My favorite version of "The Four Marys" or "Mary Hamilton" begins with "Yestreen there were four Marys..." Now that's a lovely word (meaning "yester-evening"). Playing the Dictionary Game, also called "Fictionary," has contributed words like "zarf" and "finjan" (sometimes spelled findjan) to our vocabulary. Remember "cloop," Kathy?

A friend in Vermont threatened to name his brand-new daughter "gasoline drum" because he thought it had a beautiful, sonorous ring to it. He was torn between that and "cellar door."

I'm partial to words like "solivagant," having been one for most of the early part of my life.

The variation of the Dictionary Game described above sounds like great fun. We'll have to give it a go! Sandy