Happy March everyone! We’re so excited to start the month off by telling you about a New York Bookwoman contest, open to all current members! If you are interested in becoming a member, please follow this link.
The Forgotten Words Contest is simple. We give you a group of forgotten words and ask you to use then in one sentence. The words can be pluralized, or used in a legitimate form as adjective, verb, adverb or noun. The winning entry will be published in April’s New York Bookwoman, (which is our online newsletter for the New York chapter). The prize for the winner will be announced in this month’s newsletter. As an added bonus, there will be a special mention to anyone who can name the classic novel in which all the words appear! Now, without further ado, here are your words for the month!
Pollard, rimy, contumacious, gormandize, caparison
The deadline for this contest is March 30. Please send all submissions tonewsletter@wnba-nyc.org
For inspiration, you can check out the previous winning entry below.
We asked you to honor a few forgotten words by putting them all together in a sentence or brief paragraph, and you did us proud! The competition was fierce, as we knew it would be in an organization dedicated to the glory of words. We are delighted to let you know that Splendid, Indolent, Gainsay, Fortitude and Bedeck are no longer imprisoned in the stuck-together pages of an old thesaurus. No, they are free now – get your hankies ready – they’ve been liberated by the virtual pen of member Dorothy James!
“There is no gainsaying that he was then among the most indolent of our college class, lazy lot that we were, so long ago that it takes great fortitude now to contemplate just how long it is since we, bedecked in youthful insouciance, thought it quite splendid to do nothing.”
(Media reports that the word Indolent has been admitted to rehab, are entirely without merit.)
Dorothy’s entry was published in The New York Bookwoman and she won a copy of Stephen Fry’s, The Ode Less Travelled – Unlocking the Poet Within.
Okay, I expected at least twenty entries on the blog by now! Words are power! And these words, well, let’s just say, they’re not for cissies! We are an organization dedicated to words, so let’s get out there and use the really good ones – the ones that everyone else has forgotten all about, like POLLARD, RIMY, CONTUMACIOUS, GORMANDIZE, & CAPARISON. This is easy peasy for an organization that’s been around for nigh on a century!
If you’re shy, or if you’re afraid you’re just too damn bright for the web, email your entry to me at newsletter@wnba-nyc.org
I have high expectations. . .
Pingback: Forgotten Words Contest Winner Announced! « Women's National Book Association – NYC