Re: Word games!

        This reminds me of a Japanese I used to play in Japanese class in
college. It's name roughly means "tail-grabbing" or "butt-grabbing"
(shiri-tsuka?).
        Japanese language is based on a CV silibary, the exception being the
syllable "n".
        Basically, to play the game, someone says a word. It can be any
word, including a conjugated verb, as long as it is at least two syllables.
        The next person must *very quickly* come up with a word whose first
syllable is the last syllable of the previous word. And so it goes around
the circle, each person's word "grabbing the tail" of the previous word.
        If a person blurts out a word that ends in "-n", that person is
eliminated, since no Japanese words end in "-n". Someone is also eliminated
if they cannot think of a word quickly enough.
        It's mainly a game for young children and drinking businessmen.

        Another "word game" is "name the counter for...". In Japanese,
nothing is counted directly. Everything is counted by a system of "counting
words". In English, this is akin to our counting "sheets of paper", "pairs
of pants", "slices/loaves of bread", etc. In Japanese, you count "'wings' of
birds", "'mouths' of people", and so on for everything. Some Japanese
counters are "categories" of items ("pon"- scrolls or long cylinders),
others are specific and possibly obscure ("wa"- wings).
        Basically, you challenge the person next to you to say the counter
word for any obscure item you can think of (staplers, hubcaps, ice cubes).

| -----Original Message-----
| From: Amber Adams [mailto:amber@OJNK.NET]
| Subject: Word games!
|
| Bored noblemen and women in my conculture like to sit around playing
| "cethimmethi" (word-mixing).  In cethimmethi, the first player specifies
| a word, for example, 'raca' (wheel).  The next player must then say a word
| that adds, deletes, or changes only one letter.  For example, 'rava'
(night)
| or 'traca' (stomach) would both be valid responses.  If a player cannot
think
| of a word, they are out of the game.

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