Wiktionary:Christmas Competition 2007

Intro
This is to announce this year's Christmas competition, which is open to ALL contributors. The contest is structured similarly to the popular Easter competition held earlier this year, but is designed to tie in with Adverb Month.

The object of the competition is to construct an acrostic of adverbs modifying a verb - as in the following example.


 * run
 * rapidly
 * unsteadily
 * now

The initial letters running down must spell out a verb (a single word with no spaces, hyphens, or the like). Each word running across must be an adverb that modifies that verb (in a non-metaphysical sense). Questionable entries may have the submitter challenged to construct a sentence in which the doubted adverb properly modifies the verb from the entry. No words used in an acrostic may be repeated. The initial word may be of any length.

Words (which must be wikified) must be from a single language, but may be in any language or script. Each word used MUST have a proper entry in this Wiktionary including a lemma page with a decent definition. Non-English entries may use a translation in place of a definition on the lemma page, but the English entry linked from the translation must exist and must have a decent definition. No entries using pages with "In an X manner" as the only definition wil be counted.

Scoring: Each entry will be scored as follows: Simply count the total number of letters in each word used in the entry. In the example above, there are three (3) letters in the verb, plus a total of twenty (20) letters from the three adverbs. This gives a total score of 23. For ideographic languages (such as Japanese or Mandarin), the score will use the number of letters and tone marks in the English pinyin / romaji.

The prize (a feeling of smug self-satisfaction and superiority) will go to the contributor of the highest scoring entry. Other prizes may be awarded as I think fit. The results will be awarded after Christmas (25 December 2007).

Small print. You must not alter or delete another person's entry, but you may copy and extend it. Each entry should finish with a note of its score, and be signed with four tildes. You are allowed to treat uppercase and lowercase letters as if they were the same, and similarly may add or remove diacritical marks at will.

Entries

 * adventure
 * afloat
 * deathward
 * valleyward
 * eastward
 * northward
 * thenceforward
 * uphill
 * rabbitlike
 * eastbound
 * Language Lover 05:08, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Any script, you say?
 * anshinritsumeisuru 安心立命する "keeping peace of mind via faith" 18
 * akumademo あくまでも "to the last" 9
 * nenbyakunenjū 年百年中 "year-round" 14
 * shidaishidaini 次第次第に "gradually" 14
 * hitoichibai 人一倍 "more than most people" 11
 * ikunichimoikunichimo いく日もいく日も "day after day" 20
 * nirokujichū 二六時中 "round the clock" 12
 * rakuraku 楽々 "with ease" 8
 * ikuhisashiku 幾久しく "forever" 12
 * toshihisashiku 年久しく "for many years" 14
 * saisainennen 歳々年々 "year in, year out" 12
 * umaumato うまうまと "successfully" 8
 * menmokuyakujoto 面目躍如と "in accordance with one's reputation" 15
 * eikyūni 永久に "eternally" 8
 * itsumademo いつまでも "however long" 10
 * shōshinshōmeini 正真正銘に "truly" 17
 * uraganashiku うら悲しく "mournfully" 12
 * renjitsuren'ya 連日連夜 "every day and every night" 14
 * ureshiku うれしく "happily" 8 ... not that many words begin with u
 * 18+9+14+14+11+20+12+8+12+14+12+8+15+8+10+17+12+14+8 = 236
 * Or it finally will be after I gradually create all these entries. (I actually managed to find one that's already blue..) No rest for the utterly wicked. Except that I'm going to rest immediately. Since it's utterly late.
 * Carefully listening to the sound of painfully creaking rules and the agonizingly prolonged groans of a language being damaged horribly... Cynewulf 06:43, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
 * In the interests of preserving sanity I shall refrain from using the verb form anshinritsumeishinakereba; also I am tired again. Cynewulf 05:12, 24 December 2007 (UTC)


 * overintellectualize 19
 * opaquely 8
 * verbosely 9
 * eruditely 9
 * rhythmlessly 12
 * intellectually 14
 * nemine contradicente 19
 * tenderheartedly 15
 * even as we speak 13
 * laboriously 11
 * long-windedly 12
 * epigrammatically 16
 * characteristically 18
 * thunderously 12
 * unselfconsciously 17
 * apropos of nothing 16
 * least 5
 * ingratiatingly 14
 * zealously 9
 * exaggeratedly 13
 * Sum is 271. (But not all yet have definitions other than "In a ... manner".)&mdash;msh210 &#x2120; 22:13, 5 December 2007 (UTC)


 * is 2
 * in 2
 * so 2
 * Sum is 6. Shoot the moon, baby! DAVilla 02:14, 6 December 2007 (UTC)


 * a (English dialectal "have") 1
 * ay (English alt spell of "aye" meaning "always") 2
 * 3. "I a ay wanted to do this." Cynewulf 02:59, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Well at least now I can say I didn't have the worst entry. ;-) DAVilla 22:49, 6 December 2007 (UTC)


 * adverbialise 12
 * alphanumerically 16
 * diagrammatically 16
 * venturesomely 13
 * extortionately 14
 * retroactively 13
 * begrudgingly 12
 * in the twinkling of an eye 21
 * amateurishly 12
 * lickety-split 13
 * incommensurately 16
 * single-handedly 15
 * excruciatingly 14
 * Yay for adverbs! Total is 187. Nadando 01:09, 7 December 2007 (UTC)


 * repartir 8
 * rapidement 10
 * entre chien et loup 16
 * particulièrement 16
 * à tout bout de champ 16
 * respectueusement 16
 * toutes voiles dehors 17
 * intentionnellement 18
 * raisonnablement 16
 * 133
 * Now I have entries to write... Circeus 23:14, 9 December 2007 (UTC)


 * peregrinerebbero (we would wander) 15
 * precipitevolissimevolmente (as fast as possible) 26
 * entusiasticamente (enthusiastically) 17
 * rincrescevolmente (regretfully) 17
 * esclusivisticamente (exclusively) 19
 * gastronomicamente (gastronomically) 17
 * razionalisticamente (rationalistically) 19
 * irragionevolmente (irrationally) 17
 * naturalisticamente (naturalistically) 18
 * edonisticamente (hedonistically) 15
 * risolutivamente (resolutely) 15
 * effemminatamente (effeminately) 16
 * baldanzosamente (self-confidently) 15
 * benintenzionatamente (well-meaningly) 20
 * ergonomicamente (ergonomically) 15
 * rabbiosamente (angrily) 13
 * opportunisticamente (opportunistically) 19
 * in totale 293 SemperBlotto 17:08, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Results

 * SemperBlotto has the highest score with 293.
 * Cynewulf also earns a mention for the only entry in a language not using Roman script.
 * DAVilla wins an anti-prize for single-handedly starting her own "mini"-competition.
 * Congratulations to everyone who posted any entry! Part of this contest was about having fun and generating new entries while doing so.  In that respect, everyone who participated contributed to Wiktionary's environment and content.  Thanks to all  --EncycloPetey 04:30, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Addendum: If someone has a good idea for the coming Easter competition, there's still some time left for planning!

Talk

 * Does the verb have to be in the infinitive - or could we have running instead of run (I do not have English verbs in mind)?
 * No. I was very careful to say in the instructions to say that the word must have an entry and a properly formatted lemma.  The verb selected need not be the infinitive or lemma form. --EncycloPetey 14:21, 5 December 2007 (UTC)