Acronym game

Years ago I bought a book called Word Games by Peter Newby, mainly because it cost virtually nothing … I’ve hardly looked at it since, but tonight I flicked through it and this caught my eye.

The idea is to describe a play, film, etc. using its constituent letters, in the right order, to start each word. Apparently New Statesman used to run competitions along these lines, and examples of readers’ responses included:

Just a white shark
Endless vivacity in the Argentine
This has everything: syrupy outbursts, uplifting nannies, dancing over flowery mounts, unctuous songs involving children

After a brief think I came up with Time has elapsed. Brother is gone. Cold horror is looming large (well, The Big Chill was about death, kind of, even if it was a comedy).

Why not have a go?

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Author: Brendano

I am a 60-year-old freelance editor living in rural Ireland.

50 thoughts on “Acronym game”

  8. Thank you CPB I liked Ulysses. How about

    Disturbingly realistic scenario, tale relates a nuclear gaffe, earthly life obliterated very easily.

  11. Thank you, Low Wattage and cyanide p bunny … some excellent ones there. 🙂

    A movie I watched recently:

    The weighty evidence lies very emphatically against ‘not guilty’ return, yet maverick entreats naysaying.

    Also:

    Some interesting drunken episodes … wine and, yes, sex.

  14. Brendano,

    Twelve Angry Men, Fonda, my fav film of all time. If they EVER try to remake it, I will have to go over there and get postal.

  15. Nice one, Ferret. Yes, I hadn’t seen TAM in ages … really enjoyed it. Brilliant film.

  19. Ferret, my #18 was meant as a quip on your #16, not a judgement on your #17 (another good one). 🙂

  31. Thanks for all the above. Here’s another:

    Going repeatedly over unusually noisome day has old grouch developing a yearning.

  34. Morning Ferret: Yes, indeed, how about a little something like “some”, which mysteriously disappeared between the draft and the post. Maybe if I ask politely Brendano will edit it back in.

  36. Two
    have
    ‘earning’

    Brainwave –
    let
    undercover
    ex-convicts
    stage

    Band
    reworking
    older
    terrific
    hits.
    ends
    really
    spectacularly

  39. LW, our comments made me think of a Dublin literary man named ‘Con’ Leventhal and the story of how he got his nickname, which I couldn’t quite remember. I Googled for it and couldn’t find it, but I did find this and thought it might interest you (at least in parts … it’s quite long).

    http://www.lrb.co.uk/v29/n07/colm-toibin/my-darlings

    I remember Toibín’s piece on Guinness that you posted.

  40. Audacious
    tale-telling
    of
    naughty
    eyewitness
    medller:
    estrangement
    never-ending
    tradgedy.

  44. One less here:

    Audacious
    tale
    of
    naughty
    eyewitness
    medller:
    estrangement
    never-ending
    tradgedy.

  48. Hello Brendano! Love the Europe avatar. Said I’d be back, din I?
    Right; here goes:
    Get Loud And Dangerous In A Tale Of Rome

  49. Hi pseu, Araminta, Claire. Excellent acronyms. 🙂

    Glad you like the avatar, Claire. I used to use a similar one on MyT in the early days. Not many seemed to like it there, but it now has a 100% approval rating here. 🙂

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