Try as I might, I have been finding it particularly difficult to rise to the latest JUWC challenge. The fact that both Tova and Roy have done such particularly good jobs with theirs has left me bereft of ideas. Every time I try to start something, it evolves into a very poor second to Tova’s wonderful entry.
But the words she chose are absolutely fantastic. Some of them I’d heard of before and had even added to my vocabulary (such as rive, odious and usurp). Others I’d read before and heard people use (willow, kerfuffle, zephyr, nihilistic, godspeed and yesternight). Still others I’d learnt through my love of crosswords (these include fuliginous, scree, virago and xanthippe). The rest of the set were totally new to me and I love to learn new words.
So while I’m going to have to throw the towel in on this particular challenge, I just want to thank Tova for giving me some new words to play with and for provided such a wonderful, albeit difficult challenge. I hope to include at least some of these words in future pieces.