If you know me or just read some of my blogs, you probably know that I have a fascination with language. Words, sentence structure, pronunciation- I wouldn't quite put it at a 'fetish' state- but it's gotta be pretty close.
I don't really remember when it started or how it began (another trivia tidbit about me- I have a horrible memory about certain things), but I would be very willing to be that Mad Libs played a pretty important role.
Mad Libs is a word game in which a story of some sort is given to you with some key words left out. It can be played by an individual, although it is infinitely more fun in larger groups. Your job is to fill in the missing words according to which part of speech it is (noun, adjective, adverb, etc.). On the surface, this might seem to be like a waste of time.
Where the hours of wacky fun come into play, however, is that this is a blind exercise- that is, the people that are offering you the different words have no idea what the context of the story is. It could literally be anything- from a movie quiz to a letter to a jilted lover, to a famous presidential address- you just don't know until the reader plugs your words in and reads it to the group.
At a rate of about one in a million, someone will suggest a word that actually fits in the context of the story. Sometimes there are things that just don't fit well, and tend to kill a little bit of the moment. Often times there is ridiculous silliness that invokes laughter- and other times, you dig up comedy gold. "I wouldn't trade that for all the saliva in China"- there is an infinite amount of crazy good times in each booklet of Mad Libs!
Each person has their own style and way of having fun. A couple of tricks that I have up my sleeve:
-Bodily functions, parts, and fluids- Hey, we're all adults here. So we can speak freely and honestly. And the truth is, gas is funny. Oh sure, we tell little kids that it's not- but that's just because we want to control them. But farting, burping, stomach gurgling, bile, pee, snot, penis- they all are pretty much guaranteed laugh getters in Mad Libs.
-Chuck Norris serves very well as a Famous Person, Celebrity, Male Celebrity, Politician, Athlete, and Person in Room. Just saying.
-I am a huge fan of the Word Stack. Usually I add an adjective with a noun, but there are many combos (adjective-adjective, noun noun, adverb noun, etc.). For example, 'Abe Lincoln' becomes 'Fabulous Abe Lincoln'. 'Death' is now 'Death via Roundhouse Kick'. Those sorts of things.
-Finally, I enjoy messing with the parts of speech. Don't tell me that 'fart' is not an adjective- because that is my choice for adjective. You plug it in there- just trust me. Using proper nouns (names or places) as regular nouns, people as places, nouns as adjectives- the list goes on. One time, while playing Mad Libs at a family camping trip, we made 'awesome' into a verb, and then spent the rest of the time awesoming.
I don't get paid by Mad Libs- so you can wholly trust me when I say that your life is not complete unless you have a contingent of Mad Libs at your disposal. Mad Libs will solve all your problems. It will end global warming, the economic crisis, and war as we know it. Are you looking for a significant other? Get some Mad Libs. Unemployed? Mad Libs. Stuck on the john and out of toilet paper? Mad Libs.
Simply put- Mad Libs: Get Some.
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