Random Words : Some examples

The following examples were all made "live," that is, as part of the verbal tennis game on which this blog is based. The categories we illustrate here are based on reflections of what the game means and how it is played, but the examples were thought up "spontaneously;" more on this in a later entry.

Combining, inappropriately, intangible things with tangible ones (note that the inappropriateness is key, appropriate examples would, of course, be "red balloon" or "oblong egg"):

Hypocrisy membrane
Compost imbroglio
Slope betrayal
Correct chop

How can one betray a slope? How can a mindless membrane be a hypocrite? Perhaps the entertainment from these examples is the subliminal effort the brain makes trying to mold a story around how these word combinations might be appropriate.

A favorite category of mine involves the juxtaposition of two nouns (therefore, a combination which can only make sense as a phrase by reading one of them as an adjective), each noun bearing a starkly contrasting connotation:

Sandwich hammer
Fluoride helm
Porridge blade
Germ coordinator

Porridge brings to mind mildness, fairy tales, and grandma's kitchen; blade connotes pain, combat, and blood.