Competition | 13 March 2010

In Competition No. 2637 you were invited to take an existing word and alter it by a) adding a letter; b) changing a letter; and c) deleting a letter; and to supply definitions for all three new words.

This challenge is a shameless rip-off of the legendary change-a-letter competition over at the Washington Post’s ‘Style Invitational’, where ingenious new permutations of this crowd-pleaser appear at regular intervals and attract a mammoth postbag. Judging by the bombardment of entries from some quarters, it proved equally popular with Spectator competitors, one of whom described it as ‘unnervingly addictive’.

As often happens, there were many more worthy winners than there is space for. I especially liked Robert Schechter’s ‘Bratitude’: ‘the proud demeanour of a misbehaving child’, Aaron Asbury’s ‘flabulous’: ‘the state of being fashionably overweight’, and Mae Scanlan’s ‘omituary’, ‘a write-up of a person’s life, with all the unsavoury parts left out’. The winners get £20 each.

Hairdresser
a) chairdresser: n. an employee who does no effective work, but whose presence improves the appearance of the workplace. He or she may be deliberately employed for this purpose; in either case the term may be, but is not necessarily, an insult. Also adj. as in ‘it is just a chairdresser job’.
b) hairpresser: n. a passionate kiss or embrace given unexpectedly to someone expecting a formal salutation. Also n. one who frequently gives such a salutation.
c) airdresser: n.; a nudist.
Dominica Roberts

Characteristic
a) charmacteristic: a type of sexual magnetism exerted by certain male film stars in which wealth, worldly sophistication and the implicit promise of a good lay outweigh the never fully concealed insincerity. Cary Grant the epitome, George Clooney currently leading the field.  
b) chavacteristic: an affected style of performance by which elocuted actors attempt to suggest they are deranged working-class heavies by emulating the accents of e.g.,