Put those words to use!

Welcome to the results of the first Put those words to use! contest.
To see the next word list visit Word list #2

The words:

callipygian: having beautiful buttocks

octothorpe: the symbol # on a telephone or keyboard

lamster: fugitive

box: a tree or shrub, used for borders, hedges or garden mazes

tittle: a small diacritical mark, as an accent, vowel mark, or dot over an i; the tiniest bit

chthonic: pertaining to the gods and spirits of the underworld, infernal

clowder: a group of cats

adfenestration: [nonce word] the (surreptitious?) act of entering through a window

bissextile: relating to the extra day in a leap year (the second sixth day)

pocosin: an upland swamp of the coastal plain of the southeastern U.S.

lethe: oblivion, forgetfulness

lethologica: the inability to remember the right word

lethonomia: the tendency to forget names

kef: a state of dreamy tranquility; a smoking material that produces such a state

tchoupitoulas: Algonquin for "river people"; a street in New Orleans

sesquipedalian: given to the use of long words

nugatory: of little or no consequence; trifling , inconsequential; inoperative

interrobang: a punctuation mark {!?} designed for use esp at the end of an exclamatory rhetorical question

yegg: a criminal, esp a safecracker or burglar

	Put those words to use!	Judge 1	Judge 2	Judge 3
A	A clowder of cats were laying in a kef near of box of shrubs on Tchoupitoulas Street, watching the callipygian joggers acting their chthonic guilts of being obese, and thus not turning into the lethe of couch potatoes that live nugatory lives. Suddenly a lamster was using adfenestration into the Interrobang Cafe. He had two tattoos on his arm that resembled an octothorpe and a tittle. One cat named Pocosin, who suffered from lethologica, had a sudden bout of lethonomia. He had seen the lamster before, last year on the bissextile day. The lamster tended to be a sesquipedalian in his conversations as he would try to trample the cats watching him performing his yeggs.	Overall, this one felt very awkward to Judge 1, both in correct usage of the words and in flow of the story.	Although all the words are there, they are often used incorrectly and overall did not read well for Judge 2.	Gets points for the briefest excursion through the eclectic vocabulary--all 19. However, "box of shrubs" and "performing his yeggs" are clearly incorrect usage of the terms supplied.
B	Unable to resist the calling of his craft as a monicker-betittled yegg Jôhn broke through the prison gates quietly one balmy bissextile night and escaped through the cover of the pocosin bog nearby. Soon the lamster made his way to New Orleans and found himself wandering aimlessly searching for the street he remembered once wanting to thieve on. Unfortunately, suffering from the lethonomia brought on as a result of the chthonic kef in which swum his head being so delighted by his new freedom he could not remember the street he was looking for—Tchoupitoulas. Turning to the first house he saw and finding the box surrounding its front room nugatory he adfenestrated his way into the home only to land upon a big pile of cats. "Whoa!? Hey!? Oh my God!? A big pile of cats!? What the!? Hey, isn't there a word which describes just this sort of thing!? Overcome with this spontaneous lethologica and being bombarded as he was by his own flurry of interrobangs he shuffled over to a comfy chair which accommodated his callipygian form as he idly thumbed the octothorpe of the telephone next to him drifting beyond lethe muttering one long word after another growing ever more sesquipedalian yet never remembering 'clowder'.	Judge 1 did not agree with the main critiques of Judge 3, and felt that tittle, pocosin (bog) and box were used correctly enough to pass. Overall, Judge 1 felt this was the best in use of the words in a comfortable fashion.	Overall not bad, but somewhat hard to follow at times and did not flow as well for Judge 2.	All words were used. Judge 3 liked the way sesquipedalian and clowder were introduced at the end, very artful. However, "monicker-betittled" is the wrong form of tittle (it should be used as a noun) and it makes no sense--tittled is usually translated as trifling. Also, "pocosin bog" is redundant and "the box" is not understandable in context. "Drifting beyond lethe" is also counterintuitive and therefore confusing.
C	8:00pm February 29th The City It was dark and blustery that night. But it was quiet. Too quiet. I was considering engaging in a little omphaloskepsis in order to attain a kef-like state when she walked into my office. 'Wow,' I thought, 'and here I thought they just didn't make them that callipygian anymore.' My only question was why she chose to enter using a spot of adfenestration, like some yegg or lamster, instead of using the front door. The wind began howling like a clowder singing cats, or a lost chthonic horror outside. While I was waiting for her to collect herself, and close the window, I picked up the phone and punched the octothorpe to get the front desk. Unfortunately, as it was late on February's bissextile day, no one answered. I had wanted to ask that a blanket be sent up, but that was nugatory. I turned up the heat, and offered my visitor a chair. It was obvious that she had a problem. One problem appeared to be a form of lethe, as she just sat there, staring off into space. I offered her a gin and tonic. She looked more...uh....Dang! Lethologica strikes again. It often puts pay to my more sesquipedalian urges. Anyway. Her name was Angelica. She had with her a small tittle of a dog, that looked like some sort of pocosin dweller. Its name was...well, lethonomia is one of the problems I'm working on. In any case, Angelica needed my help. It seemed that someone was following her, hence her unorthodox entrance. This unknown person tended to lurk behind the box hedge outside of her house, over on Tchoupitoulas. "What am I going to do?" she asked. The interrobang hung in the air between us.	This one ranked third for Judge 1. It was not as fun as B or D. although true to the intended style. The words seemed awkward at times, such as in "a spot of adfenestration" which most bothered Judge 1 about this entry.	This one was a good use of the words in a story. It ranked second for the technical execution and correct use of words, especially for clarity of words in context.	All words were used. The writer gets extra credit for "omphalokepsis." Good coherent story (well, a good attempt at stringing all these words together) and the fewest problems. The problems were a missing word in "clowder singing cats," Judge 3 gave the benefit of the doubt to a missing word, and a poor jargon phrase "puts pay" which didn't involve any words from the list, but did cause the reader to stumble. The only other issue was a poor grasp of how to use "lethe." Lethargy could and would easily substitute in the phrase "a form of lethe." However, overall, the best of the lot--the fewest mistakes, that is. Good use of "interrobang."
D	It was only once she looked over the top of the small box, that she spotted the lamster hiding among a clowder, trying very hard not to be seen. "You can come out now, I may not be able to see all of you but you are quite callipygian and that is hard to hide my friend." If only he'd laid off the kef that morning he'd still be among the chthonic tribe of tchoupitoulas in the pocosin, the only home he'd ever known. But now, here he sat, a yegg with not only a bad case of lethonomia but also lethologica. How the hell was he going to talk his way out of this one, he definitely isn't in any state to be quick witted and sesquipedalian. He slowly stood up, too embarrassed to look her in the eye. "Forgive me, I was born on a bissextile with a birthmark in the shape of a octothorpe on my left callipyia and I know it is now a pretty site." "No, no!" She replied with interrrobang, "It is quite lovely and I must admit I am very taken by it, though I must say you are unusually short for a grown man." "I may be short but this bag of kef tells me that you will forgive my failed adfenestration and join me in a state on lethe." The nerve, no yegg was going to tell her what to do. "Nugatory little man, I am not a tittle interested in your offerings, but I will forget what happened today if you let me see that octothorpe." "Hmmmm," thought the little yegg, "this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."	Judge 1 felt that this one flowed the best as a story and was the most fun. The usage was good for most of the words, and the few that were not exactly correct, were not so far off as to lose the reader.	This one is the favorite of Judge 2 for the flow of the story and creative use of the words from the list. Use of the words in conversation made this one interesting and helped to clarify meanings of the words in context.	All required words are used, and this writer obviously fell in love with the word yegg (used 3 times). However, "the small box" is wrong usage given the definition supplied. "Left callipyia" is a torturous mangling of a Greek word (calli- would refer to beauteous, anyway, not the buttock!). "Interrobang" is used incorrectly--it is essentially a piece of punctuation signifying a surprise or shock. It was innovative to see "nugatory" and "tittle" used in quotes--very good way to get these words in! However, the use of "nugatory" sounds like trying to use it in the popular way that "negatory" was being used about 8 years ago. It was hard to deal with the first sentence--a lamster being close to a hamster. Imagine anyone hiding among cats? However, after the first sentence, the story goes very well. If not for the callipyia and the interrobang, this one might have been the winner for Judge 3.

The judges have asked to remain anonymous, and all the entries were judged blind. I was NOT one of the judges, as I know who wrote each of the entries. The judges comments are noted on the right of the entry. The judges did not always agree on the correct usage of words, so there are conflicts in the comments. As I interpret the results, entry D got the most votes (one for 1st place, two for second place) so is the first place winner; entry C got a first place and a second place nomination, so comes in second overall; entry B got one first place nomination, which leaves it at third place, and entry A did not get any votes, so is fourth place.

Words and definitions were sourced from a several places, including: A.W.A.D., Grandiloquent Dictionary, SKB Dictionary, and, of course, Michael A. Fischer's wwftd dictionary. A special thanks to all of them for providing us with access to all of these linguistic gems.