Games

I've been reading a book called "How to Become More Creative; 101 Rewarding Ways to Develop Your Potential Talent" by Alex F. Osborn, L.H.D. (whatever that stands for). It was written in 1952! Consequently, women get about two paragraphs going on about how running a house is really creative. Otherwise the book really focuses on those captains of industry, i.,e. men.

Even so, it's been an interesting read. He mentions - and remember this is in 1952 - only 52% of adults ever open a book afer they leave school, based on a survey by Columbia University.

Each chapter is a different type of creative endeavor. He covers sports, reading, exercise, children, writing, arts, hobbies, etc. But the one I found the most fun (and have been driving Jim crazy with) was the word game, Inky Pinky. Ever heard of it? I hadn't. Jim said growing up in Cleveland, OH, a DJ used to play the same game but called it Onesy, Twosey. Here's how it's played:

You think up the rhymed equivalent of a simple statement. Like "a five cent cucumber" would be "a nickel pickle" or an "obese anthropoid" would be "a chunky monkey." If you are a word person, this game quickly becomes almost obsessive. The rhyming words can be one syllable words or four syllables long. Here are a few more. See if you can figure them out. You can check the answers at the end of my post.

1. A motorcycle made of pennies
2. A fish doctor
3. Eat glue
4. Solidified fat
5. A profitable bedding plant

This game reminded me of another word game we used to play on car trips. It's called "Endless Chain." Each person has to come up with a noun (no proper nouns) that starts with the last letter of the last word, i.e. elephant, town, nut, tutu, umbrella, etc. The fun of this game is to try to think of a word with a really hard last letter. So far I haven't gotten Jim into this but we haven't gone on any long car trips either.

And the only other word game I remember from my youth was "I'm going on a picnic" where every person had to remember all the picnic items and add one of their own until the list was so long NO ONE could remember all the items. I really hated this game - I couldn't remember more than ten items (and I bet I couldn't remember that many now!).

So what word games do you or did you play? What games did you or do you play with your kids on long trips? And what Inky Pinky's have you thought up since you started reading about them?

The answers to the above Inky Pinky's
1. A copper chopper
2. A sturgeon surgeon
3. Paste taste
4. Hard lard
5. satisfactory matress factory

Have fun and post what you come up with!