[Newspoetry] How about another game, boy?

[DL Emerick]

Looking for ways to waste your time?

What criteria apply?

Well, here's yet another one,
from my exclusive CAN_YOU_GOOGLE_ME_NOW?(tm) collection:
(sold under separate license, in some countries, as
Go_Ogle_Go:_Leers_to_you.(tm) -- (c) Denied, 2008.)


Rule 1:
Pick a phrase,
especially one that is hackneyed,
a term that is not self-referential,
for what would we call our use of "hackney"
if the term applied to itself
and we didn't want to be "hackneyed"?

(I beg the question of plain language.)

Example phrase selected:
"to brighten any day".

Google it.  Examine hit count, usage patterns, etc.

(Etc. means "notice whatever you damn well please.)

Rule 2:
Transmute the phrase,
as by the processes of inversion, negation, etc.

Example transmuted: "to darken any day".

Now, think about the matter, as long as you wish.
(Obviously, the latter had 2 hits, compared to 792 for the chosen phrase.)

Rule 3 (Mission Statement):
Find the most common (hackneyed) phrase of the English language.
(Other language users may play this in their own tongues.)
And compare it with a few of its transmutes.

WINNING THE GAME:
The objective is to waste as much time as necessary.
Stop playing when you've had enough for today.
You win if you wasted more time than you had to lose;
You lose if you quit merely because you're bored.


Only a Year of Bush Remains

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: winmail.dat
Type: application/ms-tnef
Size: 5846 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/newspoetry/attachments/20080125/5dd3be09/winmail.bin