Rorschach test, named after Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922), aims to discover the personality of a person which can't be found by the usual questions. The subject is show random inkblot designs and asked to interpret them. The same inkblot may appear as clouds to one person, an elephant to another, while a third person may see a face of a woman.
Well, this week's AWAD may seem quite like this test, but it isn't. The words for the next five days may appear to be selected with no design, but they do have a common theme. There is a definite property that a word has to fulfill before making an appearance this week. And your mission is to identify that common trait. The first one to figure it out gets worldwide fame by having his/her name circulated in nearly 200 countries. Send your interpretations to anu@wordsmith.org. One answer per person, please.
So, have any of you made any guesses as to what this week's theme is? At first I guessed words that sound like numbers, but I think that has since fallen out of possibility.
I am using this in my classroom to curb tardiness. If they are in class on time they can write the WOTD on a piece of paper and get points. If they are late they stand outside until the others are done and get no points. So far two of my girls were thinking it had to do with size. But today's word throws that one off I think. Agghhhhhh.
"What we do in life, echoes an eternity" - Maximus Decimus Meridias.
I think the theme this week is 'small things or ways of being that stand out from their surroundings and call for attention." The first word, dekko (a look), is what the following four words cry out for you to bestow upon them. An ait, horst, and bijou are poetically synonymous upraised masses relative to their surroundings while dotty-ness is an example of such an expression in the human personality.
Welcome, Roibin and pedelman. I guess we'll have to wait for the great Anu to give us the answer. R., you say you're a teacher: well, there are other crazy people here, too! More power to you, my dear.
Nobody bothered to respond to my email on Tuesday morning, so i suppose my guess was incorrect, but i noticed that one unifying element was that each of the words had all of its letters in alphabetical order. too sophomoric an observation? it has at least held true, so far.
I too guessed alphabetical order, but on Wednesday (a day late, an accolade short). Cheer up, bridget96, you're probably right and you'll hear about it in the weekend letter.
>I too guessed alphabetical order, but on Wednesday
Me too, Anna, but on Friday my time (=Thu pm US EST time), after seeing four of the words (dekko, ait, bijou, horst). For me, it was the "rst" sequence that did it.
I am impressed that you and bridget96 spotted an alphabetical pattern after only 3 and 2 (!!) words respectively.
In my response to Anu, I wondered about the longest English word that conforms to the rule (suggestions, anyone?), and also mused about sentences or passages of text made up entirely of conforming words (a bit like the "missing letter" challenge in another thread).
Marty, I've been around long enough to know that when Anu suggests a theme, it's almost always about structure and not meaning. So that precedent helped it to kick in quicker to my Partsheimer's mind.
I am way too new. Will they actually tell us what the theme was? I have two girls who are very anxious to see if they were right (plus I have a gift for the winner, but they don't know that). One of these girls is a problem child who I have 5th period. However, she was in my room before first period wondering if she was right. This is a good thing. LOL
Thanks,
"What we do in life, echoes an eternity" - Maximus Decimus Meridias.
I think the theme this week is 'small things or ways of being that stand out from their surroundings and call for attention." The first word, dekko (a look), is what the following four words cry out for you to bestow upon them. An ait, horst, and bijou are poetically synonymous upraised masses relative to their surroundings while dotty-ness is an example of such an expression in the human personality.
I like your thinking! I didn't know how esoteric to go in guessing, as this is my first "guess the theme" ~ if this is the answer, I fear I'm out of my league! If it's the alphabetical bit, maybe I can hold my own...
No weekend letter, no announcement of the winner.... just a segue into this week's Dante theme with nary a mention of the previous week's activities. <sobbing, prepares the hemlock cocktail>
Thanks for the compliment Fiberbabe (according to your username, you must be very regular!). But I think that Anu does stick with structure and not meaning when it comes to themes so I am almost certainly wrong. Yet, hint hint Anu, discovering connections in meaning is FAR more interesting, I think.
Welcome, Marianna. I think that for you, as a student, to use a word like sagacity, you must be pretty sagacious yourself. ---------------------------------------------------------- I just read this week's post about the theme, and nearly screamed. I thought "...a new English verse translation done by my wife, the poet Jean Hollander, and me and published three weeks ago by Doubleday" meant that Stuti Garg, the poet J.H., and Anu had publised a book! Until I read on, that is, and realized that we have a guest wordsmith this week.
Wonder how long we'll have to wait to find out the theme of ait, dekko, etc.?
For Marty, I was curious too so I looked around the net and found the following. ALMOST, ABHORS, ACCENT, ACCESS, BIOPSY, BIJOUX, CHINTZ, EFFORT, and GHOSTY. Alphabetical order was my guess for this week too.
Thanks fundybayman - you prodded me out of my apathy. I'll see your 6 and raise you one - BEEFILY and BILLOWY.
Here's the full paragraph: "AEGILOPS (alternate spelling of egilops, an ulcer in a part of the eye) is apparently the longest word in W2 whose letters are in alphabetical order. This word is not in W3. CHILLLOSS (the opposite of a heatloss) has its letters in alphabetical order, although this word may not be in any dictionary. [Word Ways] The title of the film EFIK MOVY was written abcdEFghIjKlMnOpqrstuVwxYz to show the alphabetical-order property. Mike Turniansky, consulting W3, says BEEFILY and BILLOWY seem to be the only current words of 7 or more letters that have the letters in alphabetic order."
OK. Do we innundate the Chief with E-mails demanding to know what last week's theme was? Or do we let Jackie do it on our behalf, since we know she is Fearless Leader's alter-ego?
OK. Do we innundate the Chief with E-mails demanding to know what last week's theme was? Or do we let Jackie do it on our behalf, since we know she is Fearless Leader's alter-ego?
If Father Steve is correct, you'd do better asking on your knees in the Church of the Holy AWAD ...
bridget96, were SO many folks ahead of you? Well, at least we got it right... (I, very belatedly).... wonder what the winner won? You're our winner on the board, in any case.
['aside' emoticon] It was a great AWAD mail, I thought. Late, but one of the best.
It's WAY too long to post, Jackie. Maybe I was among the first, since my addy begins with "a" (and the theme WAS alphabetical order) hehehe... I'll forward it to ya.
thanks for the words of cheer, annastrophic... as my final act before the benevolent Dr. K initiated the Pavulon drip, i checked the postings. imagine my delight to see that i'm not the only one surprised by the outcome (incidentally, i sent my guess at 5:57am on Tuesday... what time does this Tracy person wake up, for pete's sake??)
so now, my departure carries arguably more noble Housemanesque nuances <rests fleet foot on windowsill for emphasis>
I emailed her tonight out of curiosity and got the following reply:
"Thanks for the congratulations. There goes a little chunk of my 15 minutes of fame.
I actually did guess after only one word. The statement "there is a definite property that a word has to fulfill" was a clue that the theme was related to the word itself rather than the meaning of the word, and the first interesting and unusual property that came to mind seemed to fit, so I guessed it.
I don't get up earlier than you--but I'm guessing I go to bed later!"
and what makes you so sure that i'm not just flaunting my youth?
I don't know how old you are - aren't goddesses ageless, no matter how old they are? Anyway, you have all the power of knowledge itself, and you appear bring the Bacon home to us, even if he is well-aged!
btw, how do you quote from someone's previous posting? i tried to cut and paste earlier, but the absence of the lovely cerulean shade to distinguish my interpolation made me even less intelligible than usual.
Bridget, age 96, asked: btw, how do you quote from someone's previous posting? i tried to cut and paste earlier, but the absence of the lovely cerulean shade to distinguish my interpolation made me even less intelligible than usual.
You do have to cut and paste, but that's just the start. I suggest you click on the "FAQ" link at the top of every page and read thoroughly. All will be revealed!
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More power to you, my dear.
(=Thu pm US EST time), after seeing four of the words (dekko, ait, bijou, horst). For me, it was the "rst" sequence that did it.
You're our winner on the board, in any case.
wow, totally missed the FAQs.
