I’ve just come up with a synonym game based on ‘Whisper down the lane’ – it’s complete nonsense really but fun if you like to play with words and test your vocabulary.

 

Start with a phrase in the form of:

The adjective adjective noun verbs adverbly with adjective noun.

 

It’s good if it makes a bit of sense but the excessive use of adjectives will mean it always sounds OTT.

 

e.g The large green sprout grows ruthlessly with callous regret.

 

Now pass it to a friend (or you can play this solo) whose job is to replace each of the main words with a synonym.

 

e.g ‘large’ could mean ‘fat’; ‘green’ sometimes means ‘immature’; a ‘sprout’ could be a ‘spring’ etc.

 

so the phrase might become:

 

The fat immature spring breeds pitilessly with uncaring lament.

 

Nonsense! But keep going!

 

The chubby young helix rises heartlessly with cold grief.

 

Again!

 

The plump little curl climbs cruelly with icy pain.

 

You can pass this around until you’ve run out of synonyms or by some unlikely coincidence you come back to the original phrase – although chances are this will just become sillier and sillier:

The flabby slight twist mounts meanly with frozen hurt.

The loose minor coil scales shamefully with solid harm.

The wobbly negligible spiral balances shockingly with hard injury.

 

Uh oh!