Elderly

            I recently discovered that I am elderly. In fact, most of the people I know are elderly, but I don’t care so much about them. It’s all over the news that we elderly are especially at risk from the corona virus, and that’s upsetting – almost as upsetting as realizing that I am elderly. Being an “elder” sounds OK, because that suggests wisdom and, in some tribes, leadership grounded in that wisdom (not exactly the case nationally, but I digress . . .). But “elderly”?

            So it goes. (The elderly among you may catch the literary reference.)

            With that in mind, Kim has unearthed some word games to help us elderly shut-ins pass the time. Or, if you are looking after grandchildren while their parents work, you can try to unplug them for a while with these. Kim’s Aunt Vivian either created or collected them, and Kim found them in an old file.

            Here’s one called Hink Pinks:

Fill in the blanks with words that rhyme and mean the same as the clue.

1.     obese rodent                                       FAT______     RAT______

2.     wet hobo                                             __________   __________

3.     odd set of whiskers                            __________   __________     

4.     intoxicated clergy                               __________   __________

5.     befuddled canine                                __________   __________

6.     cool soup of Spanish origin                __________   __________

7.     license to live alone and like it           _________   __________

8.     tame dinosaur                                     __________   __________

9.     cleans eyeglasses                               __________   __________

10.  unmarried Santa Claus                       __________   __________

11.  faulty private eye                                __________   __________

12.  this one tried to cross the road.          _________   __________

13.  butter on a small napkin                     __________   __________

14.  twelve men who have to be shown   __________   __________

15.  Christmas gem                                    __________   __________

16.  terrible pancake with tread                __________   __________

17.  silly hen                                               __________   __________

18.  young girl cow whose hearing is worse _________   __________

19.  careful buyer                                       __________   __________

20.  soothing, kind laundryman                 __________   __________

21.  murderous tunes                                __________   __________

22.  all white wild beast                             __________   __________

23.  wet canine                                          __________   __________

24.  ad-men-with-ulcers-gathering           __________   __________

25.  hilarious rabbit                                   __________   __________

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I have about 60 more of these, if you are interested. And no, Kim and I could not figure them all out. Let me know if you want more or if you are stuck on some - dstring@ix.netcom.com.

NOTE: If you do these with grandkids, you may have to explain what a “rhyme” is. And if they do it with paper and pencil, you may have to explain what a “pencil” is. We elders know these things.

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