What a wonderful morning this is~

i received an email from random house letting me know that i am this week's winner of the Power Vocabulary Quiz, which means they're going to send me a free copy of "Verbal Advantage" (whatever that is). 'course, since word books and others falling squarely into the 'geek' classification are the highest order of contraband in my house, i'll have to hide it under the cleaning supplies so as to be assured that it shall remain undiscovered.

anywho, if anyone wants to check out the quiz, you can find it at http://www.randomhouse.com/quizzes/index.cgi?wordapril

it's not particularly difficult, but it's a nice mental exercise.

that i am this week's winner of the Power Vocabulary Quiz

well congratulations anyway, B96. It is always a good feeling to win something, even if the second prize is two of them. I am not sure which of the pronunciations are "correct" on the US side of the pond so I don't know what my score would be.
Can we think of more sensible uses for the prize than just hiding it?
This is always assuming that someone else wouldn't find it useful for its original purpose, and feel proud that you thought of them?
I suggest you use it as a water saver in a toilet cistern.

Rod

I am delighted and comforted to learn that there is someone else whose household is run in such a fashion that the best hiding place for secret stashes is under/behind the cleaning supplies.

the Power Vocabulary Quiz,

Thanks for the link, b96 - a nice relaxation toward the end of a busy day! It reminds me a bit of the "It pays to increase your word power" quiz in RD!

My sincerest contrafibularities, mareikura. For dilettanti such as I, it is reassuring to see the true ayleurs displaying their awesome prowess. I hope that you get a lot of satisfaction from your prize, even while the rest of your family wonder why Mom is suddenly spending so much time in the closet.

"...even while the rest of your family wonder why Mom is suddenly spending so much time in the closet"

Yeah, careful there, B96, or the family will start thinking you're snorting the Spin 'n Span.

99rb,

this could be a good book; Charles Elster is one of my favorite word guys -- author of "There's a Word for It!"

Let me chime in my big hug and congrats! I do not know if when you got your prize you felt deliciously happy as I did when I won the grapefruit spoon at a Tupperware party for writing down the most words derived from "bicentennial". It is the one and only prize I have won that has to do with words.

chronist

Yeah, careful there, B96, or the family will start thinking you're snorting the Spin 'n Span.

Okay, Sparteye, tell all. What is in Spin'n'Span that makes it good for snorting. Should I give away the crack, then?

Congratulations on winning your prize, B52. Even if the prize turns out to be a bomb (sic) it's the winning that counts.

In our house there're usually reference books of all kinds strewn around. Some people who came to visit with friends once asked the friends afterwards if we were "strange" because there was a Websters and an economics textbook on the coffee table in the lounge! Which had been left exactly where they were last used, of course.

I think the reply was that yes, we were strange, but no, it had nothing to do with our reading material!

This is the actual result I scored after trying the quiz:

Maybe vocabulary and grammar isn't your thing. How about baseball?

Well, I knew that I couldn’t win but this answer has left me totally depressed.

John Six-pack.

Good for you B96!

I got the same discouraging message as juanmaria, prefaced by You got one or more words wrong
Did they have to write it in RED?
It's grey and rainy here ... I didn't need that!

Sigh

Many congrats, b96. I too must just look on in envy at the proper logophiles, having been cast out to take up baseball. A question for the USn's. Are the baggy uniforms an essential part of the game?

Bingley

Who says they are baggy?

jimthedog

Baggy pants? I'm a New York Yankee fan and I've only seen four active players that wear baggy pants (Thome of the Indians, Maddux of the Braves, Hernadez of the Yankees and Bartolo Colon of the Indians.) Back in the early part of last century everyone wore baggy uniforms. Some players wore baggy clothes because "it makes them look like a slugger". According to my brother it makes them look like a pile of clothes.
Also away uniforms are baggier than home uniforms.

I attended a 'double-header'® [Ernie Banks: "Let's play two"]* of the Minnesota Twins yesterday at the execrable metrodome, and in the first game they wore the uniforms of the 1901 Washington Senators (the original home of "our" twins). talk about baggy; the players all looked like high-school kids and seemed so embarrassed they also played that way.

*this isn't done any more, Ernie. this was the only scheduled double-header in all of the majors this year. (rain makeups will add a few more).

Well, whenever I've seen about 5 seconds of baseball on TV news, they certainly all look as if they've pinched their big brothers' uniforms.

Bingley