Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Another guided composition

Update 2.40pm April 5th:
The following individuals have done their compositions. It seems the uncommon words have kicked everyone's brains into afterburn- just look at the incredible works out there. Congratulations.

Charmaine - humour. A man with PMS and a mamak who graduated from the World Toilet University.

Yuan Harng - academia with a touch of humour. "Why does papa have to die in that accident of crashing Ox carts?"

Yvy - drama. "O my Lordy!! What are you babbling about, young man?!"


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Just for the heck of it, I’m going to (attempt to) break into Yvy’s niche of producing essay challenges.
Write a composition using the following 10 words.
The composition is not to be more than 300 words in length.
The words must be used in the order found on the list.
Each word presented in the list must be used only once.

10 random numbers were generated using MS Excel, and their values correlated to the entries in the Oxford English Dictionary.

So here goes...

Actinide
Juvenescence
Ease
Oval Office
Cottager
Accede
Biryani
Crashing
Screenplay
Space shuttle


Okaaay, this is a tad bit more challenging that I had expected…

Now to define the slightly trickier terms:
Actinide - chemistry any of the series of fifteen radioactive metallic elements from actinium (atomic number 89) to lawrencium (atomic number 103) in the periodic table.

Juvenescence - formal youth.

Cottager – a person living in a cottage

Accede - (usually ‘accede to’) formal
1 assent or agree to.
2 assume (an office or position).

Biryani – variant spelling of biriani
An Indian dish made with highly seasoned rice and meat, fish, or vegetables.

Screenplay - the script of a film, including acting instructions and scene directions.



Actinide
Juvenescence
Ease
Oval Office
Cottager
Accede
Biryani
Crashing
Screenplay
Space shuttle


***


“So, what’s this actinide you say your men found in my land?” the weathered man asked, all traces of juvenescence having been erased from his face by years of hard work. He had asked the question with an ease commonly found in people not intimately familiar with the periodic table’s lower rows.

“It’s a class of radioactive metals. Exactly which element we are not sure, but it might well be Berkelium or Fermium,” said the man, a fake grin plastered on his face. He had aspirations for the Oval Office, although his secretary mistress says it’s impossible.

“I see. So is it safe for me to continue working in the fields?” the cottager asked. If the land was too dangerous to work on, he’d have to hire Mexican hands to do the job.

“The problem is that Washington may demand the land from you. It’s impossible not to accede to their wishes. Mind-control bastards…” the senator explained, “must be the things they put in the Biryani rice.”

“The what rice?” The farmer had never liked rice, partly due to the fact that he planted wheat for a living. Mentioning rice to the wheat farmer was like a dramatic crashing of ideologies.

“Nah, I was joking. Just something I picked up from a screenplay,” the senator tried to smooth out the bump. The farmer continued to glare at him suspisciously.

“So, did you see the space shuttle’s catastrophic launch yesterday?” the senator tried to make small talk.

“Nope. No TV,” the farmer replied gruffly, “What about my land?”
257 words


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I'm not explicitly asking anyone to do this, but it may be of interest to Ah Pek, Charmaine, plink, Yee Hou, Yuan Harng and Yvy. Oh whatever... you're all tagged. Go do it.

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