I’m Giving Away an ARC of Redshirts, April 25th Edition

Posted on April 25, 2012    Posted by      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?

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828 Comments on “I’m Giving Away an ARC of Redshirts, April 25th Edition”

  79. “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! :-)

  120. I’m going to guess the word is, “Ocean.” My original guess was going to be “humahumanukanukaapoa’a” but “Ocean” seems more expansive.

  198. 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.

  205. I’d like to say “now” is the word, but I’m going with “winner”. You are thinking of “winner” right now.

  210. 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.)

  265. Nuts… someone got “expendable”. I guess I’ll go with “Energize!”.

  292. “Shiny”.

    Also, it amazes me how many people aren’t reading the comments to be sure their selected word wasn’t guessed yet. :-/

  295. BTW, someone already grabbed “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. Dammit! Frackin’ homesteaders already got the good words!

  310. New guess: Vermillion.

    I scrolled too quickly and missed that supercalifragilisticexpialidocious had already been used.

  324. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicavolcanoconiosis (the longest word I know). Though the earlier guess of “word” is excellent.

  387. Be. I was going to say churro, but you said English. You’re still probably thinking of churros too.

  430. Right. Because really, it is hard to type RIGHT NOW without thinking the word right right then.

  459. 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.”]

  489. Dammit, scrolled too fast and missed that a couple other people already guessed my word. I revise my guess:

    Shine

  497. 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?

  508. “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.

  540. 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.

  556. 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!”

  564. 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”

  573. Obviously, one Mr. John Scalzi thinks of the word “protuberance”. Like, a whole lot. Not just some partial lot.

  588. 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.

  618. 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?

  648. Since you obviously had to think about Krissy when you did this I’m guessing
    FANTASTIC

  764. Expendable!

    Sorry if that’s a double; I looked quickly and did not see it posted prior.

  774. landscape – also Ctrl-F will pull up a search on most browsers so you can see if your word has already been used

  775. 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

WHATEVER


Taunting the tauntable since 1998
John Scalzi, proprietor – JS
Athena Scalzi, editor – AMS
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