Fun with Words
This month’s Sage challenge responses were low – only one person met the parameters of the challenge!
In this challenge, participants were required to use a word-sound on the lists below at least 5 times in a story/poem/article – and each time it is used it must carry a different meaning.
For instance: The rosey gold of the morning sun rose softly upon the petals of the rose in Rose‘s bower. The word can be part of a longer version of a word, such as rose, rosette, arose. You can use foreign words that sound the same, or words that start the same way but are extended into new words. Alliteration is encouraged. Here are some examples:
There/their/they’re I/eye/aye eight/ate Bowl/boll/bol/bole for/four/semiphore/fortune you/vous/U rime/rhyme/ adverse/advertize/adverb one/won to/two/too/toucan rose/roes/rows moore/more/moor/moar stake/steak roc/rock bow/bough/bowl
Over the centuries human minds have created, enhanced, and perpetuated various words, many of them create images so strongly that a single word creates a mental image common to thousands. The problem with words, is that sometimes one word can have a host of different meanings or draw upon different images or events depending on the history/background of the person using/hearing the word.
The entry by Larry Kilham used poetry as the vector for the story, which provided an excellent structure for the challenge.
SAILING
by Larry Kilham
I love to sail on Nantucket Sound,
where many other sailboats abound,
until the storm warning gloomily resounds —
batten the hatches before the sea confounds.
Then a shudder and a cracking sound —
we check our depth with ultrasound.
Heave ho! We are about to run aground!
All hands to the rigging before we drown!
Later, ashore, by the bar’s clinking sounds,
we gather and laugh as the night comes around.