The Style Invitational Week 891: Mirror, mirror
By The Empress
Saturday, October 23, 2010; C02
"Downtown? No, wait -- go uptown!
GO!!! Wait, no -- DOWNtown!!!!!"
Flush with his success in our
recent palindrome neologism contest (Week 886), new but disturbingly successful
Loser Gary Crockett suggested a contest he'd heard on NPR's "Weekend
Edition Sunday" back in the 1990s. We're happy to appropriate it for
ourselves, and think (or at least hope) that you can even beat out that
contest's winner, Peter L. Stein, for ingenuity and humor: His winning entry
was "First ladies rule the state, and state the rule: 'Ladies first.'
" Or the example above by Our Bob Staake Himself. This week: Write a
word-palindrome sentence, i.e., in which the first and last words are the same;
the second and next-to-last, etc. There may be a single unpaired word in the
middle. And -- since these will be fun to read out loud -- the paired words may
be homophones of each other (such as "pear" and "pair").
You may also add an "attribution" afterward to someone who'd
fittingly say such a thing.
Winner gets the Inker, the
official Style Invitational trophy. Second place wins a Special Loser Twin
Snack Pak, consisting of a bag of Rap Snacks potato chips ("the official
snack of Hip Hop"), donated by Loser Kyle Hendrickson, and a bag of Trader
Joe's Roasted Seaweed Snack, which tastes exactly as good as it sounds,
according to non-Loser Angel LaCanfora. Angel was so eager to get rid of her
second, unopened bag of these things that she spent $3 to mail them to us from
Southern California ("it was that or release it back into the
ocean").
Other runners-up win their
choice of a coveted Style Invitational Loser T-shirt or yearned-for Loser Mug.
Honorable Mentions get one of the lusted-after Style Invitational Loser
Magnets. First Offenders get a smelly, tree-shaped air "freshener"
(Fir Stink for their First Ink). One prize per entrant per week. Send your
entries by e-mail to losers@washpost.com or by fax to 202-334-4312. Deadline is
Monday, Nov. 1. Put "Week 891" in the subject line of your e-mail, or
it risks being ignored as spam. Include your name, postal address and phone
number with your entry. Contests are judged on the basis of humor and
originality. All entries become the property of The Washington Post. Entries
may be edited for taste or content. Results to be published Nov. 20. No
purchase required for entry. Employees of The Washington Post, and their
immediate relatives, are not eligible for prizes. Pseudonymous entries will be
disqualified. This week's honorable-mentions subhead is by Roy Ashley; the
headline on the supplement ("Limplants") is by Mae Scanlan.
Report from Week 887, in which we supplied six lines, any of which you were to use as
either Line 3 or Line 4 of a limerick. As predicted, this made for a lot of
limericky variety, and only a little griping.
The winner of the Inker
In debate, you were ever so
deft.
I felt small, of opinions
bereft.
*And through each passing
year
It became crystal clear
That you had to be right --
so I left.
(Stephen Gold, Glasgow,
Scotland)
2. winner of the junky
promotional figurine for the terrible movie "The Love Guru":
A traveling pair from San
Bruno
Left their flat for a week up
in Juneau,
*They came back in one piece,
And they still had a lease,
But their condo was blown
straight to, you know.
(Dave Zarrow, Reston)
3."O Susanna," he
texted, "lets flee,
"yr my tru luv ive cm 4
2 c."
*She said, "Never, you
cad!
Texted pleas make me mad!
It's my bra size you're
wanting, not me."
(Carol June Hooker, Landover
Hills)
4. The leaders on whom we've
bestowed
All our votes need to carry
the load.
And through each passing
year,
If they want us to cheer,
They should pee or get off
the commode. (Mae Scanlan, Washington)
Low fives: Honorable mentions
I parked by the side of the
road
Outside her (and her
husband's) abode;
We'd just time for a quickie,
But then it got tricky
When I found that my car had
been towed.
(Hugh Thirlway, The Hague)
"Cut taxes!
More health care!" we roared,
So with Bush and
Obama, debt soared.
And through each
passing year,
Who's to blame
became clear:
We who want what
we cannot afford. (Chris Doyle, Ponder, Tex.)
On our orchestra leader, a
pox!
He thinks Johann Sebastian
just rocks.
And through each passing year
Nothing else do we hear --
He just cannot think outside
the Bachs. (Craig Dykstra, Centreville)
Said Christine O'Donnell,
"I weep
That my critics are sleazy
and cheap.
Can't they assume
*Displaying a broom
Means I hope for a GOP
sweep?" (Rob Cohen, Potomac)
A preacher took
one of his daughters
To camp by the
mountainside waters.
After catching a
beaver,
*He snatched up a
cleaver
And taught her to
do unto otters. (Chris Doyle)
Eddie Haskell was bursting
with pride.
June learned of his nuptials
and cried.
He snatched up a Cleaver
But left it to Beaver
To tell Ward that Wally's the
bride. (Pie Snelson, Silver Spring)
The new chancellor made quite
a splash
With infusions of corporate
cash.
But she sealed her own doom,
Displaying a broom:
It was she who got tossed
with the trash.
(Nan Reiner, Alexandria)
They ran off to a country
whose ruler
Practiced methods of justice
far crueler.
They came back in one piece
('Cept the shoplifting niece,
Who carried both hands in a
cooler).
(Jacqui Brown, Easton, Pa., a
First Offender)
The avid fan looked for a
pass,
Then saw the ball drop in the
grass.
He snatched up a cleaver
To kill the receiver --
And smashed his TV set, alas.
(Kathy Bacskay, Lorton)
I said I was out with some
dude --
A few drinks. That was all.
Nothing lewd.
*But then it got tricky
When she noticed my hickey.
It's the last time I'll sleep
in the nude.
(Edmund Conti, Raleigh, N.C.)
My plan for a Halloween feat
Was to shock everyone on my
street.
But then it got tricky --
The dogs became licky:
No more dressing as Gaga in
meat.
(Kevin Dopart, Washington)
I sought help for a migraine
attack
But the doctor I saw was a
quack.
He snatched up a cleaver
And said, "To relieve
'er
I'll open 'er up just a
crack."
(Gary Crockett, Chevy Chase)
Once a vile old Edwardian
satyr
Stalked a damsel while hoping
to date her.
She said, "Never, you
cad,
"You resemble my
dad!"
He asked, "Why can't you
honor thy pater?"
(Barry Koch, Catlett, Va.)
I started with vodka and
whiskey,
Then gin, which I thought
made me frisky.
Now I add wine and beer,
And through each passing year
My consumption grows ever
more risky.
(William Bradford,
Washington, who happens to be a frisky 96 years old)
Next week: It's the eponymy, stupid, or Men of
re-noun.
(The revised title for next week's
contest is by Stephen Dudzik.)
Limplants: More Limericks from Week 887 of The Style
Invitational
By The Empress
Saturday, October 23, 2010; 12:00 AM
Christine has been
takin' a lickin',
But that Delaware
pol keeps on tickin'.
Displaying a broom,
She still works
every room.
As they say,
there's no rest for the Wiccan.
(Chris Doyle,
Ponder, Tex.)
After bedding two triplets
from Patrick,
He said in a voice most
theatric:
"You're the last to be
had."
She said, "Never, you
cad!"
In the end, though, he did
score the hat trick.
(Craig Dykstra, Centreville)
Computers are great, I'll
agree,
I need technical help,
though, you see;
And through each passing
year,
As new options appear,
I find that it's all geek to
me.
(Mae Scanlan, Washington)
Though she sang with a voice
operatic,
She ate marshmallows like a
fanatic.
But then it got tricky --
Her tonsils got sticky;
Now all we can hear is s'more
static.
(Beverley Sharp, Washington)
When a backpacking
drunk found the lair
Of a grizzly, he
had an affair.
And through each
passing year,
The guy guzzles
more beer
When he hikes,
getting loaded for bear.
(Chris Doyle)
To the butcher I cried,
"Carnivore!
We are vegans, blockading
your store!"
He snatched up a cleaver.
(Ever tried to retrieve a
Severed finger and thumb from
the floor?)
(Hugh Thirlway)
Hail our heroes! To war we
have tossed them,
Till the Final Devotion it
cost them.
After valor's surcease,
They came back in one piece.
And then Arlington National
lost them.
(Nan Reiner, Alexandria)
The ladies went out mountain
climbin'
With a randy young fellow
named Simon.
They came back in one piece
All except for Clarice,
Who was suddenly missing her
hymen.
(Dixon Wragg, Santa Rosa,
Calif., a First Offender)
Of Edith and Kate now you
readeth:
At the hands of their pa they
both bleedeth.
Tonight in a fever
He snatched up a cleaver:
Seems he can't halve his Kate
and not Edith.
(Craig Dykstra)
Though her plump little
bottom felt neato,
I was fully prepared for her
veto.
She said, "Never, you
cad!"
I said, "Sorry! My bad!
I was trying to squash a
mosquito."
(William Bradford,
Washington)
Ms. O'Donnell in witchcraft
did revel.
Dates on altars. With blood.
(On the level.)
But self-pleasure? Egad!
She said, "Never, you
cad!
To do THAT is a sign of the
Devil."
(Nan Reiner, Alexandria)
A man rode his
donkey last spring
Past a mowing
machine in full swing;
And by chance or
caprice,
They came back in
one piece --
Neither man nor
his ass in a sling.
(Chris Doyle)
And last:
Alas for the wordsmith-cum-mohel
Whose ink craving rose to a
boil.
He snatched up a cleaver,
Then heard, through his
fever:
"You'll not make the cut
versus Doyle." (Nan Reiner)