Wednesday 1 December 2010

Expand Your Vocab with Word Verification

I always find myself giggling at some of the word verifications I'm forced to type in before unleashing my witty/invaluable/insightful comments on the blogosphere. They used to be absolute nonesense (the word verifs, not my comments) but I remember reading that the good folks at Blogger made them easier to re-type by having them resemble real words.

And it works. While leaving a comment recently on Exmoor Jane's blog, my word verification was "Flable". Now, you have to admit, this has a very familiar ring to it doesn't it? Lots of words spring to mind  - fable, flavo(u)r and favo(u)r to say the least.

And then I started to think what it would mean if it could actually be found in the dictionary:-

Flable v - to misrepresent oneself; to infer that one's talents are more abundant that they really are.
eg. ("Our Mary was always one for the flabelling".)

Of course, then it became a bit of an obsession for a few days:

On Hadriana's blog, my word was "Mootle". Again, it sounds like a real word but I couldn't find it anywhere.
Mootle n  - a small group discussion about nothing in particular.
eg. ("The staff meeting was more of a mootle given what was decided".)

On the American Expat in London's blog I was given "Rodyara" which has a very exotic ring to it.
Rodyara  n - a  miniscule net used for removing insects from one's cocktails. Non?
eg. ("It was such a trial in India before we discovered rodyaras".)

From Mommy Has a Headache, I got "Prozyzed", which, given what she sometimes writes about, had me worried for a second.
Prozyzed adj - to be rendered speechless in the face of an opponent's rationale.
eg. ("Sarah Palin looks permanently prozyzed, ......")

At the Life of a British Expat in America blog, there was "Flatnath", which sounds like something from my neck of the UK.
Flatnath n - An incompetant or unintelligent youth".
("Shut yer gob. You sound like a right flatnath.")

And finally back at Exmoor Jane's blog, there was "Bedsy", which I think just has to be made into a word.
Bedsy adj - messed up, tousled.
(How much hairspray does it take to get your hair that bedsy then Chardonnay?")
Or perhaps a nickname?

Oh, I had so much fun with this.......I'm tempted to switch mine on and have you all interpret the words.

.

18 comments:

  1. Love it, glad it's not just me that thinks random things like this!

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  2. I guess you have to be a writer to appreciate that. I just see it as a pain in the backside.

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  3. Love what you've come up with! Will have to pay attention and play the game too. Though I have to say, often I type a comment and assume it's been accepted, only to discover the verification has popped up and I missed it. I'm sure many comments are lost in the ether.

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  4. Very good. Very reminiscent of Douglas Adams's The Meaning of Liff.

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  5. Great post! I notice sometimes the word veri's seem to match the post. I've often meant to go back to the comments page and tell the author what I've had to type in!

    CJ xx

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  6. Thanks for the shout out on your blog. I do appreciate it.
    You might be interested to know that there's actually some good in those innane bot verifications: http://www.google.com/recaptcha
    I just read about ReCaptcha in a business magazine a few weeks ago..At least this somewhat annoying thing is helping the greater good! :)
    ~kristina

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  7. I've often thought I should blog about this but the secret is to write them down.
    Its surprising how some of the words match the post.
    One or two of them have been rather rude!
    Brilliant post!
    Maggie X

    Nuts in May

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  8. This is a brilliant post. I love, love, love your definitions.

    Do you remember "Call my Bluff" which was on the tv in the 70s, with Frank Muir? It was based on this idea.

    I've just remembered a blog I used to follow called Word Imperfect which was the same idea. She put up a word every week, you had to submit definitions, she picked the best three, and then everyone voted on the winner. I used to play, but haven't done in a long time. Perhaps you're in the mood?

    http://wordimperfect.blogspot.com/

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  9. I used to love Call My Bluff. I don't think the slebs these days would be able to be panel members though.
    And BTW - dissed means slagged off, disrespected, put down etc. Teens no longer use the word though. Very unhip apparently.

    Ooooh, that's given me an idea for a Mad Manic Mamas post....

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  10. They actually brought Call my Bluff back in the mid 90s as a daytime show, it only ended about four years ago. This version was hosted by Bob Holness and had the sadly missed Alan Coren and Sandi Tosvig as team captains. In fairness, the modern celebs did just fine, they kept it to comedians, journalists and actors rather than any flavours of the month.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hNVM4GUuEo&feature=related

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  11. That is too funny :) I sometimes don't even think they're real words...

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  12. So glad it's not just me who is amused by random idiocies then...

    LCM x

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  13. I loved Call My Bluff! Forgot about that. This was a funny post, I loved the definitions, and they really did work! I want a rodyara now.

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  14. Another Call my Bluff fan here too! I've noticed the funny verification similarities but love the fact that you've done a great post on them!

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  15. Great post idea. I've always wondered about some of those words, I thought they were made up :D

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  16. Same here. I regret to have mine turned off.
    Just realised I never had it on. It was this stupid clickcha thing. Ah, nevermind...
    PS: So had to laugh at your comment. A (very very small) part of me wishes the book will never get published. There might be a few people seriously pissed off otherwise.

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  17. Another 'call my bluff' fan here!
    Great post

    I loved Bedsy, that cracked me up.

    The only thing that drives me nuts is that these wrods are word like enough that my phone spell corrects them to real words if I'm not paying attention. I prefer the random number letter combos.

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  18. This is definitely reminiscent of the 'Meaning of Liff'. We've been doing it at a forum I frequent for quite a while now. It's become almost second nature to look at the verification code and think what meaning might be appropriate for it. (We usually jot it down at the end of our comment)

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