9.12.2011

Captcha What? - writercize #102

Today's writercize brought to you based on a post by Tara Tyler Talks.  

(Before I continue - did you know there's a contest going on here at writercize?  Depending on where you live, a pizza meal or a cup of coffee is on the line - enter here: It's a Pizza - writercize (for a prize) #100.  Contest closes Tuesday, Sept. 13.)

Now, on with today's topic at hand.

In this digital age of blogging and writing and secure transactions, no doubt you have seen a CAPTCHA.  It's that blurry little non-word word that you have to complete on places like blogs and Ticketmaster to post a comment or make a purchase.  It rarely has meaning, and often the letters overlap just enough that a mere education guess is as good a copy as you're likely to get.

Tara is an excellent, active blog commenter and she collects all this nonsensical words as she goes along.  Then she defines them with absolute brilliance and creativity.  She's written a few posts inspired by these captchas, each one better than the other.

A few examples from one of those posts:
  • phoph - a bad photo op, "Wait! I phophed it. Could you pose again?"
  • braddas - opposite of sistas
  • chenl - french for channel "Change the chenl, s'il vous plait."
  • expati - (ex-PAH-tee) banned from parties, "I expati you for puking on my dog!"
  • unbink - to permanently remove a pacifier
  • noncali - against moving to California
  • cophle - (cof-fle) abbreviated form of cop a feel, "Did he cophle you at the movies?"
((---examples above copyright Tara Tyler))

I love the idea and advised her that I would be stealing it.  I've finally collected enough to get started - I may just not be as creative, but it takes 5-10 words for me to find one that I can play around with.

writercize:  Compose a definition for each of the following five captcha words, and use in a sentence.
  • netalap
  • sambr
  • restio
  • unnestr
  • fiesorys
Click "read more" for writercizer sample response definitions.
writercizer sample response:

netalap:  to snuggle in, find a lap to sit on.  
use:  "It was a nice, cozy date.  We popped in a couple of movies, ate popcorn and I netalap."

sambr:  the official dance of Boston Brazilians. 
use: Throw on your hottest shuht (shirt) and skuht (skirt) and head down to sambr night at the hahbuh (harbor).

restio:  call to chill, relax.  pronounced rest, yo.  
use:  "Hey bro, I'm crampin' up.  Let's call a T.  I gotta restio."

unnestr:  a parent whose adult child has moved back home.  post-empty nest period.
use: Unnestrs are on the rise as the economic slump continues to dampen employment prospects for young college graduates.

fiesorys:  a listing of the best insults to use in any given conversation.  from fie: "used to express mild disgust, disapprobation, annoyance"
use:  Having decided the old cheers were too blah, the varsity squad turned to the fiesorys for inspiration on new chants and defensive cheers.

5 comments:

  1. is that what those things are called? thanks for the awesome praises!
    here's one i saw last night:
    DINTS: deceitful hints
    The witness gave the police some DINTS to protect her boyfriend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I saw someone use the word verifications in a story once. It was funny. I'm going to try that sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tara - thanks for the idea! I loved it, but was honestly a little terrified looking at all those words. You are so good at making it look effortless. ;)

    Dawn - can't wait to see that!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brianna - very hard!! Tara has a series that she's done - girls' names, vocab. Each one has a list of about 15 words. I'm always amazed to see what she comes up with.

    ReplyDelete

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