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#1 2008-11-03 20:53:55

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2714
Website

Conjugation of irregular adjectives, etc.

I remember reading, years ago, about a contest sponsored, if I remember rightly, by the Times (the British one) for the conjugation of irregular adjectives (and an occasional noun or verb) into 1st, 2nd and 3rd persons. For instance,

I am firm; you are obstinate; he is a pig-headed fool.

I am flexible; you are wishy-washy; he flaps in the breeze.

I have reconsidered it; you have changed your mind; he has gone back on his word.

I have something about me of the subtle, haunting fragrance of the Orient; you rather overdo it, dear; she stinks.

You get the idea.

Any of you remember the game?

Come up with any new ones?


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

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#2 2008-11-03 21:50:36

Ntsimp
Member
From: Utah
Registered: 2007-11-27
Posts: 10

Re: Conjugation of irregular adjectives, etc.

Here’s one I’ve seen frequently on Usenet:

I have preferences. You have biases. He/She has prejudices.

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#3 2008-11-04 11:45:57

TootsNYC
Eggcornista
Registered: 2007-06-19
Posts: 263

Re: Conjugation of irregular adjectives, etc.

There’s an advertising campaign in the NYC subways (and elsewhere here) that is similar.

There’s a pic reproduced three times, w/ a different one-word label under it each time.

Say, a fat wallet sitting in the middle of the road

disaster temptation responsibility

“It’s all in the perspective” or “different ways of looking at the world” is the tag line.

a container of bottled water
fashionable convenient wasteful

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#4 2008-11-06 10:47:56

Peter Forster
Eggcornista
From: UK
Registered: 2006-09-06
Posts: 1222

Re: Conjugation of irregular adjectives, etc.

I think several of these are hovering, mockingly, just out of range of my tiny memory. All I can manage at the moment is the old exhortation to pointless gentility: ‘Horses sweat, men perspire, but ladies just gently glow.’

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#5 2008-11-06 12:36:28

DavidTuggy
Eggcornista
From: Mexico
Registered: 2007-10-11
Posts: 2714
Website

Re: Conjugation of irregular adjectives, etc.

Yes, I remember that one.

I have a healthy appetite/am a gourmet; you eat too much/are a gourmand; he has both feet in the trough.


*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .

(Possible Corollary: it is, and we are .)

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