Of Reintarnation and Mary Poppins
This week my friend M.J. reminded me of a wonderfully inventive annual competition involving wordplay. One needs to change a single letter in a word to give it a new (and invariably amusing) meaning. Some examples of past entries…
Sarchasm : The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the
person who doesn’t get it.
Reintarnation : Coming back to
life as a hillbilly.
Giraffiti : Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
Besides the amusement these and other entries offer, I admire the creative minds that produced them. That got me thinking about other kinds of verbal creativity. One finds them in various settings, including headlines. One of my favorites is from the United Kingdom.
When the underdog Caledonian Thistles took on Celtic in a
2000 Scottish Cup soccer match, they unexpectedly won: 3-1. The Sun
newspaper announced the Caledonian (or “Caley”) victory as: Super Caley Go
Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious. (You need to say this aloud and if you
still don’t get it, think “Mary Poppins.”)
Another sports example: The Wimbledon men’s final in 1987 was
between the Australian Pat Cash and a Czech, Ivan Lendl. At least one paper
headlined the upcoming match by asking, “Will it be Cash or a Czech?” Cash won.
I’ve also long loved repartee, and admired the quick wit some
people have in responding to a situation. Take for example former Australian Prime
Minister Robert Menzies. He was heckled at a campaign event by a woman who shouted,
“I wouldn’t vote for you if you were the Archangel Gabriel.” Menzies’ reply:
“If I were the Archangel Gabriel, madam, you would not be in my constituency.”
Then there are those delicious, deliberate ambiguities, like
the job reference that says, “It is difficult to say enough good things about
this person.”
Or this blog-post, perhaps.
[300 words]