Acrostics as a treatment for arrogance
Unfortunately, I have both chronic and acute arrogance. Whenever I need a firm reminder that I'm not all that, I break out a book of acrostics. Usually, the Penny Press puzzles are enough, but for particularly severe flare-ups, only the Simon & Schuster ones will do the job. (Even my mother-in-law, a master wordsmith, says the S&S ones are hard!)
Why are acrostics an effective treatment for arrogance? Well, whenever I start feeling smug about my language skills, there's nothing like staring at the pieces of a word for twenty minutes and finally realizing it's something as commonplace as "another" or "laughter." Some words look completely alien when a few letters are missing. I have yet to work on an acrostic that didn't make me feel like a total dumbass.
So far, my nightly applications of acrostics are helping with the arrogance, but they seem to be exacerbating another chronic problem: insomnia.
Posted: October 26th, 2006 under Miscellaneous.
Comments: 16
Comments
Comment from LaDonna
Time: October 26, 2006, 2:54 pm
Lynne, LMAO, crosswords can do it for me. Seriously,
Ran and I have ones we get out in the winter.
Sometimes we laugh at all the blank spaces. And,
somedays I win. hehe
Comment from Lynne
Time: October 26, 2006, 4:20 pm
John LOVES crosswords, particularly the “cryptic” ones. He’s into puns.
Comment from John
Time: October 26, 2006, 4:29 pm
Crosswords win in one key area: there’s no need to move the pen/cil up and down the page, and so are better at lulling me to sleep at night. Acrostics are exercise. They’re pretty cool, though, and for the last few months they’ve been my soporific of choice.
I’m not really into puns–I swear!–but yeah, they do come up from time to time in cryptic crosswords, my particular favorites.
I may be better than Lynne at recognizing words with missing letters, but she still finishes acrostics faster.
Comment from Typing Slave
Time: October 26, 2006, 10:20 pm
My soporific of choice is the bed. That’s all it takes these days. In the past, however, I have resorted to REALLY BAD ebooks on my pda.
Comment from Typing Slave
Time: October 26, 2006, 10:21 pm
Oh, I meant to add… The ebooks, however, don’t help with the arrogance issue. For that I have children.
Comment from Michelle
Time: October 27, 2006, 6:37 am
I never had you pinned as an arrogant person, Lynne, LOL. But I’m with Jody, children are a great leveller :).
Comment from John
Time: October 27, 2006, 8:20 am
“Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride–where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation.”
Comment from Alice Audrey
Time: October 27, 2006, 10:23 am
But I LIKE my arrogance!
Comment from Lynne
Time: October 27, 2006, 4:35 pm
Hi, Jody! I haven’t tried bad ebooks yet. Computer programming manuals work pretty well, but they’re so heavy that my arms get tired before the soporific effects kick in.
Comment from Lynne
Time: October 27, 2006, 4:36 pm
Hi, Michelle! I’ll have to remember that about children. :-) I suspect parents learn a LOT from kids!
Comment from Lynne
Time: October 27, 2006, 4:36 pm
John, I think you’ve memorized P&P even more thoroughly than I have Conan the Barbarian. :-)
Comment from Lynne
Time: October 27, 2006, 4:37 pm
Arrogance comes in handy sometimes, doesn’t it, Alice? I doubt I’ll ever get rid of mine altogether. Acrostics just take the edge off.
Comment from Edie Ramer
Time: October 27, 2006, 4:46 pm
Lynne, I’m a Jeopardy fan. When I get an answer, I get excited that I know more than the contestants do. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen often enough. :(
Comment from Lynne
Time: October 27, 2006, 6:50 pm
LOL, Edie!
Comment from Cat
Time: October 28, 2006, 11:49 pm
Ooh, I’ve never done acrostics (or at least hardly ever), but they look addicting! I’ve been playing Mahjong Solitaire and other tile games like that on the computer because of my insomnia– my soporific. :-D But I may switch it up for acrostics.
Comment from Lynne
Time: October 29, 2006, 12:15 pm
I love tile-based solitaire games. I have ‘em on my phone AND my PDA!
Acrostics are a good thing for writers because they help with your vocabulary and the ever-increasing pile of “Hey, I might need it sometime!” trivia. I’ve learned all sorts of things from the quotations.
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