Mon, Apr 28, 2008

Contest winners

Posted in Babies at 7:58 pm by Jon

Last week’s contest about Lucy translations garnered lots of interest — and outstanding entries. Do we have some winners? As Lucy herself would say (as of late), “Yes!”

Photo: Lucy Boyd — getting smarter every day!

First, some observations:

• Two questions received no correct answers: “why-gee” and “box.” (For the complete answers, see below.)

• That final extra-credit question, “why-gee,” we expected was nearly impossible; “wedgie” and “Rosie” were our two favorite guesses.

• Three questions were translated correctly by every entrant: “brella,” “grilla,” and “amiwall.”

• At least one Mozart opera, The Marriage of Figaro, was referenced, as were one spiritual (“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”) and every toddler’s favorite indie band, They Might Be Giants.

• One anonymous entrant <cough> (Grandpa Boyd) <cough> littered his submission with allusions to America’s rail transport system.

• Some of you should schedule a trip to the physician, with all the references to hernias, Flonase, Botox, Tums, and flatulence.

• Our favorite wrong answer: “German for backside” for #16.

But with no further ado, here are the winners:

Bronze medalist (with a score of 10): Sara S.

Silver medalists (tied at 11): Toni R. and Keri M.

Gold medalist (12 correct): Allie B.

Congratulations to all! Even the lamest entry <cough> (Grandpa Boyd) <cough> wasn’t far behind, with 6 correct — so three cheers to all. The winners will receive a special set of Lucy photo stickers, an autographed glossy of the Birthday Girl, and for Allie, a bag of Lucy’s favorite delicacy: M&Ms (the answer to question #11, which she was the only one to get right).

Here are the questions and the correct answers:

1. penders = suspenders
2. buff-uh-lye = butterfly
3. effalunt = elephant
4. mitz-itz-itz = Ritz Bitz
5. upperdance = underpants
6. brella = umbrella
7. grilla = gorilla
8. may-moe-noe = tomato
9. flowcake = snowflake (and the word that inspired this contest)
10. punj = sponge
11. nums = M&Ms
12. checkup = ketchup
13. amiwall = animal
14. box = fox (as in “Will you eat them with a fox? Will you eat them in a box?”)
15. nilk = milk
16. high-nee-uh = hyena
17. fing-uh-low = flamingo
18. blow-lit = blow on it
19. extra credit: why-gee = raisin

Finally, it must be admitted that even Mama thinks she might have gotten one or two of these wrong herself!

This post was last modified April 28, 2008 at 8:01 pm