Online Word Game Recommendation -- Word Kingdom

There are many great websites online where one can play free games, and quite a few of those sites are focused solely on word games. One game that is highly addictive and easy to recommend is Word Kingdom, a game that involves creating words using tiles all while defending a castle. The letters are scored like in Scrabble, with the rarer letters being of more value, and you also get bonuses for creating longer words. Each letter is on a tile that represents one of four resources (meat, wood, stone, and gold) that you will need in order to build up your castle and army. The first two levels teach you how to play the game, so there aren't any attacking armies until the third level. Once the enemies begin to attack your castle, you will need to move fast, building words and soldiers in order to defend yourself. I recommend taking your time on the second level of the game, and building as much stuff as you want before building the barracks and blacksmithery that move you on to the next level -- since there are no enemies yet, you can get used to the game and build up your castle before moving on to the more difficult part of the game. Beware, this game is not only highly addictive, it can be quite challenging and time-consuming as well. Created by dictionary.com, Word Kingdom can also be found on wordgameworld.com, and on both websites you can find many more word games, from classics like Hangman to the newer ones like Word Kingdom.

Definition of Backronym & 5 Examples

A backronym [or bacronym] is a word turned into an acronym although the original word was not intended as such. This is bound to make one think of mnemonic devices used to teach children, and it is the same technique, just more often used for humorous than educational purposes. Here are 5 examples, and please feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments:

DOG: Delightful Oblong Growler

RAP: Rhythmically Aggressive Poetry

WAR: World All Ruined

FART: Flatulence After Rectal Tension

SALE: Slashing All Labels Emphatically

A Quote from "The Life of John Berryman"

"One's ideas about poetry come from one's home and one's school, as well as from society as a whole, he [Berryman] told his audience, and such forces tended to tame poetry's awesome power. The truth was that poetry was 'too primitive and too realistic' for most Americans, who actually felt nervous before its nakedness. The best poetry made use of the basic rhythms of human life, so that it was a counterforce, a rebuke to those forces that threatened to dehumanize people. It cost everything to make a poem, which was a lot more than most people were willing to give to hear its true music." (339)

Mariani, Paul. The Life of John Berryman. New York: William Morrow & Company, 1990.

Sik [Sic] List of Bad Luck Superstitions -- Top 13

1) Breaking a mirror -- the classic tale of 7 years bad luck, buddy
2) Black cat crosses your path -- most of us have had this one happen dozens of times, which is why you should blame black cats for any bad luck in your life
3) Spilling salt -- never understood how throwing some more over your shoulder was supposed to help with this one because you're just spilling more salt when you throw it
4) Walking under a ladder -- probably not the best idea anyways, hence the superstition
5) Opening an umbrella inside a house -- probably started when someone opened a wet umbrella inside someone's house, causing the ire of the host, who also happened to be proficient at gypsy curses
6) Step on a crack, break your mother's back -- a childhood classic; who wanted to be the one kid that broke their mother's back?
7) Saying a blessing after someone sneezes -- this one is confusing because people are screwed when they're alone and they sneeze anyways, unless one is allowed to bless oneself after a sneeze
8) A bird flying into a house -- the definition of bad luck, but maybe not an omen of death as some believe
9) Seeing an owl in daylight -- a very old superstition; the book Philip K. Dick was writing when he died is called The Owl in Daylight
10) The groom seeing the wedding dress before the ceremony -- supposed to bad luck for the marriage, but this belief has lost its relevance lately
11) Hat on a bed -- don't put your hat on the bed because it is bad luck apparently; this one always makes me think of the movie Drugstore Cowboy
12) When driving through a red or yellow light, kiss your hand and touch the ceiling -- I'm a huge fan of modern myths like this, and there are a great number to do with cars; this one is particularly funny when a whole carload does it in tandem
13) The # 13

Limerick

There was a young lady named Brenda,
she was truly a great pretender.
But she did too many drugs,
then forgot who she was,
and now she thinks she's a blender.