popplers

Those Wacky Japanese (#924 in a series)

Via Cute Overload, the most ridiculous Japanese game show ever:

Spellbound by Ken, Part II

As it turns out, I did win a t-shirt. I just checked my email, and there was a message from Monday informing me that I'd "posted the high score on www.besoysmart.com for Thursday, June 2nd". Here are two more fifty-cent words that I learned as a result of playing their game…

• usufructuary

  Main Entry: ¹usu•fruc•tu•ary
  
  Pronunciation: "yü-z&-'fr&k-ch&-"wer-E, -s&-
  

  Function: noun
  
  1 : one having the usufruct of property
  2 : one having the use or enjoyment of something

• psittacism

  /SiD eh sizem/ mechanical, repetitive (parrot-like) speech without thought of the meaning of the words spoken

  IN BRIEF: Automatic speech without thought of the meaning of the words spoken.

  Tutor's tip: This word was used in the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee finals.

  Posted by rv at 11:35 PM to geek | Comments (0)

Spellbound by Ken

I admit it, I have a Google news search that alerts me any time Ken Jennings makes the headlines. His latest gig is a "spelling bee" for Odwalla juice, where you can compete against the Brainiac himself. If you're interested in playing, head on over to besoysmart.com. I played it a few times last night, and did pretty well. I tried again this morning and managed a perfect score of 132. The Top 10 finishers each day win an Odwalla t-shirt (and they clear the high scores each evening at 6 pm). Correction: The single top scorer each day wins a t-shirt. (It wasn't me.)

Most of the tier 3 words weren't that difficult, but there were several that I'd never even heard before. (I just checked, and most of the ones that are completely unfamiliar are only available at Merriam-WebsterUnabridged.com.) To give you an idea, here are two words that tripped me up during my first encounter.

Hurry up-- the gnomes are getting lonely.

Just wanted to share two articles on Ig Nobel laureate Don Featherstone and the future of the pink plastic lawn flamingo.

[...] now that the original design will be made in New York, the city of Leominster is trying to keep its flamingo legacy alive, despite the demise of Union Products.

At a June 23 community celebration that coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Featherstone flamingo, civic activists plan to unveil what they call an "environmentally friendly" flamingo made from recycled plastic and sporting a new, more cuddly look, said Mayor Dean Mazzarella.