Week 839: Overlap Dance


Defibrillatte: Really, really strong coffee.

Baseballoon: A coach who has "put on a few pounds" since his playing days.

Cicadavers: Deceased people who surface every four years or so, for a Chicago mayoral election.

It's been four weeks since the last neologism contest, which this season seems tantamount to the time since the Redskins wore helmets with the R on them. Here's one we did 16 months ago with a different part of the dictionary: This week: Overlap two words that share two or more consecutive letters -- anywhere in the word, not just the beginning and end -- into a single longer word, and define it. AND your portmanteau word must begin with a letter from A though D, though the second word in the combination may start with any letter.

The examples above (by John Griessmayer, Toby Gottfried and Dave Zarrow, respectively) are from the first time we did this contest, back in 2002,

Winner gets the Inker, the official Style Invitational trophy. Second place receives a trio of coffee mugs labeled with the names and logos of the CIA, the NSA and the DIA, courtesy of Super-Secret Loser Cheryl Davis, who will soon just sort of disappear. And third- and fourth-place winners have their choice of the yearned-for Loser Mug or the newest version of the coveted Loser T-Shirt, shown here (see photo slideshow) by Style Invitational Swimsuit and T-Shirt Model Mae Scanlan. It's the same design on the front, but there's a new slogan (a runner-up in the previous slogan contest), by Horace LaBadie. And the shirt is now in lovely fall Loser colors.

Honorable Mentions get one of the lusted-after Style Invitational Magnets. 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, Oct. 26. Put "Week 839" 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 will be published Nov. 14. No purchase required for entry. Employees of The Washington Post, and their immediate relatives, are not eligible for prizes. Pseudonymous entries will be disqualified. The revised title for next week's results was submitted by both Tom Witte and Craig Dykstra; this week's honorable-mentions name is by Judy Blanchard.

Report From Week 835, in which, to mark the Empress's 300th column, we asked you to coin words that included the letters T, H, R and E, contiguously but in any order.

The Winner of the Inker

Interhuh: The grunt you make to let a phone caller know you're still on the line. (Tom Witte, Montgomery Village)

2. the winner of the fantastic "Shells Playing Poker" sculpture: Waiterhole: Where your server disappears to when you're ready for the check. (Craig Dykstra, Centreville)

3. Jethrogenous Zone: Appalachia. (Judy Blanchard, Novi, Mich.)

4. Rhettriever: A dog that doesn't give a damn when you call him. (Ellen Raphaeli, Falls Church)

Et Ceterha: Honorable Mentions

Zithereens: What's left after the folk musicians smash their instruments onstage. (Tom Witte)

Thermopoly: Board game whose object is to lose gloriously. (Ann Martin, Bracknell, England)

Earthenwear: Aftermath of a kindergarten pottery project. (Russ Taylor, Vienna)

Thermockstat: A hotel room device designed to make you think you can actually adjust the temperature. (Drew Bennett, West Plains, Mo.)

Hater-hater: Someone who is prejudiced against bigots. (Tom Witte)

Brotherel: A gay bordello. (Lois Douthitt, Arlington)

Rhettrovirus: Scarlett fever. (Judy Blanchard)

Dethrilled: Brought the roller coaster to a gentle stop. (Christopher Lamora, Arlington) Dasher-turf: Snow on the roof. (Peter Metrinko, Gainesville)

Rethirty-nine: An action popularized by Jack Benny. (Russell Beland, Fairfax)

Grrrrthe! What the student said when assigned to read "Faust." (Mae Scanlan, Washington)

Dithrethpect: Teasing people who have speech impediments. (Ira Allen, Bethesda)

Derth: Lord Vader's clueless brother. (Craig Dykstra)

Therapin: The University of Maryland psychology department mascot. (Jane Frank, McLean, a First Offender)

Urethrill: No line at the ladies' room. (Kevin Dopart, Washington)

VREthren: The regulars on the train in from Manassas. (Stephen Dudzik, Olney)

Gloatherd: A stadium full of Yankees fans. (Tom Witte)

Jesther: Biblical queen of comedy. (Jeff Contompasis, Ashburn)

Mehtric: A measure of indifference. (Kevin Dopart; Mike Turniansky, Pikesville, Md.)

Brither: A person who insists that President Obama was born in Israel. (Chris Doyle, Ponder, Tex.)

Rethrobber: The fluffer on an adult-film set. (Stephen Dudzik)

Twither: A social network for the elderly. (Judy Blanchard)

Hester-hemotype: A. (Chris Doyle)

Thatthere: An adjective used in Appalachia: "Bluebelle-Mae, pass me thatthere bowl of possum scrapple, thankye." (Barbara Turner, Takoma Park)

Blatherlogue: The Congressional Record. (Ira Allen)

Re-thing: What the surgeon did to John Wayne Bobbitt. (Craig Dykstra)

Cashtree: The parents of a college student. (Roger Dalrymple, Gettysburg, Pa.)

And Last: Laughterthought: The brilliant Invitational entry you come up with just after the deadline. (Ann Martin)

Next Week: Other People's Business, or Under New Manglement