Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 4 of 4 1 2 3 4
#147824 09/19/05 01:21 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
A herd of cats?
(multiple meanings, yes)

#147825 09/21/05 04:03 PM
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 3
M
stranger
Offline
stranger
M
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 3
Hey, Jomama, at least try and sound interested! But anyway, here's John :

How to play John
Players : normally more than one, although I have had fun playing it alone into a typed document. Two works well, more than four would probably get tedious or too competitive.

Points, if you have to :
Points given for words that make others gasp or giggle or guffaw exceptionally.
Points taken away for repetition (except for a purpose), or for spoiling the fun.
The point : fun of it, not points.

Playing faster is better than playing slower, and too much thinking about it may suit some but …..

One player says a word, any word.
Players then take it in turn (or randomly – depends on how rule-bound you want to be) to say another word (or name, exclamation, etc) that has some / any relation to the previous word. This relation can be, for example but not exclusively :
A synonym or antonym
Something with a related meaning – eg flock ->herd
A pun – eg flock -> herd ->listened (as in heard)
Something with a similar sound, rhyme, alliteration, assonance, etc – eg flock ->herd ->gird or ->inferred or ->harried or ->hired or ->er or ->her, etc

Imaginative wandering is encouraged – eg flock ->herd ->pride (lions) ->fall (comes before a …) ->water, etc. When challenged, a player should be able to justify their imaginative leap.

Backtracking is discouraged – eg flock ->herd ->listened ->shoal ->ear – although twin tracks can be fun, especially with more than 2 players, and the challenge can be to get them to converge again.

Note : we called it John because it was a game without a name and thus was seeking one so we could refer to it.
We knew the (previous) Bishop of Hereford, whose name is John Oliver. This gave us multiple tracks to his name 'John’ :
anything religious at all,
any other word or name that related to it – eg hay ->wain ->John (Wayne),
anything to do with Hereford – eg cow ->John (skipping Hereford),
anything that suggests Oliver – eg twist >John (skipping Oliver Twist),
anything that related to or suggested the names of other members of his family that we knew.

Thus 'John' seemed to become a magnet or attractor within the game willy-nilly. Seemed natural to call the game John.



#147826 09/21/05 04:11 PM
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 3
M
stranger
Offline
stranger
M
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 3
I've posted a description but higher up on a different sub-thread (still called Collective nouns) of this theme (posted today, 21/09/05).

Have to say I'm underwhelmed by the world-weary tone of all of you who pretend not to want to know about it while asking about it. Maybe you're all spending too much time 'chatting' on-line. Hey, you could even play John on-line! hhmmm....


Page 4 of 4 1 2 3 4

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,912
Posts229,283
Members9,179
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV, Heather_Turey, Standy
9,179 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 302 guests, and 2 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,510
LukeJavan8 9,916
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5