Sometimes it's a poignant piece. 

Sometimes it's something uplifting, inspirational. 

But funny or poignant or uplifting or inspirational, they have one thing in common — they all look like hell. 

So I started reformatting them. Picking typefaces. Adding graphics. Laying them out in a visually interesting way. When I was done, I would send them to friends in their new form. And then people started asking me for copies. 

Weeeell, it got to be expensive after a while. Getting stuff printed usually is. So I hit upon the idea of putting the stuff on the Internet. Now, if someone wants a copy, I give him/her the related URL instead. He/she can then take a look at it, and print it out if he/she wishes. 

Now, what you will see on-screen is more or less the same as the original in some cases. Not in others. I won't get into why. It's not important. Only the content is. 

Sooooo, here's one of them. Enjoy! Enjoy!

“Style Invitational” once asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, then supply a new definition. Here are some of the cleverer ones. 

Foreploy: any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of obtaining sex. 

Doltergeist: a spirit that decides to  haunt someplace stupid, such as your septic tank. 

Giraffiti: vandalism spray-painted very, very high, such as the famous "Surrender Dorothy" on the  Beltway overpass. 

Sarchasm: the gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the recipient who doesn't get it. 

Dopeler effect: the tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly. 

Coiterie: a very, VERY close-knit group. 

Impotience: eager anticipation by men awaiting their Viagra prescription. 

Reintarnation: coming back to life as a hillbilly. 

DIOS: the one true operating system. 

Inoculatte: to take coffee intravenously when you are running late. 

Hipatitis: terminal coolness. 

Writer's tramp: a woman who practices poetic licentiousness. 

Taterfamilias: the head of the Potato Head family. 

Osteopornosis: a degenerate disease. 

Adulatery: cheating on your wife with a much younger woman who holds you in awe. 

Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like a serious bummer.