 1. Die as it is 2. Take off and sputter through the short life of Game Room threads 3. Require another thread to explain what’s going on and how to play whatever it is we’re playing [/QUOTE] I’m going with Option #1… ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/55 "2008-04-22T03:08:58Z")
Well, I tried to do a limerick, but the beat is off and the middle rhyme is an assonance. But it’s worth one more try to see if someone else wants to play. Australian Bushmen’s computerized drones Extol finding g-note high index jewel kiting loans Maneuvering nasty old-style proprietors Quashing rude stock trade underwriters Violating Windows XP’s Yugoslavian zones. Maybe we should allow words beginning with EX for the X portion–makes for more choices. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/56 "2008-04-22T12:10:33Z")
[QUOTE=as\_u\_wish] Well, I tried to do a limerick, but the beat is off and the middle rhyme is an assonance. But it’s worth one more try to see if someone else wants to play. Australian Bushmen’s computerized drones Extol finding g-note high index jewel kiting loans Maneuvering nasty old-style proprietors Quashing rude stock trade underwriters Violating Windows XP’s Yugoslavian zones. Maybe we should allow words beginning with EX for the X portion–makes for more choices. [/QUOTE] I like your proposal for the EX-replacement, especially in the poetry part of all this. That’s one neat limerick! You’re good. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/57 "2008-04-22T16:36:43Z")
Does it count if it’s A, 7syllables B, 6 C, 8 B, 8? Dark figure in the distance the figure of a man I don’t know where he’s going, but he came from out that dark sedan The pounding of the pistons the rushing engine fan is all you hear, and then you’re gone you vanish in the dark sedan They never give permission you take it when you can and hope they don’t take notice then and send you out a dark sedan Don’t talk about sedition don’t make a show of hands you know they’ll make a show of arms and bulletproof their dark sedans Denial of subsistence you have to take a stand or work all day to buy the gas that fuels all the dark sedans An organized resistance can defeat any plan this time we’ll ask a whole lot more than promises and empty hands ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/58 "2008-04-22T16:46:21Z")
Very nice poem there, **brujaja**! My idea above was to build a poem with alphabetical-order words. The 6-7-6-7 or 7-6-7-6 thing was words per line, syllable count unspecified. Rhyme scheme ABAB was just a suggestion. That doesn’t need to limit the next gimmick in this thread. The title was modified by somebody who hadn’t even read it. And moved it because it looked like a game. Those of us in the thread can do as we please, I submit. ETA: I’ve been meaning to ask: does your username involve the Spanish “bruja” as one of its meanings? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/59 "2008-04-22T17:04:46Z")
Well, in the sense that people sometimes react to me in the same way as the stereotypical reaction to “bruja” in B-movies… But actually, it’s taken more from a song by King Crimson called “Elephant Talk”, wherein they do an alliterative recitation of words meaning or involving “conversation”. B was words like bicker, banter…brouhaha. Discussion, debate, diatribe. When they get to “E”, they do an awesome elephant trumpet…funny song. And, as I have asked at least once before – what about you, **Zeldar**? P.S. missed the part about the alphabet-order in poem. Quack! That’s MUCH harder!! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2008, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017/60 "2008-04-22T17:16:51Z")
[QUOTE=brujaja] And, as I have asked at least once before – what about you, **Zeldar**? P.S. missed the part about the alphabet-order in poem. Quack! That’s MUCH harder!! [/QUOTE] No sweat on the poem. This a make-it-up-as-you-go thread as far as I care. My Zeldar was a character in a nonsense story I wrote way back in the 80’s for a BBS (think Commodore 64 days) I used to frequent. He was a Cajun, which I’m not, and he had some peculiar eating habits and a bizarre family who got into all sorts of mischief and trouble. His son was a waterhead and he made all sorts of efforts to keep the boy shielded from abuse and sport by the non-Cajuns in the area. I figured that “The Waterhead” was not likely to be a long-lived username so I went with Zeldar. Only later did I realize the popularity of the name – see web searches for what I mean there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-gives-alphabet-game/446017.md?page=4)