Language or Leprosy?

Yes, it's the game sensation that's sweeping the nation!

We ran a wonderfully successful new game this morning at our weekly Business Network International (BNI) meeting -- we call it 'Language or Leprosy!'

It struck us some time ago that there are grammatical and linguistic terms that, if one did not know otherwise, one might just think were some dread disease or anatomical feature! And, vice-versa.

So, presented with such a word, contestants had the opportunity to guess (for a prize of chocolate or caramels!) whether or not the word, say, "axilla" or "metonymy" or "anapest" is LANGUAGE or LEPROSY!

Answers:
Anapest = Language. It is the poetic meter that consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable. Example:" 'Twas the NIGHT before CHRISTmas and ALL through the HOUSE..."

Axilla = Leprosy (for the purposes of the game). It is the anatomical term for armpit! Use it when you wish to be both tactful and insulting at the same time!

Meonymy = Language. It is a figure of speech in which one word or phrase is substituted for another with which it is closely associated, as in the use of 'Washington' for the United States government or burger-no-onions for a restaurant customer.

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