I’m Giving Away an ARC of Redshirts, April 25th Edition
Posted on April 25, 2012 Posted by John Scalzi 828 Comments
And all you have to do to win is guess the word I am thinking of RIGHT NOW.
I have told it to Krissy, so she will make sure I do not change my mind.
It’s a relatively common word in English, not some weird technical term or anything.
Here’s how it will work:
1. First person to guess the word wins.
2. If no one guesses the word, then whoever thinks of the word most like the word I’m thinking of (via process of elimination through the “Word Find” function of the Chrome browser) wins. If two people think of the same word (or alternately a different word with the same letters), then whichever is first wins. Note that my decision of what word ends up being closest to the word I am thinking of is non-contestable.
3. One guess per person. Don’t bogart the dictionary.
Contest open until 12pm Eastern time, April 26th.
So: What word am I thinking of RIGHT NOW?
whatever?
banana
Spatula?
Royalties? :)
coffee
Bagel
Global.
Now.
Nachos.
Monkey
The
gumption.
“bread”
Defenestration
Bacon. You’re clearly thinking about the wonders of bacon.
Book?
Awesome.
Butter.
Nap?
make
Ukulele.
Muffin
Bacon
Ice Cream.
banjo
“Splendiferous”?
Priest
Bacon.
(Thereby guaranteeing I won’t win the contest.)
Cliche.
Minion
Feline.
Home
Today’s word is… BEAR!
chocolate chip cookies
Constantinple.
Cabbage
antiquing
Science.
It was worth a shot.
Blue
Currently
Justice. (Was going to guess luposlipaphobia, but you said “not technical.”)
History
Redshirts
rendition?
Laptop
Printer.
tangential
Sunshine!
Hatstand
Shirt.
book
Captain
Pie
synergy
macadamia
Flummox
cat
Meticulous
Promenade
Devious.
anyway
Sunset
callipygian
Moist
Alphabet
parchment.
Hamster
lunch
Politics
Floss
Dilapidated
Wind
spleen
palindrome
the
Cupcake
triskaidekaphobia
Spring
“Now.” It’s hard not to think of a word while you type it. Unless you can keep two words in your head simultaneously I’m pretty sure you were thinking the word you were typing . . . no matter what you told Krissy! :-)
umbrella
Facetious.
Giggle.
random
band
fuzzy
procrastination
Semprini.
diabolical
Slow
library
street
Red
bread
discombobulated
CokeZero
obvious
Boot
plastic
publish
Jump!
Double!
hygiene
Reader
Ferocity
bwhahaha
Macabre.
expendable
lightnight
Theater.
Velvet
spelunking
dinner
Lucky
Enterprise
Word. The word is ‘word.’ :D
Ukelele!
Pommel
Marbled
crackers.
I’m going to guess the word is, “Ocean.” My original guess was going to be “humahumanukanukaapoa’a” but “Ocean” seems more expansive.
Daffodil
Obsequious
no
Right
refreshment
carpet
Coke.
Desk
quesadilla
Demon
Peanut
Work
varmint
bogart? because I don’t think it’s a real word :)
Also, there were two ‘RIGHT NOW’s in the post, so there could technically be two words that’ve been thought of.
common
Read
Eponymous
ARC
Rambunctious
Litter. (as in “cat”)
Wombat!
Right
Nap
throwing
Funnel
Reading
Dog
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
expendable
Spark.
Rabbit
Is
Tortilla
Bubble
Damn, I just got “in English” which I think was the clue.
NOW
Fork.
Dingo
Asteroid.
Fail
Elephant
Widget.
coffee
Giveaway
Home
Cheese
Supercalifragilisticexpealidocious
Cola
expendable
Combustion.
copyright
kangaroo
marmoset
Now
booger?
sandwich
Noodles
vagabond
Cricket
bombastic
Cigar
bacon
I checked and it hasn’t actually been guessed yet:
red
Narrator
snack
blog
Friendship?
Maniacal
Concise
Blubber.
Loggerheads
grass
lamb
dinosaur
winner
hope
Paper
Breezy.
Been windy here in Ohio for the last week or so. Of course, you weren’t here that whole time, so perhaps that connection is weak.
Lemur
Pancakes
Parenthetical
extravagant
psychic
Dinner
I’d like to say “now” is the word, but I’m going with “winner”. You are thinking of “winner” right now.
Hat.
serendipity
free
however
united
(I would have guessed “red hat” but that’s two words, seeing as how today is the anniversary of the founding of the Red Hat Society. Kind of ironic, really.)
Free
Parade
Laser?
Cabin
Badger
lawnmower
defrenstration
Movie
Spoon
dishwasher
marriage
Wheel
breach
Bugger
Schadenfreude
Arc.
Probably too simple, but it’s still plausible.
Contest
There are how many words in the English language, and you want us each to have but one guess?
Very well:
Quiz.
Expendable?
Platitude
Balderdash.
promotion
Raccoon
eggs
pumpkin
Onion
snow
thunder
Booger
lopsided
quotidian
Ceiling
vestigial
yogurt
Extenuating
Tulip
Magic
Shingle
Present.
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Indescribable
fructose
Schadenfreude
Administrator
bloggess
Badger
mayonnaise – who decided that was a food?
Milkshake
swordfish
give
Novel
Chrome
hangnail
bacon (probably already guessed)
Nuts… someone got “expendable”. I guess I’ll go with “Energize!”.
dinner
taco
lightning
Annihilate.
rug
spam
Guppy
(Sorry if it’s double posted, I didn’t see it after my first try)
Delicious
Finally
Either welder, or lamp.
bicycle
Fork
Antidisestablishmentarianism.
Now?
Sorry, two-guessed there. Welder it is.
zero
All these guesses and no one has said, “bird”? Don’t you guys know that bird is the word???
Vote
Print
Pickle
Antelope.
lucid
Bagel
Potato
camel
Synchronicity
“Shiny”.
Also, it amazes me how many people aren’t reading the comments to be sure their selected word wasn’t guessed yet. :-/
obfuscate
“Virtual”
(An amusing expedition into Schelling points, this.)
BTW, someone already grabbed “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. Dammit! Frackin’ homesteaders already got the good words!
pineapple
Haircut.
silly
Antidisestablishmentarianism, bitches!
moonbeam
adjustment
Green.
Also: Wow, lots of Mary Poppins fans here tonight.
flower
Door.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Cake
I’m guessing it’s probably not “horsecock”.
Technical
toast
New guess: Vermillion.
I scrolled too quickly and missed that supercalifragilisticexpialidocious had already been used.
Lexicon
Eureka!
waffles
blacksmith
Cromulent
Stare (brought to you by the “Nerds” Book Fair panel :P)
Nose
apple.
spring
Klaatu barada nikto
Star
Rex
beautiful
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicavolcanoconiosis (the longest word I know). Though the earlier guess of “word” is excellent.
Avenger
daughter
wife
Word
Facilitate.
Finished
Grey
Enough
Crimson
breach
because
Liberty
Spam!
hugo?
Yogurt
Giveaway
Sparks
spatula
hotdog
anteater
fallacious
peaches
Slartibartfast
time
page
Penguin
Space
Wiggle
Gorgeous.
veracity
Simply
Munchkin
I guess “Cloud”
String, or nothing!
Ooops, sorry. Wrong riddle.
Khan!!!
Guess
Suspense
Pie.
Fodder.
Zero
oatmeal
value
fiction
brilliant
troll
Pants.
Vermillion
Rain
Shatner?
Shingle
Gosh, it was right there in front of me. “It”. As in, I told “it” to Krissy. Huzzah!
Airplane
Fur
Ship
Corpulent
soda
curmudgeon
Crap!
Non-contestable.
Hair
Bogus
weight
Be. I was going to say churro, but you said English. You’re still probably thinking of churros too.
Butts (LOL)
(Because this is the internet, and nobody had said it yet.)
bouffant
And
gullible
redshirts
Ex-ter-mi-naaate!
Wraps
Chrysanthemum
Success
Cow
coleslaw (I was going to say CokeZero or schadenfreude but others beat me to it)
Braces
Engage
Bollocks
Ampersand.
Is the word “baby”?
turnip
hilarious
quirky
peripatetic
elucidate
are
Blast-off!
ensign
Tree
Plethora
Lick
strawberry
Hegemony
Angry.
peace
Cover
Glass
taxidermy
That
Snickerdoodle (Well, it should be a common word!)
Expendable
Baloney
mow
daughter
apple
Rocket
Right. Because really, it is hard to type RIGHT NOW without thinking the word right right then.
mouse
incompetent
“caps” as in “caps lock”.
confusion
Spaceship
Thirteen. [‘Expendable’ was taken..]
lawn
cheese
antediluvian
Kirk
asterisk
Applesauce
alien
vanilla
matriculate
Shirt.
Hummingbird
significant
The word is “clear.”
I hope.
warp
catnip
Intrepid.
mercurial
tacos
doughnuts
Chair
Zero
Aquarium.
Crewman
For future reference, when you say “word,” we’re playing by Scrabble rules, right? No proper nouns and/or names?
[My other guess, of course, was “Your hands … or nothing.”]
smile
grommet
emu
thinking
suspicious
Kerfuffle
inflammation
whisper
steak
Cat
Capitulate
Mallet
Movie
zipper
film
Weaponized
Riddle!
philanthropy
I am firmly convinced it is “extraneous” or something like that. Maybe.
feminist
hunger
flibbertigibbet
common
Shingle? It’s a relatively common word in “english” if you anagram it. :)
tired
Survival
food. Isn’t that what folks are thinking of often?
trouble
Guacamole
Dammit, scrolled too fast and missed that a couple other people already guessed my word. I revise my guess:
Shine
Royalties.
Romney
zombies
Pomegranate
orange
Saloon
linoleum
This is really just a scam. You see, John used up his supply of words halfway through a new novel and instead of going to the words store to get a fresh supply he just had us fill up his old words cartridge for him. Devious, ain’t he?
die
Bumptious
“Hump” . . . as in “hump day” of course. Git yer mind outta the gutter!
generous
Gift
Brobdingnagian
Entropy.
salubrious
Flapjack
beer
“Word”. You know – in case it’s a trick question.
(Although if it’s not, then I’m going with “wheee!” just because it makes everything better.
Since you told it to Krissy, I’m guessing: love. AWWW.
tortoise
Election
bullocks
Given the number of responses, I’m going to assume all the “regular” words are taken, so I’ll guess “Cupola”.
mayhem
Soap
winter
Sex (you know you are thinking of it.)
River.
Given the codename your latest secret project, I guess: “spank”
gravy
Crepuscular
Red!
Peachy
Shill
degenerate
Swordfish
Love
please
superflous
Oliphant
flight
Dashboard
pumpernickel
trek
Stop
potato
Jowl
don’t
Marshmellow
It’s “pudding” of course.
I’m glad the major publishers are finally starting to embrace the future^H^H^H^H^H^Hpresent by giving up on DRM. Maybe they’ll even catch up to small, innovative publishers like baen if they adopt an eArc model. It’s kinda hard to understand why major publishers won’t take the large baskets full of money that rabid fans are willing to pay to get their favorite books a few weeks early. I’d also think that this would help to cut down on piracy. I know that I’m most tempted to pirate a book when there are scanned ARCs floating around weeks before the eBook release.
pony
glower
Pillage
Zero!
window
Dance
tomato
Bookshelf
Blessed
Fluffernutter?
remote
beard
Sunrise
zipper
sacrifice
Slartibartfast
(You know, the guy who designed the fiords of Norway before Earth got demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass). Well, that is the word I always think of when someone says “think of a word!”
Pollen
honorificabilitudinitatibus
Did I win?
Diminutive. As in “never use a long word when a diminutive one will do.”
Frosting.
Leash
Torque
glitter
Contest open until 12pm Eastern time, April 26th.
I always get confused when this comes up. Does 12pm mean midnight or noon?
and if it means midnight, is it the midnight between April 25-26 or April 26-27?
If we haven’t hit the deadline yet, I’ll put my entry in:
Banana-cadabra.
No, wait, don’t say that out loud or you might turn someone into a moldy banana. Except for one child who will be cursed to always smell of freshly baked banana bread, but never have any.
I’m going to submit my official guess as “helicopter”
Narcissist
catacomb
Chapstick.
summer
Chocolate
daughter
yellow
Forthwith
Obviously, one Mr. John Scalzi thinks of the word “protuberance”. Like, a whole lot. Not just some partial lot.
drum
Corduroy
nozzle
Fedora
sixty-nine
Fluffy
Kumquat
House.
relatively
Plebeian.
Stripe.
shovel
beauty, as “I look at Krissy I see beauty in motion”.
Host
Milk
I hate these kinds of contests. I read your post, ‘Milk’ pops into my mind, so I have to look at 500+ posts to see if somebody guessed ‘Milk’. Milkshake was close.
Spinach
Marmelade
Alpine?
daisy
dicks
Or maybe it’s just me always thinking that….
bacon
Moist
antithetical
lemon
Fuck
Sunset
There
reaction
yoga
fruition
Cat.
zenith
Pedantic
True.
Lunch
electrical
Read.
as in, to read REDSHIRTS.
*fingers crossed*
Whack.
patience?
Bacon
Ambidextrous
friend
Grease. Grease is the word.
Bingo!
Coke
If i think you have a word in mind and you think about that word when you read this post, was the word than half in your mind already? Or does that kind of thinking only apply to cats?
once
writer
Highly unlikely, but I’m gonna go with hairball.
dinner
monster
Redshirts
Shingle
elephant
Esperanto.
sweep
donut (or doughnut, however you prefer)
tang
Grass
dictionary
the word is “naturally”
popcorn
Theophany
Because “Theophanic Attunment” is my favorite phrase.
Spork
Couch.
Cellar
cheeseburger
Turtle
hello.
This IS the word you’re looking for. :waves hand:
now
dessert
Family.
theory
Favoite
Schedule.
Since you obviously had to think about Krissy when you did this I’m guessing
FANTASTIC
Peas. Definitely peas.
crust
vengeful
Beans!
Gear
cake
Solstice
drink
beverage
snazzy
allergy
ululate , as in, if this is the word, I will ululate with joy!
Panties
skullduggery
Kangaroo
Radish. Definitely radish.
victim
Rock
contentment
pants
Robot
Knackered
Squid.
esoteric
damp
falafel
Joy
trailer
singing
Bold
Pickle!
Carbon
Picnic
PIE
juice
vanilla
Skateboard.
Moose
ham
Devious
Cloudy
indubitable
Enterprise
Homework
Groundhog
testosterone
bunny
viridian
Homunculus
somewhere
Wonder
lint
flunky
Ankle.
This
frivolous
Sandal
inconceivable
antideestablishmentarianism
Bacon!
bare
but
movie
Contest
ridiculous
Strawberry.
pencil
thirst
grapefruit
dollar
Shower
human
poetry
publishing
Love.
Weather
freshmen
simple
Covenant
cola
Spindle
gruntled
Mulch.
“Meh”… this actually was my second guess after “Cabbage Farts” which would make a great album.
What?
verb
Like
Applesauce
Uncouth
Puffin
day
Contest
aspirin
backhoe
indefatigable
awkward
quagmire
Society (I actually think it’s “Hat” but someone beat me to it…
spring
Tractor
Larceny
Jelly!
dawn
Bacon!
kumquat
Pizza
Release
Genius
Captain
notable
and
Dragon.
super-cali-fragi-listic-expi-ali-do-cious
aluminum
Thoughtful
Expendable!
Sorry if that’s a double; I looked quickly and did not see it posted prior.
Contract
Bacon!
Monster
the
Fools
Bologna
Squirrel
Of
Flex
landscape – also Ctrl-F will pull up a search on most browsers so you can see if your word has already been used
there are hundreds of thousands of words comprising the entirity of human language. From simple letters purposed as defined words to foreign phrases consolidated to make words comprised of more letters than the alphabet. however, the word floating around your head and told to your wife is, likely. If it isnt the word, then i have failed in my mission to win an ARC of Redshirts. I can, however, claim small victory because i know what word is in your head RIGHT NOW. What word is that? likely
Ululating. It’s a long-shot, but …
Good grief, someone beat me to it. How about pululating then?
Ark.
red
black
death
Absurd
honey
Bandana
bible
Left
sod
backyard
beam
Conundrum
wins
that’s the word you’re thinking!
Phlebotomy
Artichoke
Bacon was already guessed, so I’ll have to go with cat
dilithium
transporter
spaghetti
Now
umami
Splat
Sex…because men think about it every 10 seconds or so.
Tree
susurrus
pipe
eleven
turtle
fortitude
duck
child
Carrot.
vacuum
humorous
lop-sided
table
telephone
whatever
I’m gonna go with “Dead”. As in “He’s dead Jim.”
Patrick
http://poker.toddsville.com/
Liger
Hungry
Pastry
Platypus
Last
worm
butterflies
monkeyshines
frenzy (as in feeding)
Squishy.
Aaand TIME.